Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-02-23

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| came "a; acre tirn" years AZ" |
last simmer. l,:iE',: d quarter section. !
,,n. :. -. Paul Tor lumber. and
worried II. slml"rr TN,,;Er NJ 4 |
lo,.-,. ami barn. ia TIE la, ! nou-ht
three ii.:~r7 ana It su!liy pio"ah.
Before the grudnd fru"e l had about
thirty acres ready tc sow WIKI wheat
in the spring. Then [ went East t.
see IlaDc:. ami after the middle oi
january We had got the furniture put
to rights and were settled down 10
enjoy married life. \ few things
were wanlci for the house. however,
and one bright. sun5hiny morning
hitchcd two of the horses to Il bob
sleigh. and Mabel and | drove to the
village, due north from my A-use aiX
miles. \ plrasantcr morning never
saw. There was snow enough -
make excellent sicighing, ami the ar
w. WARM and baiihy. 1t seemed al
il spring Was lear at hand. bat
worse driJl,iun never existed.
The village has hut one street, be
ing merely row of twenty or thirty
wooden buildings, parallel I" altd
al,uut ten rods from the raIlrua! track.
| They are mainly used for stores, and
when we drove up there were three OF
| four bob sheds or pun%S III front OF
each store. Half the farming com
munity of the township appeared to
be III doing some shopping. About
| | o'clock, while we We're III Il dry
goods store, the merchant, who had
stepped out moment before. SAID to
lis: :" don't like TO drive away my
customers. but blizzard is coming
from the west. and it is coming last.
The telegraph Announces that 1t has
reached Morris. That Is forty miles
from here, but il is coming ut the
rate of forty miles per hour, 50 You
have got nc time To- spare If you are
going home to day
He rolled up our purchases as he
spoke. and appeared III Il hurry To
get rid of us. When wo got outside
the store the first thing that attracted
Inv attention WAS the fact that, of all
the teams in tho street when We ar
rived, not ono excepting NINE re-
manned. Everybody had scudded for
home. Even then | did not hurry.
The sun was still shining brightly,
with not the faintest suggestion of a
storm apparent anywhere. Before
wo had got Il mile from town | had
forgotten all about The coming storm,
and the horses We're jogging at their
will.
We were still two miles from home
when suddenly the sun was obscured,
and the air grew cold and chill IN a
moment. 4 darkness us OF smoke
swept over everything. Then | re-
membercd why We were going home,
and | gave the horses the whip i'll
earnest. lushing them into ii rum
Away of to the west, there appeared
TO be lenden wall sweeping towards
us. There was Il hum III the ar. y
light breeze spran% up. grew stronger.
and III one minute became Il gale.
Tho wall came down with railroad
speed. tho roar of its approach every
instant growing louder. From the
top of roll i'll the prairie We could
sec our house, and it came pretty
near being our last glimpse of it.
No woids will over convey an intel
ligcnt idea of Il blizzard OF the
frlghtful roar with which it rolls
down upon you, the bowling and hiss
ing of the wind If You try to speak
the wind dashcs the syllablcs from
your lips So quickly that you do not
hear your own words. In thirty SEC
onds from the time the first snow
flake fell l could not SEQ my horses.
The atmosphere appeared to he all
snow, and every flake of 1t was in u
hurry to get somewhere before the
rest should get there | used the
word flake, but that is wrong No
flakes could be distinguished. The
whole atmosphere was filled with one
big flake that hcmmcd us in on ali
sides Although Mabel's head wasn't
over foot from mine, L could not soc
her features, and could only dimly
see her form. tried TO peer downward
beside the sleigh and see tho track.
but | might rs well have tried to soc
the earth beneath Il snowbank. |
could feel Il motion to the sleigh. so
that | knew the horses were still NOV
ing. The cold was inIcnsc tried
to ask my wife If she WAS suffering.
but could lot hear INV own words
During the two or three minutes
that interviewed between the time |
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
horses to keep the track. No one
could live an hour IN that storm
The only hope lay in tho horses he
ing able to keep to track that was
being buried deeper and deeper every
instant. 1t isn't pleasant to sit still
and freeze to death. In ten minutes
was chilled through and | felt that
was freezing The horses were still
moving, and although l could not
see them, dashed them with the
whip. 1t 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 tho prairie when there
came sudden lull of the fierce wind.
The air was still full of whirling
snow, but l could see objects about
me, and it didn't take long for mo to
ascertain that We were in the barn
and were safe. l had left the barn
doors open in the morning, and the
horses had found their way back,
think by instinct, but my ncighbors
think it WAS sheer accident, and de
clare that it wouldn't happen again
in thousand years.
Although we had reached tho 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 con
cerned, the house might as well be