Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-02-15
WESTERN BLIZZARD.

- but the thing Is s,,anaa worse 'nan III 'hs
500. at Hancock, Mimi, and written
, s,bs Detroit Free Press
pu ors still two miles from home
NeEadanly the sun was obscured,
sben su a;r grew chill and cold in mo
sna A darkness as OF smoke passed
rfn'..vervthing. Then l remembered
Osel s es we're going home, and gave the
FhY ". ,he whip in earnest, lashing them
hcfSes .nu AWAY off to the west there
Dto , ~ IL. 70 be leaden wall approach
sas There WAS a hum in the air. A
p hreeze sprang up, grew stronger,
bG1. one minute became gale. The
ssa ~ ns mo down with railroad speed. the
ssh 'a ;ts approach every moment
rol roUo ~ louder. From the top of roll
ges~ g,ss ~prairie we could see the house,
ny AZ 4 came pretty near being our last
glimpse Of it. .,rou On ;r,e,,;,.n
~ blizzard. of thesfrightful rear
nss ~ ~ rb;ch it rolls down upon you, the
VIZ Ii;ro and Kissing of the wind. If you
no, ansak. the wind dashes the syl' =
W t,nm vour lips 80 quickly that you
nn, neo hear YOUR own words. In thir y
ead eaands from the time the first snow
80 fell could not SEQ my horses. / .le
a.mosphere appeared to be all snow, and
s,.ry fake of it was III hurry to get
s'~ssvbere s'oss before the rest should get
spa,s could feel a notion to
w I SLEIGH. so that / knew the horses
.s,s W. stilI moving. The cold was in
.e~ss s,as tried to ask my wife if she was
sufsrinp. but / could not hear my own
words. A..
ineryened between the time saw the
storm approaching and the time 1t
Sruck us, the horses had run at the top
If their speed, so we were not much
orsr a mile from home. In ten
s;nutes / was chilled through, and l
"a that was freezing. The horses
we're sill moving, aud, although l could
m. see them. | lashed them with the
vhip. II seemed hours since the storm
had shut US in, and | was just becoming
convinced that the horses had lost the
path and we were lost on the prairie
when there came lull in the fierce
Wind. The air WAS still full of whirling
mov. but could see no objects about
me. and it did not take nee long to see
that We we're in the barn and were safe.
had left the barn doors open in the
morning and the horses had found their
Say back, think by instinct, but my
psiQhbors say it was sheer accident, and
declare it would not happen again III a
thousand years.
Although we reached the barn we
we're not in the house yet. From the
barn to the house is about twenty yards,
but as far as seeing it is concerned, we
might as we'll have been in the moon.
The little woman helped me unharness
the horses and put them in their stalls.
Then | told her to remain where she
vas, and made q break for the house. 1t
ia dificult for any one to believe that in
q binding storm he cannot 90 in a line
straight to find a house, but
Try it sometime!
After | got into the house took ball
Of twine, tied one end to the door-knob.
and succeeded in finding the barn, and
by following the string we reached the
house again. For three days and nights
thereafter neither of US even opened the
outer door. When the storm ceased we
could not see the barn, for the snow had
piled ia so deep between the barn and
tho house that it covered the windows on
that side. On the east side, however,
here was very little snow. The shovel
to be in the house, and the
title woman and succeeded in tunnel
" through the barn; but We had to
lrry every shovelfal through the house
nd throw it on the east side."
"Were the horses all right whom you
Dt to them?"
"You can safely bet they were glad to
y me. They were about half-buried
snow, and had even eaten the bed
ing from their stalls. 1t took NE nearly
! the rest of the winter to get the
,ow out Of the barn.
"Do people out on the prairies ever
st lost in these storms?"
ITO be caught out on the prairie in
lizard means death, and nothing can
vert it. After q settler has been there
ne winter, its sly old blizzard that
stches him. Not so with the newcomers.
hey cannot imagine that there is dan
Or at all times. Three people were lost
nat day in this vicinity, one of them a
roman, who had been over the prairie
bout mile to a sick neighbours. When
10 saw that storm was imminent. she
arted on foot for home. She never got |
alf way there"
when was her body found?"
In the spring, when the snow |
elted."