I’ve been a trucker for 38 years now. I’m a local oilfield driver now but back when I was driving across the country many years ago during the winter months I always kept my big coat and blankets at the front of my bed in my sleeper just in case I rolled the truck over. The blankets and coat would be within my reach if I was hurt or maybe they would even fall on me. I only had one bad scare near Pierre, SD about 18 years ago when my fuel gelled up and my truck stopped running in a terrible blizzard. The interstate was shut down in both directions and I was all alone out there in the night. I was already terribly sick with the flu and couldn’t stop coughing. I’m still here thanks to the good Lord above. At least we all know those kids are in Heaven with the Lord and their parents are with them now. Nature will always rule over our lives and we’ll just have to adjust to it.

I moved to Colorado in January of 2017. After 6 months of living in this beautiful state I learned quickly to keep a blanket, hat, gloves, hoodie and a gallon of Eldorado spring water in the vehicle from Oct to May. I have seen these types of storms happen here. That wind is no joke when it gets going!

I'm Australian but love watching stories like this. It's amazing how spoilt we really are these days. Terrible tragedy for the children and town

Times sure have changed in the past 100 years. As a lover of History, I appreciate this tragic story. Life and death on the prairie was just a step away back then. My great, great and great grandparents, the McClures and the Marchbanks both Homesteaded near Rush, Colorado. My dad said when he would get in trouble as a kid in the 1930's he would get sent out there to work on their ranches. They had no phone, no electricity - but they did charge up car/farm batteries off the windmill with a generator. That was pretty self reliant ingenuity for the 1930s.

I am a native of So. Colorado and now live in western KS. Weather like this happens every spring. The prairie is a tough beautiful land, home to tough beautiful people. Thank you for honoring their memory.

I wish every state did this kind of series-I have a graduate degree in history, and I had never heard of this tragedy.

My whole family lives in North Texas. My grandparents actually own and farm a little under 700 acres of wheat fields in Colorado and Kansas! They have property in Towner that holds all the equipment and housing for the harvesting! Towner is REALLY SMALL!! I remember my first time going out there my grandparents told me this story and took us to the memorial. Such a SAD story but that bus driver is a damn fine man!! A saint!!!!

Poor little souls how horrific to freeze and watch your friends die . R.I.P Little ones

An amazing story I'd never heard before.

A lesson to be learned from 1931 falls on deaf ears today. How many times do you see adults and children dressed in shorts or maybe pajamas getting out of vehicles at stores or gas stations in the middle of a blizzard. They assume technology will save them. There is no guarantee a cell phone will work, or that you can even reach it in the event of an accident. Vehicle can slide off the road and become completely hidden with no trace that anything happened. Anticipate any abnormally clear warm day in late fall to late spring will most likely be followed by a strong storm.

I was so blessed to know Lois McCracken and to hear the story. I actually worked @ the assisting living where she lived I was her housekeeper.

I remember riding to school in the bus out there in the early '70's with snow so high you couldn't see out the windows. They would plow and the wind would fill it back in and then they'd plow again....

It is sad that the children and their bus driver endured such a tragedy and had no mental health at the time. Everyone on the bus fighting to keep each other awake and moving are heros.

I heard about this tragedy when I was a child but your story gives it a real heartbeat. Thanks for posting.

Lord I pray you blessed these children.....

I'm a grandson of Wyatt Tremain. This is only 3 miles from his ranch.

Such a STRONG generation !!! Folks today don't realize how good we have it.

This is truly heartbreaking.

amazing video, sad that kids lost their lives.

Yep. I know this area. A little town NW of Holly is where my father and grandmother lived and where I went to school for several years. Both used to tell me stories about the 1930's in that area. I think my family missed out on this tragedy by being in OK for 1928-9.

I started this but stopped at 11:00. Can't bare to see what happened to those sweet innocent babies. R.I.P. little ones!

