Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1888-03-30

servers, whose action is stimulated by great
personal interest.
The Rocky mountains attain their great
est height in the central part of their course
and directly along their eastern base Il
storm from the west is very rare. One
may start in eastern Kansas facing d fierce
wind from the west: but as he goes west
ward he finds ii moderating, and there is
| Il calm at Denver and Cheyenne. Going
northwarl. however, the Rocky mountains
bend far toward the west and decline in
height, and On entering British America
there are low and broad passes through
which the warm 'Chinoo!; wiuds' from
the Pacific coast sweep into Manitoba and
northwestern Dakota. From these winds
often GO legs. warmer than the local air
of north Dakota-cuIioils results appear
The ice and snow sometimes melt on The
upper Missouri while the section of that
stream below latitude AG is still bound in
thick ice; then the floods from above burst
uD the ice and we have those destructive
'iainsN ard overi!ows. one of whicl,
Wr0Gg,}t @u~h havoc i,,st winter. But as
the wti!'nn |-,ltl moves soutlieastit rapidly
loses its warmth: and rs such . wind is
temporary, there comes after it (Jehinu 1t,
VIC might say IN increased! cold from he
ca.apness-and then the blizzard The
cold wind from the far north comes down
across the track OF the warm wind. its
motion fearfullE accelerated: the moisture
is instantly condensed to powdery snow,
Or ''poudre." in some instances as sharp
as fragments of steel. and in the binding
cloud the benumbed traveller is hopelessly
lost When the vapor is SO suddenly con-
densed as to form sharp spicules the Can
adian voyageurs call 1.-THE "barber," !" as it
f,,,
this is about all that is known Of the
blizzard: to foretell its coming or forecast
its course are alike impossible. There
have not been observations enough.
OF billiards. both history and tradition
give many accounts. All the early in
Quirers into American archaeology were
amazed at the fact that the Indians had
a very clear tradition Of creatures like inn
mense elephants, which once inhabited the
Mississippi valley, and were exterminated
by sudden cold: and it is now conceded
that the disappearance Of the mastodon
was GcolcSically spcaking) quite recent.
The traditions Of the Sioux and Aondans
abound in accounts of blZzards which
destroyed whole bands OF Indians, and the
Assiniboines add that all the buffalo in
their territory We're killed in a single
night by 81 storm which came earlier than
usual. The poet Longfellow has given us
i'll "Hiawatha'' his rendering of one
Sioux tradition of prolonged and terrible
cold. A curious fact in this connection is
that one may travel northward till he gets
'Dehind the BLIZZARD. as they say, in n
region where the cold is intense. it is true,
but does not come on suddenly with wind
and flying snow; such is the case at Win
nipeg generally and on the Saskatchewan;
and far TO the west of the Red river. ut
the very base of the Canadian Rocky
mountains, the climate of winter is singu-
larly even. Going westward from central
Dakota, Nebraska or Kansas, Il similar
gain in cvenness of winter climate is OBJ
servable; w the settlers are not far wrong
who soy the blizzard must have ''room to
l,goad and turn ttaolk."