Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-02-11
AWeStern Blizzard.

A ffNHANA A
 The word blizzard" IS aE 1minous one, but the thlng Is worse than the
 word. We here give the experience or a farmer as Hancock, Miun., written Co the Detroit Free Press.
 We were stll two miles from home
 when suddenly the sun was obseuTei. and the air grew cold and chiii in a moment. A darkness as if smoke swept over every hing. Then I remembered why we were going home, and ' gave the horses the whip in earnest. Iashiug them into 2 run. Away of Co the west there appeared to be @ Ieldeu wall sweeping toward us. There Was a hum iu the ar. \ light breeze spraug I'D, grew stronger, and lu one minute be- came 8 gale. The wall came down vitn railroad speed. the roar of it's approach every instant grew louder. From the top of a roll in the prairie We could see Our house, and 1t came pretty near beng our last glimpse of 1t.
 No words will ever convey an intelI- gent idea 0s a blizzard, of the frightiUl r0ar with which 1t rolls down upon you, the bowling and hissing of the wDd. if vou try Go speak, the wind dsshes tle -yiiabl-s from your hps go quickly tlas yuu do not hear yOur own words. In thirty seconds from the time the first snowflake fell I could not see my horses. The atmosphere appeared t1 be all snow, and every flake of It was ID a. hurry to get somewhere before the rest should get there. l could feel a mOuOu to the sleigh, SO that ' knew the horses were still moving.
 The cold was intense. l tried to ass -y wife if she vas suffering, bu- ! could lrt hear my own words.
 During the two or three minutes That Icterveled between the time 1 saw She storm approaching and the moment i- struck us. the horses had ruu at the top 0i their speed, so We were not much over a mile from home. In ten minutes l was chilled through, and l felt that | was freezing. The horses were -lil moving, and although | could not see hem. l lasLed them with the vllJ. it seemed hours since the storm llJ shut us in, and l was just becoming convinced that the horses had got out of the path and that we were lost on the prairie, when there came a sudden lull ,f the fierce wind. The ar was still full of whlrliug snow, but I could see objects about me, and it didn't take long for me to ascertain that We were in -1e barn and were safe. | had left the barn doors open in the morning, and tle horses Lad found their way back. l llTg5 by instinct, hut my neighhN-s tbiuA tt was sheer accident, and declare
 Vauldn't happen again m thOU-- sand years.
 Although We had reached the barn. we were not in the house yet. From a |. .T sc-ds, but as far as seeing # was coz 'e-Irt the house might as well have been m the moon. The little woman helped me J.nharuess the horses and rut them in their stalls. Then [ told her i1 remain where she was and made . break for the house. It IS difficult for any one 10 believe that in binding storm he cannot go twenty yards in a
 ua sufficiently straight to fnj a house. but try it some time,
 After l got into the house l took uaii ot twine. tied one end to the door u1n and succeeded in getting back to the barn, and by following the string We reached tle house arain. For three lays and nights thereafter neither of as ven opened the outer door. When the storm Ceased We could not see the barn. I'D. Aa4' -.lN'f HUI ffAANhA III ArlNN'"it talr house and barn SO deep that it covered the windows on that side of the houae. On tle east side Of the house, however. there was very httle snow The shovel happened Co be in the house and the .iti'e woman and l succeeded in tunnel ing through Co the barn; but We had to carry every shOvelful of be snow taken out of the tunnel through the house and Lr0W It on the east side.
 "Nere the horses all right when ye- got to thcms"
 l0U can safely bet they were glad t0 see me. They were about hali buried iu snow, and they had eaten the bed ding from their stalls. It took ne near ? all the rest of the winter to shovel the snow out of the barn.
 "D1 people on the prairie cre- got us, iu these storms2'
 To ba caught out on the prairie bv blizzard means death and nothing can avert l.. After a settler has been here Jle winter. it's sly old blizzard tras catches him Not so the newcOme~-. They cannot imagine that there is dau- ger at all times. Three people were lost that day iu this vicinity, one 1t hem woman who had been over cross the prairie about a mic Go sec 30 tick -olgIbor. When she saw that a ,-ou was imminent she started for nome ou iout. She never got half way Lere.
 When was her body fouud?"
 Tn the princ. when the snow melted.