It stands a testimate to the harshness that the midwest even faces to this day. Every year there is always one or 2 snow storms that shut down the schools, and be it all they can the DOT can only do so much to keep just the highways safe, it was a lesson to be learned and it's sad that the lesson had to come at the expense of such young lives being lost. I live in tribune which is east of Towner, and we are educated in the 5th grade about this event. I have yet to find the marker but I know now where it is.

Great documentary...except the girl that kept saying the bus was the size of a mini van. We've all seen similar rigs in person. Way bigger than a mini van.

I was there about 10 years ago at Easter. When we left Kansas it was a summer day at 94 degrees. By the time we hit the state line it had dropped 60 degrees. Then in 14” of snow and no visibility they closed the highways. I got the impression it was a usual occurrence.

Outstanding video

".. a comfortable, sleepy warmth when you're freezing to death..." I can't imagine children having to experience this.. sad!

I have seen the monument where it happened. They are buried in one section of the cemetery in Holly, Co when some of the parents passed away years later, they were buried side by side with there children. The child that was considered the hero, met President Hoover.

In Alaska l have always kept a cold weather grab bag in my truck since l began to drive, it has saved my life several times during sever winter weather.

I was a truck driver and have been there a lot. Did not know about the bus tell now. And yes the wind didn't stop.

Some of these kids still had a war to fight,I look around today and wonder how we became so weak.

Well if that doesn't make your heart ache? Thank God they didn't lose them all!

I'd never heard of this before! Just wow!!

This is when huddling into a big group would have helped, not much but would have kept warm for a while.

The worst school bus fatality incident occurred not here in 1931, but rather just outside of Greeley, Colorado on December 14, 1961. On that cold, wintry day, a school bus driver failed to see the rapidly approaching locomotive on the tracks and pulled into its path on the diagonal crossing. Twenty children were killed on impact and 16 others injured. The driver survived with injuries too.

What a sad story. Mother Nature is real!

Mom nearly died in that storm. She had to go to the road/mailbox and had a very hard time navigating the 200 yards back to the house in the blizzard.

O my gosh!! This would be so scary.... 😥

God bless them all.

I was born and raised on a farm in north east Colorado. I can remember as a very young boy, the afternoon and evenings when the wind hardly blew at all. The comment about the wind blowing all the time is completely wrong in my opinion. I can recall many summers when the wind was not much more than a breeze, unless there was a thunderstorm brewing off to the northwest of our place. Then about 2:30 or 3:30 pm the wind would suddenly switch to the northwest and those thunderheads would come plowing across the land. Most of the time we would get a fair shower, but it never lasted much over thirty to forty-five minutes and it was all over with. Then we usually had a beautiful rainbow in the eastern sky before sunset.

First time hearing of this tragedy

Kind of a weird coincidence but I randomly came across and watched this less than 24 hours before the Humbolt bus accident in Saskatchewan.

THANKS FOR POSTING THIS! I NEVVER HEARD OF THIS EVENT BEFORE! I HAVE HOWEVER DROVE TRUCKS THROUGH THIS AREA OCCASIONALLY IN WINTER! I THINK THAT WHAT THEY CALL SNOW HERE IS WHAT WE CALL HEAVY FROZEN SLEET HERE IN EASTERN KANSAS! WHEN I WAS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL I WAS ON A SCHOOL BUS THAT GOT STUCK IN THE SNOW NORTHWEST OF GARDNER KS! IF I HAD HEARD THIS STORY IN MY VERY YOUNGER DAYS IT WOULD HAVE REALLY SCARED ME! AS IT WAS WE WERE DELAYED ABOUT AN HOUR GETTING HOME! MR WESTHOFF THE BUS DRIVER HIKED TO A NEARBY FARM HOME AND GOT HELP! AFTER A BIT HE RETURNED WITH THE FARMER DRIVING A FARMALL M TRACTOR AND FLAT BED WAGON AND TOOK US TO THE FARM HOUSE! SOON AFTER ARRIVING ANOTHER SCHOOL BUS ARRIVED ACCOMPANIED WITH A TOW TRUCK FROM TUNISON GARAGE IN GARDNER! THE BUS TOOK US THE REST OF THE WAY HOME FOLLOWED BY THE TOW TRUCK. THE TOWNSHIP ROAD GRADER LATER PLOWED OUT THE ROAD AND THE BUS WAS PULLED OUT OF THE DITCH BY THE TOW TRUCK! MY DAD TOLD ME IN CASE OF POSSIBLE BLIZZARDS TO STAY AT THE SCHOOL AND THEY WOULD COME GET US! WE WERE LUCKY BEYOND BELIEF AND DIDNT REALIZE IT AT THE TIME!!

