Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-02-16

Deputy Marshal B. A. Bracket, accompa
MED by j.. D. Guuree, Esq, of Madison, Wis,
arrived in st. Paul last evening by the st. P. &
M. main line train, fresh from an imprison.
ment Of twelve days in snow bound section
| of Swift county. Their experiences have been
severe rather than dangerous, but have served
to impress upon them the hardships and dan.
| gers which this winter of SHOWS has brought
upon the scattered, poor and unorganized set.
tiers of that region. They went to Benson
| from st. Paul on the S1st ult. and the next
| day went across the country to
Lac qui Parle. On their way
they noticed hazy and windy appearance of
the sky. Wednesday the wind had increas.
ed and snow was falling. Thursday, having
become impatient, they started out and sue.
ceeded in getting to Appleton, although they
had to make their way through the thickly
flying snow. Friday and Saturday the snow
ject could be discerned if few rods away.
Sunday the storm abated but
ing and Estout wind blowing Tuesday
was singularly fair and quiet and Wednesday
they made an effort to leave Appleton, having
three strong teams to break
a., road, road, but 1a after proceeding
abandon the attempt and return to Appleton.
Thursday and Friday the worst blizzard of the
season prevailed and a fresh one, still worse,
came on Saturday. Meantime Mr.. Gurnee had
arranged with party of Norwegians to outfit
themselves with snow shoes and to rig up
hand sled, on which they could draw him or
their supplies as might be necessary. Hearing
Of the determination of Messrs. Bracket and
Gurnee to try and get through to Benson, the
road broken out, contributed lib
to send a working party through
to Benson with them to break a road and
make it passable. Sunday morning opened
clear and calm, though very cold, and at 10
A. NJ. the party started 1t consisted, be
sides Messrs. Brackett and Gurnee of fifteen
men wore snow shoes and acted as pilots,
drawingS Gurnee's sled. About five milss
from Appleton they struck the deep snows-
three to five feet deep on the level with drifts
of fifteen feet in depth. From there progress
was slow and exceeding tiresome. The best
teams were put ahead, the lead team being
changed occasionally, or as fast as
At the Cottonwood river the party halted
and the horses were fed and rested On the
way the horses were frequently down, and at
last the only effective way of rallying them
was to feed them oats as they lay in the snow
until they had forgotten how badly stalled
they were. Within four miles of Benson they
struck partly broken road and the advance
teams of the party, with one of which Mr.
Gurnee was walking, got into Benson at 10
P. NJ, having been twelve hours ON the road,
in making distance of twenty-eight miles.
Major Brackett, who accompanied one of the
lighter teams, got into Benson at A. NJ Mon
day, having been fifteen hours on the road
These gentlemen depict the condition of
most of the people in that region of country,
according to their observation and what they
heard from others, as most pitiable. They
have no communication with the outside
world, and but little with their nearest neigh
bors. In many sections it is impossible to
work a team of horses through the drifts, and
the settlements are too new and widely scatter
ed to allow of organization for opening the
snow blocked roads. In Lac qui Parle and
Swift counties there is distressing lack of
1pel. 1pel Hay ,,l., has been burned until mt
unthreshed wheat, interior partitions and
doors of houses and furniture are being burned
for cooking and for heating houses where
necessary. But there is an economy of fire
such as no one could imagine who had not
seen how these poor people get along with the
lcdSt pOSblUl6 6ApGuulGlIG Vi Uu6lI precious
fuel. The hotel at Appleton had only three
sticks of wood left at 10 A. NJ. Sunday, and in
the whole village of four hundred or more in
habitants there was not to exceed half cord
of wood and about three tons of coal. One
man who had 300 pounds of coal left felt it
not prudent to let his neighbors know
how much he had on hand. On the
way between Appleton and Benson our
travellers stopped at the few settlers houses
their road These not r,roudo6
with enough wood to even make cup of tea
and it was the misfortune of Major Bracket
and his section of the party to stop for tea at
house where the snow was so deep the fam
lily could not reach either the barn or their
grain stacks and hadn't even a spare chair
round left to use for making fire. A chair
round would have been worth a few dollars
then and there.
The reports at Appleton and Lac qui Parle
as to the situation of the prairie settlers were
alarming. They were repres ented to be burn
ing their furniture, their unthreshed grain
and the partitions and inside doors
of their houses. Snow drifts pre-
vented them from moving about.
The settlers were too scattered to unite in
breaking roads. In some instances they could
not reach their barns and cattle. Between
Montevideo and Benson there was a story and
a half frame house buried three feet out of
sight under the snow, through which the
family have painfully tunnelled way to their
one wheat stack, which they are using for
fuel.
Westward the situation of the settlers must
be even more desperate. AtMorris our trav-
elers were informed that resident of that
place had received dispatch announcing that
his daughter was frozen to death in her home
twelve miles west of Ortonville on Sunday.
Her husband, who sent the dispatch, entreat-
ed the father to come to him. but that would
be impossible. No one man could break his
way through the great snow drifts of that re-
gion.
81 have lived in this country for twenty-six
years." says Major Bracket, ''and never be-
fore saw the like If there should happen now
a very protracted season of very cold weather,
fear hundreds of people on that frontier
would perish. The railroad is doing all it
can to open the Morris & Browns Valley
branch, but it cannot be opened for several
days, and meantime these people are suffer-
ing"
Wrecked by the SuotC.
MONMOUTH, ILL.,, Feb. Yesterday.
four miles north of this place, the Chica-
go, Burlington & Quincy railroad pas