Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-03-08

DESERTED soDHoUsE
 coln, Cheyenne, Baca, Kiowa and the east ern part of Arapahoe. This district en- braces several million acres of land, or about ono-flfth of the state.
 When tho rainfall Is adequate, tho yield of every kind of crop is not excelled any where. Tho land will produce as high as 75 bushels of oats to tho aero, and other grains grow approximately; hence 1t Is that tho unfortunate farmers hold on with such tenacity, hoping for n favorable sea- son.
 All They own.
 Most of them own a quarter section of land which represents their entiro earth- ly possessions, but owing to the failures of the past two years this land has dcpreciat cd in value until today it cannot be sold at any price The mortgages exceed its value, and the farmers arc penniless. They can no longer borrow upon anything they possess, and two successive years of drought have left them without ray kind of feed for their stock or means supply ing their own families. The .ar stock arc as much an object for pity as tho peo- plo, for they arc obliged to remain out of doors through all kinds of weather and shift entirely for themselves. Their only means of subsistence is the dried up scanty buffalo grass, and much of tho time since January tho plains have been covered with snow several inches deep. In a recent fear full blizzard, which continued without abatement for over day and night, the horses and cattle wero unable to get either a mouthful of water or a single bito of grass. With tho mercury from 90 to 80 degrees below zero and the wind blowing a furious gallo tho condition of tho plains animals was helpless and pitiful. Many pcrished of cold and starvation. A large number of families depended upon their COWS for subsistence, but the exposure and scarcity of food caused most of them to go dry. Largo families arc tho rulo among the "rain belters," and it is n usual thing to find anywhere from six to nino little ones huddled around the cook stove in shanty or dugout.
 As thcre Is no wood to bc had on thcso arid plains the farmers arc compelled to keep warm by burning manure. Owing to the severity of tho winter, which is tho worst experienced for a dozen years in tho Rocky mountain region, even this supply has given out, and many families would undoubtedly have frozen but for the ar rival of timely assistance from the outside. Timely Assistance. Tho situation hero Is extremely crit teal" said a member of tho relief commit tee at Akron, Washington county, to mo. Whole families would have periShed from starvation in this locality had not timely | aid arrived" "
 At ono hovel near Akron, visited during tho coldest weather in February, a half starved COW was observed leaning against l the house for support. She appeared to have barely enough life left in her to keep | on hor feet. Yet this COW was one of tho | main supports of a family of several chill dren found inside the house. Entering the place, the mother, a wan, sickly looking | woman, was found with a young babe in her arms, the infant sucking at a bottle | whose contents were milk so thin and blue as to Do wholly unfit for use. On request the woman showed the visitor her stock of | supplies for the table. All she had in the world for tho sustenance of herself and | littlo flock was 0 tow crusts of dry, hard bread The woman. with tears in her eyes and with faltering voice, told how her hus- band had gone miles through tho snow to beg little lard. This, she said, they ate, butter.
 DestItutiOn In Yuma
 Visited family of seven near Yuma, the county seat of Yuma county. The fla ther had just secured a few bushels of | coal from tho relief committee. | What would you havo done for fuel if | you had not secured coal from the relief | committeef" asked.
 The man was silent, and his oyes wan dered out over the vast prairie, covered as Il far as the cyC could roach with six inches of hardened snow.
 II don't know" he replied sadly, with q sigh. II don't knOw-unless l had dug tho roots of saSebrush.'
 Nono of the five childrcn was abb to ventura out of doors by reason of insufli- cient clothing. This family lives in n combination house, half franc shanty and n sleeping apartment in dugOut The sCven spend their days in one room, 10 by lS, with a ceiling not over seven feet high, which serves as sitting room, dining room and kitchen. The only heat for the two apartments is furnished by an old cook | stove. There Is but one window in this room.
 The dugout is in the rear of tho frame shanty, and all that Is visible of 1t from the outside Is a sod roof, the sleeping room being wholly underground. One small window at tho far end furnishes the sickly light that pervades tho gloomy place. This chamber Is 10 feet wide and le feet long and contains two squalid beds. The air in it is foul and unwholesome, and was glad to get out. Tho dugout, how ever, has one advantagc-it Is protected from tho flerce winds that sweep down from tho north across the open prairie The sodhouses also that nro very common on these arid plains, when properly con- structed, have thick, solid walls that op- pose an inpenetrable harrier to the boreen blasts.
 Tho terrors of blizzard on these plains
 cannot be appreciated by those who have
 never experienced one. After being
 through such a storm one can sympathizt
 much moro hoartily with the poorly nour
 ished, poorly clothed plains people. It wal
 my fortune to be overtaken by tho wors
 blizzard of the present. winter while at Hol
 yoke. Phillips county, early in February. Caught In the BliEzArd. ; During the night of my arrival there tn,