It's interesting how they dealt with this. "If you had a burden to bear, you just kept quiet." I was raised to do this by parents who could have been on this bus had they lived in eastern Colorado. To this day, I just don't talk about 911. I could, but I would break down and be incapacitated to do what I need to do. For a long time, I had nightmares and panic attacks, but they got less and less until now, only occasionally. This and other things are kept on a shelf in my mind. I really don't care to take them down and inspect their contents. To what purpose? Life goes on.

Was this the same storm that has been called “The Children’s Storm”?

I lived in kiowa CO. They are not jokin about the wind

Interesting documentary. I cannot imagine what their young minds endured. I pray the Lord blessed them. My thoughts go to the families affected. 🙏💕

Amazing thank you

My dad told me way back when , if you get stuck in a blizzard and you can see a light in the distance stay in your truck because you will never make it .

I’m reminded of another school bus tragedy - during the surprise devastating hurricanes of 1938. Seven children in Rhode Island as their bus was swamped and swept away. Several had held on right to the foundering bus. The father of four of the children from the bus, and the bus driver himself, watched in horror as they went under. I’m haunted by that story.

So sad... 😔

There are some damn foolish comments here. None of you were there, none of you know the size of the ‘bus’ and know only what the creators have told you. Do a little research. A ‘29 Chevy truck was much smaller than what is depicted in this video. The man used it to haul hay and farm so it was likely a flat bed with a temporary box fashioned into a crude people carrier at best. You cannot compare rural 1931 life to what rural life is today. I guess such short sightedness is to be expected.

with no tech the people had to rely on eyes nose and ears

Why do tragedies always seem to occur on beautiful days?

Im from Towner, the weather is ver bipolar here in Colorado

Darrell Speer was my junior high school science teacher.

They look so cute in their GROWN UP Clothes!

Read about this in elementary school.

In the 80s we had 2 storms that hit and we were snowed in at the school twice.

Holy Cow 🐮 at 14:50 Mary Louise Stonebraker is mentioned. Obviously I had to look into that. I’m a distant relative, Wow!

I love finding this history but it makes me sad I can’t always find more, it makes it worse when stories are forgotten

They never mention who the fifth child was. Three died on the bus and then Arlo died at the farmhouse. There was a fifth child who died after the rescue. Unless I missed it?

We have councilors and such now by the boat load, and the kids are a million times more screwed up.

And how does the Weather Channel "Help" people now?

That's Colorado, I have seen all five seasons at once....

So so sad

Living in Colorado one should learn to carry what will be needed for any type weather-things to stay warm and things to stay cooler and never drive in snowy weather out of city limits.

25:12 😔😭

Seems like fluorescent orange would be an even better color for school buses. Similar to many life jackets. So sad that those parents thought their children were safely tucked away in their classrooms that whole time, having no idea they were dying in a stranded bus.

