Americana: Snowed

Where are the snowplows of yesteryear? Back in 1956, the Nebraska town of Sidney (pop. 6,300) spent $50 to buy a used Civil Defense truck (1936 vintage), and put a plowing blade on it to clear the town airport of snow. Last fall, when City Manager Merle Strouse decided that the old plow had reached "the last of its days," he investigated new snowplows and found that they cost $25,000, more than twice the $9,800 that the town wanted to pay. He asked the Federal Aviation Administration to help out. The FAA decided that the town really needed a bigger snowplow—for...

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