Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-04-21
noxorA,,z AWFUL CLIMATE.
No...s,~ Ike 1t Anywhere on the
r. nth.

n.
The Indians. # waA averred, went to
Dakota because they hought that no
white man would follow "a ZEN 10 suen
place. The bitterness Of the co4d OF
the winters, the tor3id heart OF the sum
mers, the wel.-nigh ceaseiess win 4. the
violent storms of thuIaaef and lightnA ne
and rain, the long dsonShs, the dus>
storms, must be- experienced to- be sp-
preciated. Everything seems to be ON
the excessive scale in Dakota. The
velocity of the wind, whess the merenry
is standing at forty degrees below zsros.
If one is out in it, Eill take the animal
heat out of one in . few minutes. No
amount of clothing can prevent intense
suffering. One feels as if one had for
gotten TO put on clothing and were en-
counterin9 that cruel wind naked.
Perhaps the wind is tlse worst feature of
of the climate. When it is blowing on
a cold night, people who live on the
prairies frequently do not go to- bed.
They sit all night as close as thew can
to a red-hot stove. Even then the side
that is turned from the stove is cold
One day, when the mercury was
o5 degrees below zero, and the wind
was hieh, the thermometer where sat
by the stove. indicated lis degrees above
zero, and eight feet off the thermometer
on the bureaus stood at 20 degrees-S
difference 95 degrees. 1t was necessary,
on, winter nights, to get up at least
once to put wood in the stove: but in
what was, called bad weather this had
to be. done. several times during the
night. Of course everything freezes
the eggs within few feet of the
stove. the keorosene oil in the
corner; the cabbages and turnips and
potatoes and meat in the hole in the
ground under the house. Every night
an iron bucket of live Goals is put down
into this six-foot hole, to save part of
the winter stores from being destroyed
by freezing. One. hears that people
take things into their beds with them,
when they want to save them; for it
will not do to let things run out in win
ter. 1t would be impossible to trans
port many of them across the prairies,
as they would be frozen. All windows
and all unnecessary doors are nailed up
and chinked as closely as possible be
fore this weather sets in; an embank-
ment of earth is thrown up round the
house to keep the wind from coming up
under the floor; four or five burrows are
run with pillow round the house, at a
sufficient distance to save it from prairie
fires; and wood for a two weeks siege;
when going out of doors will be well
nigh uncomfortable, is piled high against
the wall, and stored under the bed and
wherever else space can be found. In
this weather-if one winizS out of doors
the eyelashes. freeze to the cheek, and
have to be tha1ved out before the eye can
be opened.
One hears that many women become
insane in Dakota. Some say it is the
lonely life; but lives as lonely are borne
cheerfully elsewhere. My theory is
that insanity is caused by the wind,
which intensifies, the loneliness. The
moaning and wailing, the lashing and
swishing, the rushing and roaring, the
bowling and surging of the wind go on
night and day for weeks at attine wi tn
out moments 1ull. 1t becomes mad.
dening. One feels as if it were beating
on the brain. One longs for even one
moment of rest from that eternal sound
that seems to fill the universe. 1t is in
vain to put ones fingers in ones ears
for the timbers- of the little house are
creaking; the house itself is Swaying OF
its foundations.
1t is not women alone who are de
pressed by some influence in Dakota
This influence, whateEer it may be
seems to0eNtend to the lower orders o.
creation also. We had heard that nc
he4 cackled there. This, was true o.
my sisters and mine, but [ recall hear
ing little cacLling at the agency
! Therethe force of the wind was broker
| by the stockade and the buildings.
| friend at the agency made us present
! of a handsome cock and we heard hi:
cheerful announcement, on the morning
after his arrival, that he was the cocl
of the roost. We enjoyed the crow from
our point of vantage in bed; it was the
| pleasantest and most homelike SOUND
| that had greeted our ears forsome time
But it did not last. That day he mus
have reconsidered things. At any rate
| he did not crow the next morning, no
| the next, nor ever again, except on ont
| or two rare occasions, when for a brie
moment he forgot that he had resolves
that there was nothing in this worlt
worth his while to crow about. Grad
ually he joined the army of the silen
ones; no shrill clarion was heard in tina
hen-house thenceforth. Our cock
DANES felt as he did about life, and tool
it au grand serieux. What was Their
in laying an egg that was worth making
a fuss about? So, when they laid al
egg, they walked silently from the nest
not a CHEEKY note was heard on tina
subject Or any other from them, excep
very occasionally faint chirp, as the,
stepped about looking for food.
There are many dogs in Dakota. bu
had been there many months before
| heard one bark. feel sure that grea
numbers are born and live out thei
lives and die without ever bark
Horses and Indian ponies abound, but
! never heard sound from one of then
except once, when a pony gave littl
! whinny to a large drove feeding on
hillside. They lifted up their head
for moment and loo5edsin the direc
| ton of the unwonted sound, but the,
! made no response. l think the whinny
ing one could not have been bred il
Dakota.
We heard from neigh bors that, terri
bic as winter was, the summer wa
| worse. They did not exaggerate. TIL
sun bounds up from the level prairie a
flame, and as the day wears on tn
heat grows more and more intense
When the hot air gets in motion it j
worse than calm. thought the hous
was afira the first time this hot win