Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1884-12-17
A DAKOTA BLIZZARD
The Big Stories With which Fargo Old
Timers Kegale 'sTenderfeet,"

.tFargo Correspondence st. Paul Day.l
An Eastern man with ''culchah" and
the fragment of a fortune left ver
from a dissipated patrimony. was at
the Headquarters Hotel yesterday of.
ternOon, on his way up the valley, look
ing up a line Of land Investments. He
wanted to be introduced to some active
DakOtian. The boys steered him onto
old Bill Jones and a friend, who had
just come in from taking a sun-bath
on the platform, looking for pilgrims
on the incoming trains. They sized up
the wise man from the east, as the
clerk introduced them, for the old
blizzard story.
The stranger opened the ball with:
Jaw! l am glad to meet you. Must
be rather a cold country out here, I
should sayp"
"Well, yes, purity burned cold here
now, and l reckon we'll get a blizzard
before long"
xard?'
"Whatl Didn't you never see a
blizzard? No? Well, l be burned,
Hank" turning to a comrade, "here's
q fellow as never saw a blizzard" He
continued: II have, though, an I'll
tell ye about it. A fellerll get up
some morning and he'll think it will be
a fine day. The sun will be shinin'
and ten to one he'll take a drive in the
country, and that's just what the
cussed thing wants. Long about
noon it'll get a little hazy around the
sun, and purity soon the skyrn git
kinder black around the edges, like a
feller's eye that got spoilt in a sluggin'
match, but it'll be all quiet, and the
windm 60 sneakin' along as though it
was 'fraid o. scarin' somebody, an the
sky will get a little darker round the
edges, IS if it was a goin' to put on
mournin'. And you'll get scairt and
wonder If it's goin' to snow. An then
the stinkin' wind will hold its breath
till you git away from any house or
everybody gets out of his hole, an
then the darn thing'n begin.
elbow! It'll blow a horse right out
OF the harness and shake a cutter Over
the prairie at the rate of a mile a
mint. And then you've got to be
mighty careful to keep your hat on or
it'll blow you baldheaded in less'n no
time. Beats a Sioux Indian on the
war-path for raisin' hair. That's the
reason there are 30 many ~baldheaded
men in Dakota-that an lynn bout
the country. An, by gosh! it'll blow
your clothes right off of you, too, and
then you're deader than an icicle. You
have to strap 'em on. Nobody goes
outdoors in Dakota without some
straps in his pockets. Then you'll
think it is gettin' cold, hut you won't
know how cold it is till you pull out
yer whisky bottle an find it frozen
solid, specially if it's Dakota whisky.
Beats all how little cold Dakota liquor
can stand. Then first thing you know
it'll begin snowin'. Oh, the snowIl
come from everywhere. Seems like
the ground showed, and you'll think
you're in the middle of a big whirlin'
snow bank. an ten chances to one
youM git all tangled up In the darned
stuff an go fioppin' off like a thunderin'
big snowflake, and won't know nothin'
till you drop down somewhere In Min
nesota. An that's what makes it SO
dry in Dakota. It SHOWS 'nough here,
but I'll be cussed if the stuff ever |
touches ground until it gets to Mime
sofa. If a man gets out Of some Of
them billiards, he'll have to carry his
own corpse out. Won't nothin' keep
the snow out 'cept buffaler skin, an
it'll wear that out in half an hour. No
sir, don't want any more billiards in
mine, becher life. I'd rather be in an
open claim shanty 'longside the north
pole, or in h. with my back broke.
swell, skuse me, stranger" con-
the Dakotian, II must go; come
Hank" nudging his partner, ibid you
zee that tenderfoot's eyes? Thought
drop into his mouth. Guess
he'll never stay in Dakota. But I'm
dry; let's irrigate." And the
western rustlers turned the corner on
bee line for the nearest place.