Terrible Tragedy

I ended up buying a property in upstate New York that is in the Adirondack State Park but we used to get snows that would come from lake Erie so in addition to normal snows we get the Erie the lake effect snows and one year we got five and a half foot of snow what year was that I forget but I remember going to help somebody who lived in a mobile home shovel their roof because it was starting to cave in and after getting done that night I proceeded to walk home which was only a quarter of a mile but by the grace of God I found my house not by seeing it but by walking up to it and touching it I luckily remembered about how many footsteps it was or how many feet it was from my neighbor's house and I'm surprised I did find it cuz I've heard about people getting lost going to the barn or to the outhouse but yeah there was snow just about over my head and it was pretty amazing I've got more stories about that blizzard but I'll tell you what the skiing the next day was some of the most amazing skiing you could imagine on the East coast the stuff that was in the woods which was usually unskillable the boulders and the cliffs we were skiing that stuff it was like skiing the back areas of snowbird or Alta Utah some of the best skiing I have seen anywhere in the whole continent in a little ski area called oh hell what was the name of that damn somewhere by the town called Stratford

People back when had a lot more fortitude than the past few generations. Our ancestors would be ashamed of what we have allowed ourselves to become.

Now our buses are on truck chassis and have big diesels. With chains on the duel wheels on the back they almost never get stuck. Besides theres a million guys like me that have lifted diesel pick up trucks to pull the bus home.

sshhhheeeze my grandpa walked 10 miles to school, barefoot in the snow (j.j.)

4:00 Yes It's Colorado, Anyone who's lives ther for a while KNOWS It can be bright and sunny from sun up till noon then a Blizzard Roles in..Pretty much something to be prepared for. It happened to me and I was Stuck on Highway; Bumper to Bumper from 11:30 a.m from Dillon Eisenhower Tunnel all the way to Golden. didnt make it home until 3 am. turned out TWO semi trucks Jack-knifed next to each other , Blocking both sides of the highway Really Sucked for everyone. Couldnt imagine what these kids went through..

Huddle together, a lot of bodies generate heat.

Very very sad story. The only good thing that came out of this was that they stiffened up the provisions. Which is a huge Miracle. These lives were sacrificed to save others.

DO YOU THINK CHILDREN THESE DAY'S COULD LAST FOR 33 HOURS TOGETHER STRANDED,FREEZING. I DO NOT!

Hello KZfaq Algorithm... We meet again

seatbelts everyone

leave it to the shameful media to exploit their story only to make things even worse. : (

not human , old time religion.

I think the expert should check her dictionary. These poor souls had HYPOthermia, not hyperthermia.

There was not 20 kids in a van the size of a modern mini van. Right from the gitgo you lost your cred.

The bus driver was getting a hundred bucks a month to keep the bus maintained didn't even have a damn window in it. That's the equivalent of getting several thousand dollars a month in today's dollars. Typical example of someone going to the government trough for a free ride.

I'd say it was bigger than a minivan....duh.

