Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-26
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. BURIED IN SNOW. Northwestern Farmers Hived Up
 All Winter. ~ Attacked by Cold and Hunger. Rough Experience of Some Imprisoned
 Families. Obstruction in the Senate. Democrats Filibustering Against
 the Election of Officers. THE WEST.
0 Obstruction in the Senate.
Iowa.

Htved i'm the snow Drifts-A Fearful Tale OfvVfnter suffering-Several Families Weather the Storm TOgether-Their Diet Brought Dow to Ox PeIt Soup. DUBUQUE, March 25.-The story told by
 Joseph Sterrette of Big Lake, D. T., who has just managed to break through the terri ble snow blockade in that section of the country, gives only fair statement of the troubles fastened upon the settlers of the Northwest by the severe winter MT. Ster- rette preempted 16O acres of farm land at Big Lake two years ago and at once moved on it with his family and settled down to work. At the end of one year he was in farming shape and had comfortable cabin for his family. Last year he harvested sixty acres of wheat, twenty bushels to the acre, and realized $12, ,OOO clear. He laid in a quantity of fuel and. prepared for winter,
 but it proved severer than he or his wife had calculated. In fact Sterrette's better prepa- ration for the rigors of the season turned out to be the only means which prevented him
 self and family and several neighbors from
 starving and freezing to death. In February
 he found it necessary to rescue the entire
 families of two neighboring farmers who
 were not so well housed from perishing by
 the extreme cold by taking them all into his
 own house to live. The cold was so steady
 and so bitter that before the season was half
 over the fuel which Sterrette had gathered
 to last until spring was all consumed. Then
 he and the men staying with him went out
 and took down fences and out-houses and
 kept from freezing, breaking them up and
 burning them. At this time the heavy snow
 fell and it was piled in such drifts about
 the house in which Sterrette and his neigh
 bors were domiciled as to absolutely cut of
 all communication with the outside world.
 The mercury fell lower than ever, the winds
 grew fercer and the surrounding snow caked
 and solidifed. At this time the men dug
 their way or rather mined it through the
 ties. which they chopped up into stove wood
 took home and burned to cook their scanty
 food and save their wiv ves and children from
 freezing. When all the ties and telegraph
 poles that could be reached by the most des-
 perate exertions were consumed, it was de-
 cided to dig through to the cabins of those
 sheltered in Sterrette's house and break them up for fuel This was done and every stick was burned. The bitter cold still continuing, to his bedsteads, trunks, and children's toys. While the cold imprisoned pio- neers were upon their last supply of fuel, consultation was held and it was decided to make desperate attempt of driv- ing through the deadly blasts upon the crusted snow for relief. John Becker agreed to go. A q sleigh was prepared and with i've horses hitched to it Becker started. The roadway was dug to the top of the drift and Beck CT succeeded in getting with his team to the top of it and driving over the crust. It was terrible undertaking, and when the brave man left there were tears frozen upon his cheeks. Becker persisted in taking with him a fine shepherd dog. He gave as his req son, q do not know what'l happen. I'd l rather bury Carlo in my belly than have him | freeze to death" Sterrette and his compan- | ions became alarmed when at the end of | two days Becker did not return and they | started out for him. They had not gone far | when they came across large hole in the | drift where Becker had broken through. The | man was found curled up in the bed of the | sleigh frozen dead. His faithful dog was lying huddled up against his breast also dead. | The five horses were standing hfeless upon | their feet all frozen stiff. The men carried | Becker's body back. They made coffin of | the sleigh bed, nailed the corpse up in 1t, and then reverently placed it in corn crib until the weather should permit of it's burial Soon after this, and just as the party were on the point of despair, the weather modera- ted sufficiently to break the snow blockade, and Sterrette and his friends found relief. A family, during all this time, had 10 other food than soup they made from an ox pelt which happened to be in the house when the blockade began. Notwithstanding all this, Mr. Sterrette says the people like she country, and say they will stay and in the future be prepared for severe winters. The and is good, the soil deep black. Most of he settlers are foreigners, and ownership of he land to them is so novel and so precious hat they will not give it up.