Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-03-17
A BLIZZARD.
The Word Blizzard an 0minous One, but the
Thing Worse than the Word.
THRILLING EXPERIENCE OF A MIN
NESOTA FARMER.

We were still two miles from home
when suddenly the sun was 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 1 gave the horses the whip In
earnest, lashing them into a run.
Away off to the west there appeared
to be a leaden wall sweeping toward
us. There was a hum in the air. A
light breeze sprang up, grew stronger,
and in one minute became a gale.
The wall came down with railroad
speed, the roar of its approach every
instant growing louder. From the
top of roll in the prairie we could
see our house, and it came pretty
near being our last glimpse of it.
No words will ever convey an intel
ligent idea of a blizzard, of the fright
ful roar with which it rolls down
upon you, the bowling and Kissing OF
the wind. If you try to speak, the
wind dashes the syllables from your
lips so quickly that you do not hear
your own words. In thirty seconds
from the time the first snowflake fell
1 could not see my horses. The at
mosphere appeared to be all snow,
and every flake Of it was in a hurry
to get somewhere before the rest
should get there. 1 could feel a mo-
ton to the sleigh, so that l knew the
horses were still moving. The cold
was intense. l tried to ask my wife
if she was suffering, but could not
hear my own words.
During the two or three minutes
that intervened between the time L
saw the storm approaching and the
moment it struck us, the horses had
run at the top of their speed, SO we
we're not much over a mile from home.
In ten minutes I was chilled through,
and 1 felt that 1 was freezing. The
horses were still moving,and although
l could not see them, / lashed them
with the whip. It seemed hours since
the storm had shut us in, and was
Just becoming convinced that the
horses had got out of the path and
that we were lost on the prairie when
there came q sudden lull of the fierce
wind, The air was still full OF
whirling snow, but could see objects
about me, and it didn't take long for
me to ascertain that we were In the
barn and were safe. / had left the
barn doors open in the morning and
the horses had found their way back
think by instinct, but my neighbors
think it was sheer accident, and de
clare it wouldn't happen again in
thousand years
Although we had reached the barn,
we were not in the house yet. From
the barn to the house is about twenty
yards, but as far as seeing it was
concerned the house might as we'll
have been in the moon. The little
woman helped me unharness the
horses and put them into their stalls.
Then told her to remain where she
was, and made break for the house.
1t is difficult for any one to believe
that in binding storm he cannot
90 twenty yards in a line sufficiently
straight to find house, but Try it
some time!
After got into the house took a
ball of twine. tied one end to the door
knob, and succeeded in getting back
to 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 in between the house and
barn SO deep that it covered the win
dows on that side of the house. On
the east side OF the house, however,
there was very little snow. The
shovel happened to be in the house,
and the little woman and I succeeded
in tunnelling through to the barn; but
we had to carry every shovelful OF the
snow taken out Of the tunnel through
the house and throw it on the east
side.
"Were the horses all right when
you got to them?
You can safely bet they were glad
to see me. They were about hall
buried in snow, and had even
eaten the bedding from their stalls.
1t took me nearly all the rest of
the winter to shovel the snow out of
the barn.
do people out on the prairies
ever get lost in these storms,'
To be caught out on the prairie by
a blizzard means death, and nothing
can avert it. After settler has been
here one winter, it's a sly old blizzard
that catches him. Not 30 the new
corners. They cannot imagine that
there is danger at all times. Three
people were lost that day in this vi
cinity, one of them woman who had
been over across the prairie about q
mile to see sick neighbor. When
she saw that a storm was imminent
she started for home on foot. She
never got half way there.
"When was her body found?"
In the spring. when the snow melt
ed Free Press.