Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-04-01

THE "COLD WINTER"
Judge Rountree's Recollections of Life In
Missouri In 1880.
Judge M. j. Rountree, who came
to southwest Missouri with his par
ents in January, 1880, a few months
after the founder of Springfield,
John P. Campbell, had built the
first log cabin OF the present site of
the metropolis of the Ozarks, tells
the following story of that memo
rable winter:
Our family left Tennessee in the
fall Of 1880 and reached the Missis-
sippi river about the 1st Of Decem-
Der. The winter came on early, and
by the time we got to Massey iron
works the snow was 80 deep that our
teams could not make the usual
daily distance. We expected that
the snow would soon melt and pleas
ant weather return, but the temper
allure kept falling from day to day
and the sky continued cloudy and
threatening.
1.-THE country was an unbroken
wilderness, with only here and
there a wagon trail made by the
home seekers who had gone before
us to the western frontier. When
the snow reached a depth Of 10 inch
90, our situation became extremely
uncomfortable and perilous. The
trackless waste then all looked
alike, and a more desolate scene was
never beheld in this latitude by
homeless wanderers. We could trav-
el but a few miles a day and were
in constant danger Of getting lost.
Ishould judge that the mercury was
down as low as e r most Of the
time, but we had no thermometer
to measure the cold. The country
was full Of wild beasts, and packs
Of hungry wolves howled around
u camp every night. Fortunately
for US, we fell in with a party of
Canadian fur traders and Indians,
who were coming into the Ozark
country, and they became our guides
through the snow covered wilds of
southern Missouri. But for this good
fortune I do not believe we could
have completed our journey. The
Indians knew the country we'll, and
they guided us from day to day
slowly through the deepening snow
drifts.
Nov and then the sun would
anime through the broken clouds,
but the faint rays shed but little
warmth on the frozen earth. Sun
dogs always appeared in the heav-
ems when the sky was clear, and
q biting frost filled the air every.
cloudless morning. By the middle
OF December the snow was nearly
two feet deep, and our wagons could
hardly be pulled through some of
the drifts.
Small game persisted from star
walton and became food for larger
animals. Wild turkeys died by thou
sands, and wolves devoured the dead
birds. Whole focks Of turkeys would
drop from their roosts at night, ex-
hausted by hunger and cold. Very
few quails survived that terrible
winter.
1T was the 10th Of January wher
we reached the Springfield settle
ment, having trudged through the
snow for nearly six weeks and trav-
eled only about 300 miles in that
time. The snow remained in drifts
till the middle of March and hardly
began to melt beforethe last of Feb
ruary. Nearly all intercourse be-
tween the few settlements in south
west Missouri was cut off by the &c.
we're cold, and but for the abundance
of game starvation would have been
the fate of some Of the pioneer fam
lilies. The deer became as tame as
sheep almost, and the settler could
shoot a buck from his cabin door
when meat was needed. Ammuni-
ton was more precious than gold.
and no one shot a gun for mere
sport. That was the hardest winter
I ever saw, considering the unusual
length Of the cold season and the
depth Of the snow. Before the war
the old settlers always spoke Of it
az the cold winter. '"-St. Louis