Swem Services

About Swem Services

Chatham takes its winters straight: the clouds come off Superior, drop across the Rock River country, and by morning the fields at the edge of the village are one unbroken sheet with fence posts for punctuation. Swem Services is out in that, plowing driveways and yards open, banking the snow back off the turnaround so there is somewhere to put the next storm. Walks get cleared to the step, and the icy stretches — the shaded north side, the slope by the garage — get treated before anybody has to test them. Between M-94 and the national forest the houses sit far apart, and a cleared drive is what connects them to the rest of the day. There is a plain pride in finishing a route while the woods are still dark and the plow lights are the only thing moving.