Snowbound in the Sierra: A Desperate Struggle to Survive the Winter of 1949

It was February 12, 1949, and the West was in the grip of a brutal winter. A massive snowstorm had swept across California, leaving over 4,000 people stranded in the Feather River canyon near Quincy. The storm had also brought with it howling winds of up to 70 miles per hour and temperatures plummeting to below zero.