Soo Line #X-17 Jull type snow plow 
Soo Line #X-17 Jull type snow plow
With a polar vortex bearing down on the U.S. midwest, these photos from Lucille Watne’s photo album seem appropriate.
This Jull type snow plow, Soo Line #X-17 (see the railroad reporting mark on the side of the railcar in the second photo), was operated by the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company (M.St.P.&S.S.M.), also known as the Soo Line for the phonetic spelling of Sault. [2]
The Soo Line was a grain and timber products carrier operating in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana, and providing U.S. connections for the Canadian Pacific Railway. [3]
Most rotary snow plows are of the Leslie type, featuring a large circular plow blade rotating on a shaft parallel to the tracks. The Jull type however has a large spiral screw rotating diagonally across the front of the plow. Both types were invented by and designed by Orange Jull, a Canadian inventor. Between 1890-1892, 11 of the Jull type were built, but all were eventually scrapped. [4]
The Railroads of Montana and the Pacific Northwest website has more photos and information about this very same Soo Line #X-17. [4]
That website refers to many postcards of #X-17 in circulation taken near Dooley, Montana, during the Feb 1916 blizzard. Lucille’s photos however appear to be original, not postcards. Her photos are not labeled with place or date. Perhaps the grain elevator in the first photo can be identified. Is this in Hannah, North Dakota?
References:
[1] KMS Family Genealogy Digital Archive, Hannah Elva Lucille Porter Watne collection (photograph).
[2] Wikipedia, “Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad.”
[3] Soo Line Railroad Company: An Inventory of Its Company Records at the Minnesota Historical Society, Manuscripts Collection.
[4] Railways of Montana and the Pacific Northwest.