The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-02-18
Lost In tho snovv-A Night OF Peril In
p ElsEce Storm.

Oh GOftnern COioraQO. 6nOW covered
the ground, yeEthe weather. was plea
SAINT. and the noun ntain stoodi out grandly
in the sunlight On the afternoon Of
this day, Jere%iah Fisk lef. the Higley
home In Greeley. The distance is four.
teen miles. Two teams had gone before
him, nnd others were on their way to
the mine.> A little after 4 O'Clock, when
in sight OF town. he passed two Of his
neighbors. who were cutting ice in a,
lake seven miles Northwest Of Greeley.
The Cache Ia Poudre River lay at the
foot Of the slope, about two miles due
South of him, and the road leads almost
directly down to the river, and follows it
to the town limits. Not long after leav-
ing the lake, he heard noise like the
roaring Of great water-spout. Instinct
lively he turned toward the mountains;
they were calm and beautiful as in the
morning, but Northward, where the
Black Hills rise from the plains, he saw
vast wall nf cloud approaching with
| the speed of whirlwind. The roaring
Increased. At this instant. the frozen
tidal wave touched the foot hills and
chased the sunbeams from the noun
tains like an avalanche. The horses
rushed forward In terror, und second
later they were in darkness, the storms
sweeping over them with resistless fury.
Snow finer than the finest flour filled
the mir. so that it was impossible t's see
hundred feet III any direction. Fisk
wrnpt buffalo robe around his neck
and shoulders, and urged the trembling
horses on, but they could not keep the
road, and in n short time the plain was
AS trackless as the sen. After the horses
had left the beaten way, they could
scarcely walk, aud it was not long before
they refused to move. The dnrkuess
increased. and tho mercury was rapidly
running down to zero.
No time must be lot. The traces were
unhitohed, and mounting the strongest
horse, Fisk attempted to urge him for
ward; but be would not go. Then he
led them for time, but finding that it
required all his strength to keep the buf
falo robe from blowing away, lie left the
team and pushed on before the wind, for
the wind was his ouly compass. The
storm Increased in violence every mo-
ment, and it soon became dark and in :
tensely cold. In many places the snow
was deep, and more than twenty times
the strong man was hurled into the drifts,
SO terrible was the storm. BY o'clock
the mercury stood at ten degrees below
zero The snow blew from oil points Of
the compass and penetrated every stitch
Of his clothing that WAS not protected by
the robe. He knew that several houses
we're near, but how could he end sim
gle one of them, when on that very
night the engineers on the railroad we're
unable to find the water tank at Pierce
Station in the darkness. The man knew
that death was on his trail. His strength
was failing rapidly. and the cold increas-
ing with the fury of the storm. All his
garments were frozen stiff, and his eye
lashes coated with ice. It seems that he
crossed the river few hundred feet be-
low Boyd's ranche, but he has only O
faint recollection of stumbling down O
bank aud Of dreaming that he might
possibly be near house. He felt that
his time had almost come. To 90 on
was madness, yet he could not stop, e1-
cept to brush away the frozen tears, for
wife with her babes are waiting and
praying, not three miles away from his
sinking heart.
| He managed to walk an hour longer,
when a dizziness came on, and his brain
reeled like the storm. Then he began
digging hole in the deepest drift he
could find. 1t was like digging his own
grave, for he knew not how aoon ho
might sink with exhaustion. After
working long time the ground was
reached, and, then drawing tho robe over
his head, he waited for the snow to bury
him. The wind did it's work well, and
in m hour eighteen inches of snow
covered his roof of fur. Never did
man long to sleep more than he. but he
knew that if he closed his eyes, it would
be forever. He fought with his senses
like Bunynn's Christian Pilgrim, and
kept awake. Burning pains shot through
his swollen limbs, aud his legs cramped
ns if on the rack. aud finally something
like nettles prickied in his boots. Then
he knew that his feet were freezing.
Was he to die after all the hours of
agony? No.'he would keep his muscles
moving, and he did 30 long after his toes
were frozen stiff. Hour after hour this
man fought with death, while snowy
billows we're rolling above his head.
At daylight he crawled out. Houses
were near. Then he staggered and fell;
got up again, and dragged his frozen
limbs toward tho limits of the town.
After walking an hour he reaohed
Cooper's ranche-the summer residence
0F Onr town clark Duoha1 ~ tLo