Nevada County picayune., 1886-02-03
BLiXI X ARDS
E. F. Whites Experience with thom in Knnsas-and the Indian Territory.
VINITA, IND. TER, Jan. 2S, 1886.

yrNITA, IND. TER, Jan. 2S, 1886.
 Editor PIcAYUNE.-Hold mo. ment, Let me thaw myself!
 Talk about blizzards! Up to q month ago 1 had never seen a bliz- gard. But as I entered tue State of Kansas some four weeks ago, one boarded our train, and, taking a seat beside me, nearly froze me with its icy breath almost before ] was aware of is presence, And for one whole month this cold, bowling monster-this grim visag- ed. piiiless feld.marshal of the Frost. .king-has been my constant companion. walking arm in arm with me in the streets of Olathe, Stanley, Topeka, Wyandotte, and Kansas City; riding by my side in railway trains, spreadinc itsc,f all over me in bueS.i,os on the Shawnee ReserT,e, and nesting up close 10 me when l laid myself down to dream not of warm sunshi ie and flowers as I wished-but oi biting winds and iceisergs.
 Have yen ever seen a blizzard' Nof Then l wiil take bliZzards for my first tepic.
 4 "tenderfoot" once asked a dis. tnguished United States Senator from Kansas what blizzard was "A blizzard, sir, '' replied the Sena tor, 'is cold wind which, rising at the North pole, moves South, ol Sou.n by Southeast, through Man .toba, Dakota, and Nebraska, in creasing its velocity, and intensity ing it's frigidity, untilit reaches Kan sas, when it will penetrate three foot brick wall, all the heavy blank cts that can be gotten together by one family, the thickest and most abundant underwear, pierce right through your flesh. and die away whistling Yankee Doodle through .,n,,x hA,,aC 't
 Pa. Donan, in describing the suddenness with which blizZards usually make their appearance il the country, narrates the following incident: "One morning toward the middle of January my old friend, Judge Willis Samuel, who lived down on Salt river, a stream of which you have probably heard started to haul a heavy log tt Hickman's saw mlll, about two miles from Lis house. It was SC warm that he was in his shir sleeves, and only threw his coa up on the wagon because he knew the chaugeableness of the climate As his oxen logged along he pass ed a small pond near crab apple thicket. The crap-apple trees were budding, and the pond was literally swarming with frogs, al with their heads poked up anC mouths wide open, singing like muC larks a joyous anthem to spring By the time he reached the mil the wind had whipped around 10 the northwest, and it began tC sleet aud snow. Before he coulC get the log off his wagon it was bit terly cold and a blizzard raging He jerked on his coat, borrowed , blanket, and started his oxen homt at swinging trot. In a few min utes he reached the pond he ha' passed, and there were all the pool little frogs, wlth their heads stick ing through the ice and thcil mouths still open. The pond hat frozen over so suddenly that tn, ice had caught them round theiI throats and chokcd them to death before they could pull their head, under or shut their mouths. It wal q sad sight"
 Of course 1 am not expected te vouch for anything either Mir, Do nan or a United States Senator has said or may say in respect to blis cards. But the first blizzard l en cOuntered came upon nc quite a' suddenly as that one did upor Judge Samuel and the frogs, left this place, Ninita, near the Southern liue of Kansas, early ir the morning of one of the last days of December. The air was warm and balmy-almost too warm fol comfort. As we went laundering along over the Kansas prairieS nearly every passenger had hi, window open. About four o'clock in the afternoon the sky became