Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-01-28
THE MANITOBA WAVE.
What is il and Where Does Il Come
From,

THE FROZEN LAND OF THE EXTREME NORTH
wEsT-CoAPOSITION AND HABITS OF THE
''BIEzZARD"-wHEAr LANDS ALMOST ON THE
ALASKA B0RDER-LIFE AND WINTER SCENES IN
THE UPPER COUNTRY
From the Brooklyn Eagle.
II is little queer how storm ceuters. or rather
the birth places of storm centers obey the rigid
rules and regulations of civilization. A few
centuries ago, the sturdy Dutchman roOsting on
the battery, or may be as far uptown as Bowl
ing Green, when he felt cold shiyer run I'D his
back, or twitch of rheumatism in his hip, in
formed his wife that Harlem wave was coming
and went for his schnapps vigorously. A little
later, when huge shoes went out and tight boots
came in, every mans corn was his weather
bureau, and as the tide of population rolled
away from the coast. the origin of the wintry
blasts fled before it, until the man with twing-
ing toe figured out of his consciousness the con-
yictiOn that an Albany wave was on its deyas-
tating track south. Later still. when the de-
iaulting bank cashier had given up financing for
farming and moved as far out as the Ohio
border, he cast longing looks toward the
forests of Michigan. satisfied that in them win
ter took its rise, and from them he must expect
every breed of disaster to his wood crop and
water pipes.
The impression that cold snaps are created i'm
specified localities is wide spread, though one
must admit on reflection that the localities are
migratory. There are citizens of Brooklyn who
can remember when Minnesota and even Wis
consin were the hot beds of cold waves "a per-
1ectly proper expression, for between cold aud
heat there is only n difference in degree); they
have learned now to look beyond those states
ana this generation has settled down to pro-
found faith that winter is made up in Manitoba
and shipped east or south, as the market may
be advantageous.
il q of
bureau that cold snaps originate in that terri
tory, and the estimable Mr.. PrObs becomes
ecStatlc IN his sOemnty when northwest wind
affords opportunity for warning to look out
Tor falling temperature" superinduced by the
influences of that locality. And careless people
take it in good part. albeit inclined to wonder
what the Manitoba person thinks of it and how
he manages to scratch along. As a matter of
TACT, the Manitoba man is comparatively a
happy creature, for he turns a cOntemptuOus
pack on the simple minded Brooklyn man who
tnlnks ms Jumps OF cold come from the 'great
wheat land" and in turn looks away to the
country northwest of him for the cause of his
augmented plumbers bill He has righteous
and riotous disgust for any bureau that holds
MIN responsible for the variations in eastern
country beyond as explanatory OF the discom-
iorts mat sweep down through the states.
ALASKA.
1t must be conceded that the winters in Mani
toba are cold and heartless. but the little terri
tory is paradise to the bleak land that rolls
turbnlently toward the Alaska border Arctic
research has scarcely developed more sterile
and cherries aspect than the broken. lonely eX-
panSe That reaches to the Rocky Mountains.
from the northwest corner of Manitoba to the
NOrth saskatchewan river lies q tract that in
winter might be the ghost OF all the extinct vol
canoes Here the winds have never been tanned
"a md ra,,
the SHOWS never sullied by the touch of the civil
Hed boot And it is here that the wind and the
SNOW meet IN savage marriage. whose offspring
Is the blizzard. and it is the old haggard and
worn out blizzard, enfeebled by dissipation,
around Manitoba. perhaps but Dakota and Min
nesOta as we'll that comes crawling down to the
Atlantic coast, suddenly to find itself rehabi-
tated. as it were, at least dignitied by the high
sounding title, bearing official stamp. of MANI
tOba wave"
1t is no more Manitoba wave than it is an
Arizona zephyr; NO more than California man
is Colorado taxpayer because he travels
through that state on his way to New York
In It's youth and yigOr. the blizzard is an ex-
istence that challenges admiration Comparcd,
with IL the blasts that sweep across the eastern
states, even on the coolest nights of the Atlantic
winters, are but Florida puffs. Rising i'm a
country almost as blank as northern Siberia, in
a iand where the thermometer ranges at fifty
nFe degrees below zero (and the lowest regis
ter found by North Polar navigators-is sixty
nine below it tears along the wretched, ragged
reslon tnat spawned 1t, as relentless as DEATH
a white, snow ridden, rasping shaft OF frozen
air, constituencies and altogether unloyelv. 1t
is estimated that a blizzard will. if in GOOD
health. travel at velocity of hundred and
sixty miles an hour. Dakota men mt the
speed OF their gales at a hundred and twenty
miles, put those are only side billiards.. The orig
mai article. the native ofthe Canadian northwest
territory. does business at the rate of hundred
and sixty, and it is the split up. meteoric gusts.
that really don't belong to the genuine comet.
but only figure on the outskirts, bearing the
same relation to the blizzard postmaster does
to the Presidency. that we get, and which we
are pleased to term the great cold wave. So far
from getting any blizzard, it takes most all of
the most industrious TO freeze the average
NJ anitOba man.
Characteristic of the blizzard. hailine from
the extreme northwest, is, that it does best in
i;nr weather 1t ls not accompanied by snow
storms. though it appears to be frightful snow
furry. from the amount of fakes it picks from
the hllitops and carried with it. Nor is it a
wide institution. Its path is. comparatively
narrow, something like that of the south
western tornado only the latter is a cylinder
that bumps along from town to town, while the
former is long. narrow band, better illustrated
Dy piece OF white tape. 1t is said that nothing
can withstand it. and the only well authenti,
Gated case OF successful adversary to the biz
A~hN 10 thot Va q utuic III uOftIleIQ Montana. The
mule was on the prairie grain. on some barrel
slaves, thrown to him by kind hearted driver
OF the Fort Benton and Helena stage, when
blizzard hit him squarely on the bridge of the
nose. 1t appears that the mule had been born
and raised in that neck of the woods, and was
comparatively posted as to the habits of his
enemy. He knew ifhe turned tail the blizzard
had him. and that he would probably land i'm
Washington and be reported as a Manitoba
mule, with falling, followed by rising. barometer
and clear or cloudy weather and light thunder
showers or snow. So he stood his ground
faced his enemy and began to kick. He had
nothing but thin air to kick against, but that
answered his purpose. and, after fourteen
hours OF desperate battle. the blizzard gave it
up and went over another line 1t is recorded
that the kicking of the mule created a vacuum
that took three weeks to fill in.
But no white man has ever been known To
stand against a blizzard. A horse will turn and
seek shelter under bluff, and no amount of in
dustrious bettlng OF his ancestry will induce
him to come out until he hears that the blizzard
has gone. and then he'll hang around LITTLE
while awaiting confirmation of the report.
The poet who wrote about the descending
night finding the whole earth frozen. probable
got MS inspiration from patch of scenery
bounded on the north by woodshed. on the
east by rail fence. on the south by cherry
Tree and on the west by a hen COOP. He wouli
possibly revise his views. could he comnara the
/ a. ot.p,nn -.