The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-03-08
A Storm Above the Clouds
~ Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston. :,


In ST. NICHOLAS Gen. Frederick
Funston tells of a terrible days
experience in fighting n storm above
the clouds in the Front range Of
mountains in Colorado. 1t was ten
years ago, and he had but one com
panion n his adventure, Mr.. Vernon
n. Kellogg, now professor in Stan
ford university.
Despite the difficulties of the way
and the surrounding storm, we made
good progress upward, and in half an
hour turned TO the left and began
working along the side of the noun
tain.
Here our trials began in earnest,
The storm was upon us in all its fury.
The wind blew almost n hurricane,
and the air was so filed with slect
and fine snow that 1t was impossible
TO see more than 20 yards in any di-
rectiOn. There would be an occasion
al lull in the tumut when we could
take in our surroundings for n mo-
ment, but another cloud would en-
vclop as and fiji the air with driving
torrents Of frozen mist,
Hour after hour we struggled on
with the nervous, frantic energy born
OF desperation.
The rocKs and snow were covered
with ice thin as tissue paper, which
caused many n hard fall and made
every step source Of peril. The force
of the wind, too, threw MS down con
tinunlly, and we were bruised from
head to foot. If we had carried steel
pointed poles instead Of guns they
would have been OF great service; the
latter were now as much hindrancc as
help, though we were soon to find
them useful
Our hands and faces suffered ter
ribly from the bitter cold and the
former were so numb that we dropped
our guns repeatedly. Hair and cloth
ing were matted with ice like coat
of mail. We realized that our prog
resS was very slow, as we had not yet
reached the great snow field extend
ing from timber line to the summit.
the base of which we had crossed i'm
ascending the gorge. On and on we
staggered, feeling our way over the
slippery surface, and becoming weak
er every moment from the hard strug-
gle in the fairfield air of the mountain
tops,
While stumbling over mass of ice
covered powders, / heard an excited
exclamation and, looking up, saw Kcl.
loRg sink down behind rock which
afforded a slight shelter from the icy
blast
When | reached him he looked up
md said: "Old boy, this il the worst
box we were ever in. guess were
at the end Of our rope" Both real
fed that the situation was desperate.
almost hopeless. There was no sign
of abatement Of the storm, and wenE-
cncd and cnfccbicd as we were by the
long struggle, II we should not bc able
20 cross the steep snow field when we
reached IT, death from exhaustion aud
exposure would bc a matter Of only
Il few hours
We dreaded TO think Of that snow
field, remembering how steep IL had
looked as we Razed upward from the
bottom that morning, aud knowing
the condition il must bc In now with
the newly formed ice on the surface
However, it was thought best 20 rest
IA short time, and ] lay down by Kcl-
logg.
After n short rest Of about Is min
utes we resumed the struggle weak
rs before, aud much colder. but we
had recovered our wind, a hard thing
90 keep at this altitude
II was now four o'cloclt-tcn hours
since We left camp, and four since the
struggle with the storm began The
battle for life could not last much
longer.
Slowly and painfully we pushed for
ward, crawling on all fours most Of
the time. ! chcwcd sayagely on
piece Of tough grouse, the only re.
mains OF our dinner
Would We ever reach the snow
field? A horrible thought crossed ny
mind. What II we had lost the direc-