How about not 5 mins of intro

In 1931, almost 90 years ago, Five children and a bus driver freeze to death because their school bus was not adequately equipped for extreme cold weather. Some will suggest that this video is not the right time or place to talk about school shootings. So when is the right time, where is the right place? I expressed sadness at this and expressed that because of this event, which made national news at the time, changes were made to improve the safety of children riding school buses. Because of this I have been called a “Raving lunatic”, “Nazi”, and a host of other insults including “Tuna” (whatever that means). All because I have suggested that unlike the tragedy in this video the almost countless school shooting of our time where far more children die there are no laws or regulations passed to even reduce the occurrence of gun massacres in schools, churches, malls, movie theaters and so on. And all of this lack of change is due to the millions of dollars the NRA gives to corrupt politicians in order to continue a system where guns are sold to lunatics who go out and murder children. Then those who fear gun control laws go out and buy tens of millions of dollars of more guns. Then the cycle continues. I don’t think that caring about the sad deaths of children 90 years ago and pointing out reasons why I care about the deaths of children today makes me a Raving Lunatic. I never said I would ban guns. But I do support requiring gun owners to pass a background check, be not mentally ill, not a felon, not under a restraining order. I support requiring guns owners to pass a course and be licensed. I support gun registration, restrictions on private sales, restrictions on the types of guns and accessories and perhaps most important, mandatory gun liability insurance. When the children of this video died their silent voices were heard across America. Changes were made to protect future children from a similar tragedy. But today the silent voices of our children murdered by lunatics with guns are kept silent by the NRA. In 1931 the parents of that time had the sense to take responsibility for a problem and work to solve it. But today the parents of our dead children are not allowed the same right. Instead these parents are threatened, intimidated, harassed. Dead children are said to be fake, never existed, “False flag victims”. Surviving children are not called heroes instead they are called “Crisis actors”, there stories of survival diminished and their character questioned. And for sharing my deeply held belief that we should learn the lesson of this video and do something to protect the children of today I am called a raving lunatic and a Nazi? Fine. What do you call anyone who says “Nobody is gunning kids down enough to justify a total firearms ban”. What do you call that person? I suggest that person is a typical NRA supporter who accepts the NRA claim that EVERYONE has a right to have a gun in America (no regulations) and NO ONE in America has a right to feel safe. (Better go out and buy guns $$ NRA $$ ). Obviously I disagree with the NRA and with those who support the NRA. I think as a nation and as a society we can and should do better.

mother nature has a weird sense of humor

EVERY FARM COULD HAVE HAD ITS OWN WIND GENERATOR: ALL OF THE TECH ALREADY EXISTED.

Every one of those kids are adorable. I see what my grandmother ment when she used to say "kids today are soooooo ugly". Kids today are ugly as sin

Damn global warming !!!!

A sad tragic story but with a positive ending, changes, reforms, progress towards improving school bus safety were made. Such as yellow school buses. So why can't we make any progress today regarding the far more often and more deadly tragedies of school shootings? Because the NRA makes a lot of money promoting the sales of guns to lunatics. The NRA bribes politicians to oppose any improvements in gun safety, you name it, the NRA pays a politician to oppose it. NRA has blood on its hands, as does any one who supports the NRA. How would this bus documentary be presented today? The NRA would promote stories that the "Bus never got stuck in the snow, the frozen dead children were fake, never existed and the survivors were crisis actors". And the parents of the dead frozen children would be vilified as communists, traitors to America and not Christian. This is how the NRA treats the parents of children murdered in school shootings today. Sorry if that offends you. I do respect this video, the tragic story and the heart felt memories of those who lost their loved ones. That is the difference between myself and those who support the NRA. I care about human life and grieve when it is lost. The NRA cares only about making money, no one's life matters to them.

My loving. Mother. Eva. Archuleta. Told. Me. Of. A. Stories. Of. All. Archuletas. Children. Went. Off. To. School. But. Got. Lost. They. Said. They. Walked. All. A. Round. Looking. For. The. School. Mom. Said. They. Walked. The. Too. Of. The. Fence. Post. Till. They. Could. Not. See. Them. Mom. Said. They. We're. Just. Walking. All. Day. Lost. In. A. Big. Snow. Storm. It. Was. Late. In. The. Day. Macario. Archuleta. Said. Where. The. Kids. Elveria.said. They. Went. Off. To. School. But. Not. Home. Yet. Very. Late. So. Macario. Archuleta. The. Father. Went. Out. Looking. For. His. Children. Till. He. Found. Them. Brought. Them. Back. Home. The. Kids. Crying. Telling. There. Father. We. We're. Lost. Did. Not. Know. Witch. Way. To. Go. He e. Told. His. Wife. Elveria. If. The. Weather. Is. Bad. Don't. Send. The. Kids. To. School. Blizzard. Hit. Colorado

16:05 this woman seems to really enjoy this story. Maybe a little too much lol

CUT THE CHEESY BACKGROUND MUSIC ALREADY! IT'S DISTRACTING AND INAPPROPRIATE. SOUNDS LIKE A 50'S SOAP OPERA.