Vindicator file photos

Opinion: February 15, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

FIFTY YEARS AGO: Ice dams were a massive problem in Western Pennsylvania in February 1959, just as they were this year. The photo at left shows an ice jam on French Creek, a mile downstream from Meadville. At right, men from the 19th Engineer Battalion, Fort Meade, Md., cut holes in the ice and set 30-pound TNT charges in sets of three. The exploseives were designed to go off 20 seconds apart, clearing up to 50 yards of ice at a time.