The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-02-15
Lost In the Safows..Asiyenturef i'm North
ern Colorado-s.A Night Of Peril I'm q
Fierce Storm, rt.sg At-t Lis n

Lost I'm the Snow..-Adyenturc i'm North.
ern Colorado-.-A Night Of Peril fin q
Fierce storm. n& 2ri Il
From the Greeley tColorado) Tribune, january a.
Tuesday, the Odd of january, 1872, will
long be remembered by the people of North.
crn Colorado. Snow covered the ground,
yet the weather was pleasant, and the noun
tain stood out grandly In the sunlight. On
the afternoon Of this day Jeremiah Fisk left
the Higley coal mine with load of coal for
his home in Greeley. The distance Is four
teen miles. Two teams had gone before
| him, and others were on their way to the
mine. A little after 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 IN 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 fol-
| lows it to the town limits. Not long after
| leaving the lake he heard noise like the
| roaring of great watcr-spout. Instinct
| lively he turned toward the mountains /;
| they were calm and beautiful as in the morn
Ing, but northward, where the Black Hills
| rise from the plains, he saw a vast wall of
cloud approaching with thespeed of whirl-
| wind. The roaring increased. At this in
| slant the frozen tidal-wavc touched the foot
hills and chased the Sunbeams from the
| mountains like an avalanche. The horses
| rushed forward in terror, and Il second later
they were in darkness, the storms sweeping
over them with reSistlcss fury. Snow finer
than the finest flour filed the air so that it
was impossible to see a hundred feet in any
direction. Fisk wrapt buffalo robe around
his neck and shoulders and urged the trem-
bling horses OH, but they could not keep the
road, and IN short time the plain was as
trackless as the sea. After the horses had
left the beaten way they could scarcely walk,
ana 1t was not long before they refused to
move. The darkness increased, and the mer-
curry was rapidly running down to zero.
NO time must be lost. The traces were
unhltched, and mounting the strongest
horse, Fisk attempted to urge him forward:
but he would not so. Then he led them for
time, but finding that it required all his
strength to keep the buffalo robe from blow
ing away, he left the team and pushed on
before the wind, for the wind was his only
compass. The storm increased in violence
every moment, and it soon became dark and
intensely cold. In many places the snow was
dccp, ana more than twenty times the strong
man was hurried into the drifts, SO terrible
was the storm. BY s o'clock the mercury
stood at 10 degrees below zero. The snow
blew from all points Of the coulp:,ss and ucuc-
tratcd every stitch Of his clothing that was not
protected by the robe. lie knew that several
houses We're near, but how could he find
single one of them, when on that very night
the engineers on the railroad were unable to
find the watcr-tank at Pierce station i'm the
darkness. The man knew that death was on
his trail. His strength was failing rapidly,
and the cold increasing with the fury Of the
STERN. All his garments were frozen stiff,
and his cyc-lashcS coated with ice. 1t seems
that he crossed the river few hundred feet
below Boyd's rancho, lut he has only faint
recollection of stumbling down bank and
of dreaming that he might possibly be near a
house. He felt that his time had almost
come TO 90 OF was madness, yet he could
not stop, except to brush away the frozen
tears, for Il wife with her babes are waiting
and praying, not three miles away from his
sinking heart.
lie managed to walk an hour longer. when
a dizziness came on. and his brain rcclcd like
the storm. Then he began digging q hole in
the deepest drift he could find. 1t was like
digging his own grave, for he knew not how
soon he might sink with exhaustion. After
working il long time the ground was reached,
and, then drawing the robe over his head, he
waited ior the SLOW to bury him. The wind
did its work WELL and in an hour eighteen
inches of SHOW covered his roof OF fur.
Never did man long to sleep more than
he, but he knew that if he closed his eyes.
il would be forever. He fought with his
senses like Bunvan's Christian Pilgrim, and
kept awake. Burning pains shot through
his swollen limbs, and his legs crampcd as il
on the rack. and finally something like net
ties lHichlcd in his boots. Then he knew
that his feet were freezing. Was lie to die
after all the hours Of agony! No, he would
keep his muscles moving, and lie did so long
after his toes were frozen stiil. Hour attcl
hour this man fought with death. while
snowy pillows were rolling above his head
At daylight he crawlcd out. Houses were
near. Then he staggered and fell F.; got up
again, and dragged his frozen limbs towarG
the limits of the town. After walking ar
hour he reached Coopcl's ranchc--thc sum
mer residence OF our town clcrk-and pushed
in the back door. Another hour WAS con
slncd in making Il fire. Some matches, &
: piece of candle, and an old broad-;lXc were
found. Then he melted snow i'll pail, and
thawed his frozen feet. He also found dry
clothing and pair OF cavalry boots. Al
though completely exhausted, he started fol
Greeley, 4 distance Of two miles. The mcr
curry was IS degrees below zero, and it took
him an hour to walk q single mile. Often liz
thought he would fall to the ground. The
houses seemed to spin round rs he passed
them, aud familiar streets, in which he saw
children playing the day before, were bu
the landmarks of 4 dream. At last he reached
his fathers gate and staggered to the door
Then there was q rush and scream, and The
next instant a black and bloated face wa;
lyin. on a woman's breast.
TIE P1LoTAGE LAws.-The plea Of thu
shipping interests Of Baltimore before Tho
Legislature for the addition Of the compul
sorry pilotaSc law desc. Is careful considcra
ton and such action rs will remove what i:
at present 4 tax upon the growing commerce
of this port. Granting that it is absolutely
necessary to preserve the system of pilots a
the Capcs OF the Chesapeake, there is Ger
tainly some more proper and just manner o
supporting the establishment than to compe
shipmasters who have sailed the bay for Sc
many years as to be as familiar with it as any