Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1883-01-12
A BLIZZARD.
An Adventure In One of the Fearful
Storms Of the Northwest.

! srrlng, the GRAPHIC prints the follow
ing vivid description of Blizzard
which is one Of the peculiar production:
= of that region. 1t is taken from the
, DetyMI Press OF a recent issue: Tht
settler gives description of his frs
experience OF 'bllzzard". and add.
: that 1t takes mighty smart blizzard te
catch an old settler out. 1t is the new
: comers who are usually caught and one
experience generally suffices He says
About one O'Clock while we were ir
a dry goods store, the merchant who
had stepped out moment before, said
to us: Il don't like to drive away my
customers, but blizzard is coming
from the west, and is coming fast. The
telegraph announces tina: it has reach
Morris. That is forty miles from here,
but it is coming at the rate of forty
miles per hour SO you have got no time
to spare ifyou are going home to-day.
He rolled up our purchases as he
spoke, and appeared in hurry to ee,
rid of us. When we got outside of the
store the FIRST thing that attracted my
attention was the fact that of all the
teams in the street when we arrived,
not one remained excepting mine; ev-
!, erybody had scudded for home. Even
then l did not hurry. The sun was
still shining brightly, with not the faint
est suggestion of stor M apparent
anywhere. Before we had got mile
from town l had forgotten all about the
coming storm. and the horses were jog
ging at Their will.
We were still two miles from home,
when the sun was suddenly obscured,
and the air grew cold and chill in a
moment. A darkness as OF smoke
swept over everything. Then l re-
membered why we were going home,
and gave the horses the whip in earnest
lashing them into run. Away off to
the west there appeared to be a leaden
wall sweeping toward US. There was
hum in the air. A light breeze sprung
up, grew stronger, and in one moment
became gale. The wall came down
with railroad speed, the roar Of its ap-
proach every instant growing louder.
From the top of a roll IN the prarie we
could see our house, and 1t came very
near beng our last glimpse OF It.
No wolds will ever convey an INTEL
ligent idea of fthe blizzard of the fright.
full roar with which it rolls down upon
you; of the bowling and the Kissing of
the wind. If you try to speak the
wind dashes the syllables from your
ll2s so quickly that you do not hear
your own words. In thirty seconds
from the time the first snow flake fell
l could not see my horses. The atmos.
phere appeared to be all snow, and ev-
cry flake of it was in a hurry to get
somewhere before the rest should get
there. l use the word flake but that is
wrong. No fakes could be distin-
guished. The whole atmosphere was
filled with one big fake that hemmed
lis in on all sides. Although Mabel's
head was only a foot from mine
could not see her features and could |
only dimly see her form. 1 tried to
peer downward beside the sleigh to see
the track, but l might as well have
tried to see the earth beneath snow
bank. l could fee! motion of the
sleigh so that knew the horses were
still moving. The cold was intense. l
trled to ask my wife if she was suffer-
ing. but l could not hear my own voice.
During the two or three minutes that
interviewed between the time that saw
the storm approaching and the moment
it struck us the horses had run at the
top Of their speed, so we were not''much
over mile from home. 1t did not
seem possible for the horse to keep the
track. No one could live an hour in
that Storm. The only hope lay in the
horses being able to keep to a track
that was being builed deeper and
deeper every instant tits isn't pleas
ant to sit still and freeze to death. In
ten minutes l was chilled through and
l felt that was freezing. The horses
were still moving. and although could
not see them lashed them with the
whip. 1tseemed hours since the storm
had shut us in, and l was just becom-
ing convinced that the horses had got
out of the path and that we were lost
on the prairie, when there came sud-
den lull of the fierce gale. The air was
sill full Of whirling snow, but l could
see objects about me, and it didn't take
[ong for me to ascertain that We were in !,
the barn and wele safe. had left the
barn doors open in the morning, and
The horses had found their way back, l
think, by instinct, but my neighbor's {
:hink it was sheer accident, and de-
clare. that it wouldn't happen again in
4 thousand years.
Although we had reached the barn,
ne were not in the house yet. From !
he barn to the house is about twenty ,
'ards, but as tar as seeing it was con- !
:emed, the house might as we'll have {
,een IN the moon. The little woman
Helped me unharness the horses and
,ut them in their stalls. Then l told c
Ter to remain where she was, and made
! break for the house. 1t is difficult +
or anyone to believe that IN binding :
torn he cannot go twenty yards in a r
inc sufficiently Straight to find house. :
,ut try it some time! I
Dc you see that pump9 stumbled +
'yer it. It's twenty feet to the right OF +
he oath from the barn to the house L