The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-04-30

1
"Thc papers want to know what ,
blizzard Is, and they turn mp their nosc
at the word, but them rs have ben ther,
can't see where the joke comes in. Nv,
shook hands with one or two billiards,
and here are the aflidavies TO prove it,
He drew off his boots. Three toei
were missing from the right foot, ant
| the big toe alone remained on the left
Two fingers were gone from left hand
one car shrivelled out of shape, and hi
nose seemed TO have no life in it. lie
was rough looking old chap, and he
was warming his heels on the steam
pipe in the cabin ofa ferry boat along
with several other passengers.
"Well, what is blizzardT" asked
one of the crowd as the old man pulled
his boots on. ..
"What's the weather here to-day?p
"Two below"
"Well, you add five or six degrees to
IL, take off your clothes and walk around
three hours and you'll have slight
comparison. A blizzard hain't 'zactly 9
two-edged sword nor bullet. but il
lives next door to 'em. You'd better
twice over be cotched in a tornado. I'd
tdhc tnC CnduCtS VI OutfullnluS u pIdl-
rie fire quicker'n livin' through Jinua
ry blizzard"
"Tell us about EN-"
''The first one / ever seed," said the
old man as he held up the stumps of bis
missing fingers, "was down in Nebras.
ka, close to the west line. l had a
rancho and was well fixed. The livin'
room fur me and three herders was
about twenty feet squar', with big
stove in the middle. On the 18th day OF
Jinnary, 1859, there wasn't flake OF
snow on the ground, and at O'Clock
in the afternoon il was warm enough
to 90 in my shirt sleeves. Half All
hour before the sun went down the sky
was clear and blue. | stood lookin' of
at herd of horses, fcelin' as if wanted
to go bar'fut, when all at once a shivcr
climbed over me. 1t was as if ice-wa-
ter had been poured down my back.
Thar was a moanin', roarin' sound
away to the westward. another shiver,
aud next mint it was dark and the bliz-
zard had come. Quicker than l can
tell you the sky turned black and night
set in, and mountains of snow CANE
boomin' along before gale blowin'
eighty miles an hour"
"Well2" said some one as the old
man paused.
"Wall, there she was. That biz
zard was born in the Rockies. She
whirlcd around and round, gettin'
stronger every mint, lifted herself out
of some awful canyon, tore the crags
and peaks and finally tumbled down on
the level and started eastward, mad as
grizzly and powerful as million run
away horses! Them three herders war
emit half mile away, and all mounted,
but yet only one reached the cabin. The
other two were struck as dumb and
numb as if struck with cannon balls, and
they waren't out of their saddles mint
before they were covered with snow"
"Must have been cold"
"Cold! Mabbo 1t wasn'tl | didn't
have no thermometer to look at, but
didn't want one. Our jug of whiskey
frozc solid and split the jug in ten min
it's. Frost settled on the taller candle
within an inch of the light. Every
board in the ranch popped and cracked
with cold. We had big stove, but the
fuel was mostly under shed fifty feet
away. thought to go after load, but
as l opened the door fell back as if ten
housand needles had been fired into
my face. That one breath of tho bliz-
zard frOze my nose and car"
"And you were out of fucl?'
eyes, in half an hour 1 burned mp
stools. benches, table and all else that
would burn, but after midnight the fire
went out. Then lost my toes-frost
bitten even when | was dancing over
the floor. Ours was a tight cabin, and
yet there was a foot of snow on the
1oor before daylight. The awfnl wind
drove it through every crevice. Did
you ever hear the gale which goes with
a blizzard? Well, you'll face cannon
sooner than hear it second time. The
wind screamed louder than locomotive
whistle. 1t ragged and raved like a
giant in chains aud it struck down
every living thing it came to.
Gan at once it would stop blowing
for half a mint, and the stiffness would
be awful. Then I'd hear it sighin' and
groanin' afar off, as ifpoor lost children
were cryin' for home. Then the groan-
in would change to screech-the
screech to wild shrek, and the gale
would whirl round and round the
cabin as if bound to lift il from the
earth in its teeth. The gallo knocked
over trees hundred years old, and
oiled rocks weighing thousand tons
iown upon the level"
"And about your stock?'
"Whcn that blizzard struck my ranch
had 800 cattle, 2000 sheep and about
100 hosses, all alive and kickin'. 1t died
way about daylight, and after an
lour's work we got out of the cabin
md through the snow. Far as the eye
,ould reach all was dead level. Gulch-
IS, ravincs and dips had been filed up
With from five TO thirty feet of snow.
every horse, sheep and steer had gone
lown to die and be cofllned in white,
md We two, frostbitten and frozen,
we're fifty miles from any white man.
Don't snecr at a blizzard You'd better
meet thousand she tigers"