The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-02-13
THE PRAIRIE BLIZZARD.
An UnweIoome Visitor to the People of
the Plains.

Winter's crown of glory in the East
ern States is the snow-storm. From
the up-country neighborhoods Of Maine
to the Southern snow limit and west
ward considerably beyond the Ale
ghanies, winter would be indeed q
failure without the generous downfall
of the big feathery fakes whose COM
ing is prophetic Of SO varied line Of
CHEEKY amusements, ranging from the
school-boy sled-rides to coasting par
ties and the jingle Of sleighbells. The
snow may drift and swirl-itis longed
for and welcome.
On the prairies the winter storm is
different matter. With slender pro-
lection afforded by their cabin walls,
with scanty fuel and perhaps scantier
store of food, the settler has good rea-
son to dread its coming and tremble
as he sees it's approach. The snow
does not fall in soft white masses,
eddying here and there before alight-
ing. It drives in fierce horizontal
lines out of the north, fine as -four and
chilled by zero currents until each
particle is distinct and separate pro-
jectile, bent on piercing some living
thing and causing its quota Of anguish.
It is something to contemplate with
fear and to marvel at because Of its
fury.
The blizzard, as the plainsman's
vernacular designates the prairie snow
storm, is utterly incomprehensible to
one who has not experienced it. Gen
Grated in the great snow-breeding
regions Of barren British America,
and swept on arctic blasts along the
vast level reaches that stretch east
ward from the Rocky Mountains, with
no forest to break it's force, it becomes
demon Of the air, second only to the
cyclone or tornado in destructiveness.
The moisture is ground as between
millstones, hurled with bullet-like
energy over hundreds Of miles Of level
plain and finally transformed into yeasty
sleet by the softening effects Of lower
latitudes, falls in bleak showers on
the ranges Of Texas and No-Man's-
Land.
At the beginning, the newcomer is
inclined to be merry over the biz
yards reputation for severity. He
has not noticed that for two days the
preparations have been going forward
for the coming of the storm. The sky
has been gray and the winds hushed.
The sun has been marked by a great
hazy circle, while the mercury has
been>steadily falling. The gray Of the
heavens grows darker in the north and
northwest, and here and there curl
ing eddy shows that the wind is rising.
Then few fakes of snow come drift
ing down-not big, white masses of
half-congealed crystals, but hard,
cheerless harbingers Of boreal wrath.
For time they slide slantingly from
the airy treasury, but as the wind
grows stronger their course becomes
farther inclined from the perpendicu-
lar. They also change character, be-
| ing smaller and harder with each in
crease Of speed. The wind eddies and
curls no more. A level-lined gale is
tearing it's way southwark, bearing on
its wings the sifted snow. The ther-
mometer marks zero and below. The
plain is hidden by the storm as by
| fog. THERE'S nothing to do but crouch
by the fire, listen to the roar of the
| ice-furies without, and hope through
weary hours that the end will come.
The blizzard is abroad upon the prairie
in its full perfection. The "tender-
foot sneers will never be repeated.
For three days and nights there may
be no cessation. Some PARTICLES of
snow have found lodgment on grass
clump or furrow and narrow drifts
hundreds Of feet long have formed.
| The settler cabin is the nucleus Of
generous gathering Of the arrested
storm-burden and it may be almost
hidden beneath the close-packed snow
mass.
At last the darkness lifts; the gray
of the sky becomes lighter; riffs Of
blue appear here and there-then the
clouds break into slow-moving feecy
islands and vanish. The mercury
takes a final downward plunge through
one bittet but silent, clear-skied night;
on the morrow the sun shines and hope
dawns again.
Lack of cheap building material and
the brevity of the winter season on
the prairies, contribute to make the
settlers cabin a poor refuge. When
the blizzard comes, every resource OF
fuel is husbanded and it is faced with
a grim determination to see it through.
But not all are prepared, even 80
we'll as the settler. Occasionally be-
lated emigrant, en- route either to
chosen claim on the frontier or toward
the pleasantly remembered East where
he hopes to find old friends and help
ers, is caught by the blast. He may
have tiny stove inside the canvass
topped prairie schooner but it's heat
can do little against the power Of the
storm. Sheltered by the low bluff of
some ravine or watercourse, he may