The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-01-28

all the plains and prairies from the Rocky
mountains to the timbered hills along
tho Mississippi, comes the same wall of
nonotonous misery: Travellers buried
under tho snow, farmers dying within
few rods of their own doors, chill
dren frozen stiff on the way home from
school and domestic animals dying by thou
sands; and following the cold in western
Kansas there is starvation, till whole fam
lilies are said to be perishing in their
frail cabins. With tho calamity, too,
come those actions which ennoble hui
manity-heroic self sacrifice in many forms.
The father has cheerfully yielded his own
limb to rescue neighbor, and in many
town the heroic citizens turned out and
searched through the long, dismal night for
the lost, tying themselves loosely in groups
with long cords, so that they. might not be
separated and lost
For such storms Dakota has invented the
appropriate name of blizzard. 1t differs from
the ordinary winter storm in two points-it
rises with the suddenness Of tornado and
continues a long time, and by a peculiar
whirling motion Of the wind the air is so
filled with dry powdery snow that one can
not sec yard before him. Often the fine
particles of snow strike the face with the
sharp impact Of steel fakes; in such case
no animal can be driven against the wind,
but drifts helplessly before it till exhausted
in q snow bank, and the wind cuts through
the thickest wooden clothing. Language
cannot describe the paralyZing terror which
seizs on all save the very stoutest hearts, and
the vitality Of most people can sustain the
bodily heat but few hours in such a
struggle. Unless shelter is reached the
limbs are first frozen, then the chill of death
approaches the vital organs And at this
stage of freezing strange symptoms often APP
pear; as the blood retires from the surface
it congests in the heart and brain; then de-
lirium comes on and with it a decisive sensa-
tion of smothering heat. The victims last
exertions are to throw off his clothes and re-
move all wrappings from his throat; often
the corpse is found with neck completely
bare and in an attitude indicating that his
last struggles were for fresh air! Even after
the stage Of delirium is reached one can be
restored to life; and painful experience has
taught the people of the cold northwest a
regular science of restoring the frozen. For
merly the victim was brought at once to the
fire: this thawed the frozen extremities be-
fore circulation was restored, and so the
limbs mortified and had to be amputated.
Now the practice is to leave the frozen one
in a cool room, and by the application Of
snow and rapid friction restore the circulation,
the thaw extending slowly from the vital
centers to the extremities; thus, if the life can
be saved, the limbs generally can be.
The late blizzard was unusually sudden.
On the morning preceding its appearance all
Dakota rejoiced ia lovely calm The air
was soft, the sky dszzlingly clear A few
wise old settlers remarked THAI there was
danger, the air was too clear and the mirage
too noticeable
''Why, you could sec towns, lakes and little
hills fifty miles away" says one survivor.
Immigrants from more southern localities
said that Dakota vas at last to have q Jan
uary thaw," and en- unusually large number
were away from home About noon low
bank Of black cloud appeared in the north
west. ard soon spread from north around to
west; an hour later all the sky was black and
tho snow failing, and in another hour tho
blizzard was raging. Hour after hour its
progress could be traced astward and south
ward from town TO town where telegraph
Zines could give warning. So most Of Min
nesota and Iowa were warned in time,
but to all western Kansas, Nebraska, the
Indian territory and Texas no such warning
was possible When tire blizzard had ex-
hausted it's fury and a cold, clear morning
davned, there were many sad and curious
lights Every railroad train lay VIII are the
storm had struck it, q headland Of a long
nforaine of snow which had piled up behind
it. Every fence and rock was marked in like
manner as the beginning Of drift, while
mere and there over the wide expanse Of
dazzling white little mound marked where
some haploss man or beast had made his last
halt.
Strange scenes are recorded. At one place
the men tied themselves in line to long rope
and worked their way along the Railroad
track during tho storm, taking their bearings
by the telegraph poles, the man in front
shouting whenever he found the pole and the
whole line then advancing section--thus
they reached and rescued the passengers OF
an imprisoned train.
x So