Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-11-25
A SNOW STORM.
Extracts from the Report Of Lieut.. J. W. ALERT,
| w.. ON NeW MeIic0.
q. VI. p.

Extracts from the Report Of Lieut.. j. W. ALERT,
ON New Meric0.
The Lieutenant and his party had left Bent's
Fort their return to st. Louis, on the goth Janu-
airy. Such suffering is here detailed has seldom
been exceeded:
february All night the storm ragged with fury as
awful that Of the "tormentes" of Mt. Blanc The pai
Giles of beat with wild rage against my tent while the
a structure quivered and the poles that supported crcak
ed and groaned much that it impossible for to
Sleep Such the force Of the wind that drove the
through the wills of my tent and found my bed
and papers covered with it. During the night heard
of the men, who had got his feet in attempting
the rver imporng Of his companions TO let him get
the wagon with them. The night terribly cod and
feared that ell Of animals would be frozen 10 death be-
re morning. At length morning came, but VIXEN looked
the drifting along in dense clouds OF bard icy
particles, that few along with velocity As The
appear he storm ceased and IL most fortunate
for Us that did now forced my way out Of the
tent, which banked with When looked around
Of destruction presented itself; most OF my
had lain down the ground TO Sleep hut not Of
them could he seen. called aloud they heard rot be
ing covered beneath the deep went TO the wag
ems; in found Pilka and Laing in the other, two
three men, Of whom had been very III since leaving
Bents Fort He rushing towards me half distracted
bis shirt covered with snow his bead bare and crouhng a.
my feet, be implored me TO take him to house. d, Lieu
tenant, take me a house shall freeze death I'm
freezing I'm freezing" His arms drawn up and
shtn,d his body almost paalyzed with cold took the
poor fellow and put him IN my bed, and covered him
with blankets aud buffalo robes it all could DO.
We searched about and found the by the aid Of
the cracks the surface Of the snow caused by the
of the restless seepes Covered the heavy mantle Of
snow they had kept extremely warm and the chill air
| felt To them in'oerabe.
February 2l.This morning Is the first time for hysi
hours tina, any has ven,acd My men bad their
visions ready cooked, and shared them with Mr. Browns
party. OF all the tens that had been pitched Friday night
mine the only which still remained The bad
heaped up around the that the inmates obliged 10
desert thea and take refuge in the wagons About nine the
wind bad swept in such TO keep open path around
il, although The level with the ridgepole OF
the We broke up boards that in the
wagons and kindled little Gre. Soon the rose but,
instead Of sun, bad three all seemed Of equal bril-
lancy but, they continued 10 rs the middle one only
retained It's circular om, while the others shot into huge Coz
umns Of fire, which blended with the their SUBMITS.
The breadth Of the columns that Of the suns apparent
diameter, and their height sbout twelve times the same dame
ter they between twenty and thirty degrees distant nom
Before the had risen than ten degrees this
phenomenon entirely disappeared Of the called
my attention 10 this strange appearance hut enctossed were
they with their caames that they hardly seemed 10 be
| in the least astonished at what they
Afcr little while missed Preston and the sick
we inquired but no one knew any thing about them. II
now evident that they had been buried beneath the d
which for distance around had flied the nook in which
had encsmpcj the level Of he prairie the din was
Of considerable extent much time would I've wasted in ex-
aiming IT, could find whore they had pitched their
At last noticed poor fellow digging away TO lind
his boots be showed where the sick man had been.
called the men, and Immediately set 10 work. The
six eet Deep end had only little piece Of boad 10 dig
WITH and the cold great that could work very
long before his hands became perfectly rigid After good
deal Of hard digging found pair OF boots which
cognised by the Pes,ons property This urged
renewed exenions lenewe cleared the from por
ton Of his buffalo robe and lifting vi, got sight Of the
poor fellows face he cried in weak voice, Begging
for Gods sake not leave him to die We assured him
would not fsake him, and again covered bis face until
could remove more of the having dug far lis
waist five oen caught hold Of him drag him oct but the
had been moist and packed very hard and he
held tight by the tent which bad been broken down Ivy the
pressure Of the however, dug little until we
could get at the rdge.poe of the tent which in
with our axes We now drew Preston Of The dh which
had liked to proved his grave. HIS bedcow who had
been much weakened by sickness already dead he was
the man whom had dragged from Jscksors grove TO
"Pawnee Fork !" where he Rad been picked up by Mr..
Brown since which time be had been recovering Poor
fellow 4, was his destiny leave bis Zones the desert
pairies where wolves howl his requiem. caused the
to dig him also out Of the d, and put bis bo into
wagon, order that might bury him at the Cotton wood
Fork.
Several mules had already been frozen TO death. As
proceeded mules that had started of in apparently good
don would drop down in the harness. and their limbs would
become PERFECTLY rigid Even Of the oxen fell down be-
numbed with cold In few hours lost six mules and
OK, that cur road marked out with dying animals As
we approached our destined camp ground, wolf that
badly frozen TO I've unable TO move. One OF the
men pot an end to its sufferng BY bule, froa bis rifle.
Il
The hope Of happiness bridge out Of sunheams
and the cors Of the rainbow which carries " over the fright