The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1895-05-04
IiEAWEULBLILZARD
an UNnE2C.FUL MORSE GOD THAT
RULES TIE FlaiNS.

No Person Can Understand What Terrible
Things They ere Until &c Has seen
One-With All Hans Care, They Are
Sci Els U-ncanauered Eue.nies.
The blizzard, rs the plain mans YER
nacular aesiglatos the prairie Snow
storm, is utterly incomprchensible to
one who has not experienced it. Gen
Grated IL tho great storm breeding re-
gions Of barren British america and
swept OF arctic blasts along the vast
level reaches that stretch eastward from
the Rocky mQuntains, with no forest to
break It's f1-te. il becomes q demon Of
Tie air, second only to the cyclone Or
tornado III Gestructivenoss. The moisture
is ground as between Millstcnes, hurl-
ed with bnlietiike energy over hundreds
OF miles cf level plain, and finally,
transformed into ycasty slee5 oy the sof-
tening effects Of lower ATTITUDES, falls in
bleak showers on the ranges of Texas
and No Mans Land.
Lack of cheap building material and
the brevity Of the winter season on the
p~rairies contribute to make the settlers
cabin a poor refuge. When the blizzard
comes, every resource of fuel is hus-
banded, and it is faced with a grim de-
termination to see it through.
But not all are prepared even so we'll
as the settler. Occasionally q belated
emigrant, Ell route either to a chosen
claim on the frontier or toward the
pleasantly remembered east. where he
hopes to find old friends and helpers, is
caught by the blast. He may have q
tiny stove inside the canvas topped prai-
RE schooner, but its heat can do little
against the power of the storm. Shell
tered by the low bluff of some ravine or
water course he may weather the drag
ging hours of suffering, but the chances
are that team and driver will be found
a CHASTITY monument to the storm kings
strength.
The farmer who has hurried 10 or Is
miles to the nearest village to secure
supplies for the impending visitation
is often overtaken before reaching his
waiting family and perishes On the road,
for no matter how well he knows the
path when the blizzard RACES his way
is as that Of the mariner without COM
pass.
At the prairie schoolhouses, where
the settlers children are gathered from
a territory covering many miles in ev-
cry direction, the blizzard brings terror
to the pupils as we'll as to their parents.
Rescue is impossible until the lull
comes, and awful possibilities Turk in
the bosom of the storm. A Dakota
scholars in time for them to reach
home and found herself and them pris-
oners from a billiards. approach. A
night and a day at least were before
her, during which her little charges
must be protected. Deliberately she
apportloned the food remaining in the
dinner pals, divided the larger boys
into squads to keep the fire burning
steadily, and when darkness came put
the younger pupils to sleep Oh the bench
es. Then through the bitter night she
sang, acclaimed, told stories, invented
games and kept the frightened children
amused and cheered as best she could.
The following day passed much the
same, but still no abatement of the
storm nor any rescue. The second night
was dreary indeed. The children cried
themselves to sleep, hungry and cold.
With her hands the teacher broke
up desks and blackboard to feed the vo-
raclous stove. With morning came q
shout at the door as the settlers shovel.
ed away the snow, and then the plucky
girl to whom the children owed their
lives showed her ~womanliness and
tainted.
The loss among stock on the plains BIZ
a blizzard is appalling. There is less
exposure of herds and f1ocks now than
III earlier times, yet every season causes
the destruction Of thousands of bead of
cattle and sheep on the ranges aud IL
the unshelterd c~0rrals. Several years
ago, during the height of the Texas cat
tie trade, a blizzard in western Kansas
early in December destroyed more than
half of 500, 600 cattle that were being
herded on the open prairie. At one rail
way station, after the storm, So, 900
hides were shipped, at another 90, 600.
One ranohman found but 225 head alive
out of Z, 800 that had been grazing be-
fore the catastrophe. Several hundred
ponies and a score of herders also per-