The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-11-19
UNDER SAND DRIFTS.
WORST SIMEON EVER ExPERIENC.
ED RACES IN OKLAHOMA.
Houses Demolished. Goods Ruined
and Other Property Destroyed
Intense SuHcrings of the People.

Perry. o. T.. Nov. 16.-The simeon Of
sand which has been ranging in Okla
homa territory for four days has worn
itself out. The surface of the country
in places is swept a. clean as a gran
airy and in other places the sand il
drifted as the SHOWS drift when whirled
by the winds.
Many stocks of goods in this place,
as we'll as in other towns, are ruined
by the effects of this storm. In some
cases thousands of dollars would not
pay the damage. Frail houses have
been wrecked and their roofs and tim
bers are scattered far and wide 1t is
not possible at this hour to estimate
the extent of the damage. In dollars
ana cents it cannot be estimated. Its
results are not vet known.
1t stopped trains of every sort, it
blinded those who faced it, and reports
are at hand indicating that in some
cases people who were caught in the
hurricane any distance from habfta-
ton fell before the cutting winds, filed
with intiuitesimal particles Of sand,
and persisted and were covered by sue
ceeding avalancheS of earth The
wives of many who were out and who
did not return. became frantic. and re-
ports from several interior towns have
it that in some instances women died
from terror.
In one cabin in the track of the
simeon two children were found tied
in a bed. The mother. a half breed,
when she saw and heard the fury Of
/ the wind, knowing what it meant. Sc
cured her children in her poorly con-
structed home and started out to res
cue her husband, who was at work on
one of the prairies near by. She be-
came bewildered in the darkness, for
day and night were one. and fell Her
body was recovered yesterday, but no.
thing has been heard of the husband
whom She went to rescue. The chill
dren, a boy and girl, were faint from
want of food and must have persisted
had they net been rescued at the mo-
ment.
1t is not unlikely that some exagger-
ated stories will follow the work of this
four days of wind, but no one who has
never witnessed these Oklahoma
simoons can form any idea of them.
The soil of the country is red. As far
as the eye can reach these acres ex-
tend, from sunrise to sunset, having a
scorched and blasted appearance, even
when vegetation is at its best. This
soil is impregnated with sand crystals
as sharp as glass; the soil has no more
weight than ashes and the most or
binary gale lifts it in the air.
LIKENED TO n PRAIRIE FIRE.
When seen at a distance, for the
sweep of the country is immense and
unbroken at times for miles by even a
scrub oak. these storms resemble u
fire which has been fed by millions and
millions of sparks.
The roar of this demon of the prairie
can be heard many miles It's velocity
of fxrrGl va
hours there is naught to be seen at
distance of fifty feet, and one man is
as good looking or as hideous as an
other. All look alike. The Indian is
no browner than the man who was
white before he was ovsrtaken by the
Storm.
All business is suspended. These 81
| moons sweep down on the towns win
| the same vicious hunger and terrol
that characteriZes them in the NOR
desolate and unpeopled places. Not
. only are the people frightened by
these storms, but the cattle sniff their
coming and turn tail and stampede
for places of safety, which il tllis
country are few and far between. In
this town. as in others. business was
suspended for four days. People WHO
had to venture out did so wit.l their
ieyes protected by isinglass goggles,
while their ears and mouth were care
fully wrapped. almost Jbandaged, to
keep out the driving storm of sand.
1 AS disagreeable and terrible as it
was for two days. men and women
were thankful it was still warm. They
= knew the terror of this destroyer of the
territory in case 1t whipped back from
the north. chilled by its contact with
. winter. But Thursday at midnight
| there came the change the people
dreaded. The simeon had shifted The
terror had added ice to it's force.
; The houses of this country are not
; constructed to withstand the cold
!; Most of them are upholstered. and in
many there is scant arrangement for
fire. since fuel is so scarce. When such
houses are in the path of a simeon the
inhabitants are in no better condition
tnan if they were out of doors. The
chill in the winds Thursday night
grew colder every hour. Every one
who was out and could do so fastened
home. Travellers turned and retraced
| their journeyings. Many came into this
place today who say they have never
seen a simeon of such fury and endur-
ance as the one just passed. Travel
was impossible, except by the sense of