Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-05-16
A MARVELLOUS BLIZZARD.
IL Built = Roof OF Ice and Shut Wander
ors In from the storrn

10 Built = Roof OF Ice and Shut Wander
ors In from the Storm.
II was driving q bunch Of cattle from
Yankton to Deadwood," said the blizzard
expert Of the New Orleans Times Democrat.
when we saw signs Of trouble one after
noon and made for timber. We were
lucky enough 10 strike a grove Of cotton
woods before night. and soon had the stock
IN the center Of the grove. In the couple
OF hours left before dark we fell 10 with
our axes and chopped down all the trees we
could, leaving them lie where they fell and
throwing the small branches TO the cattle
I'VE built roaring fire, but the wind
rose so high two Of us had to stand by and
watch the blaze all the time, while the
other six whacked away at the cotton
woods for dear life. Every tree would be
blown down by the wind before IL was cut
more than half way through, and we had
trouble In getting the timber TO fall in a
circle around US and the stock, which was
our object. But by nine o'clock we were
pretty well hemmed in, and tho snow,
which fell so fast IL blinded you ten seet
away from the fire, quickly gathered on the
limbs and dry leaves Of our bulwark and
built big, white wall around US. which
grew at last thick enough to shut out the
gale entirely.
There were two big cottonwoods, regu-
lar granddaddies, in the middle Of the cor
raj. The snow gathered so thick on them
That they soon covered US like a real roof.
and there we were rooted in and walled in
with our forty head Of cattle, as secure as
II there wasn't a blizzard in the whole of
Dakota. And we didn't have to wait long
either, for before morning the storm had
turned into regular blizzard, the famous
one OF 1876 that froZe so many frontiersmen
and so much stock to death.
" Before we rolled into our blankets by
the fire 1t was eleven o'clock, and the wind,
which had blown at first from the East,
shifted around TO the Northwest and began
TO roar Like thousand stamp mills. Each
time 1t shifted it banked our barricade
deeper and higher with snow, and by mid
night we couldn't see over it. The cattle
huddled together under the tree right next
to us. They chewed away at the cotton
wood as contented as you please. Their
warm breath made q distinct cloud that
seemed to hang around in the two big trees
oyer the corral as II it were too solid TO be
blown away. At this time the wind seemed
TO have been absolutely walled out from US;
we could hear 1t high overhead, but we
didn't feel so much as an eddy. must con-
Tess that II gave me some alarm to see the
white barricades all around US growing to
DO as tall as the tree-tops apparently.
how long we slept never knew. Most
billiards. last three days and are worse on
the second. When we woke up the stock
was standing there, as content as ever,
chewing away at the cottonwoods and quite
warm and comfortable The air all around
US was warm and still, and the big bed of
Goals TO which the fire had burned down
gave out cheerful glow that was sugges-
i've OF dressing-gowns and slippers There
wasn't speck of snow visible on the trees
or ground. Overhead, resting on the tops of
the c0ttonwoods and curving down TO the
tops Of the barricades we had built aud the
stol m bad strengthened, was nical roof Of
solid ice that shut us in as ely from
the storm that waged outside as IL we were
In stone castle. The heat of the fire and ex-
halations from the closely punched steers
had surrounded US with warm atmosphere,
which melted the Ice in the air as fast as il
came over our corral, fusing it intoa contin-
uous ceiling, which gradually grew thicker
and heavier and must have fallen in on us
had 1t not had the trees in the center and
our bulwarks around the sides to rest on.
"Wel, there we were, as snug as bugs in
rugs, and after the novelty Of the thing had
worn on we had good time, l can tell you.
We killed beef, made common stock of our
pocket TASKS, and were as happy as kings
IN our ice palaces. One Of the rippingest
games OF poker ever sat into was by that
very fire in our frost tent. The drip was
disagreeable, for the inside heat kept up a
continual melting from the roof, but tho
storm repaired damages outside as fast,
IL not good deal faster.
When the thaw did come we came near
being drowned, Of course, but 1 think ex-
press the sentiments Of the entire party
when say we parted with a feeling of gem
uine regret from our wonderful corral.
That was the worst blizzard known in the
West since '5G, we heard along our way 10
Deadwood. But we didn't feel any of it.r