The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-05
FROM THE FROZEN NORTH
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF AN ARC
TIC STORM IN THE DEPTH
OF WINTER
NATURES GIANTS At WORK
Pen Picture of the Weird Genii of
the Ice Fields Rnce with
DEATH the Runner.
UD.


prairie states may have nebulous idea
Of what a blizzard really Is, but the
simon-pure article Is manufactured ND
in this part of Alaska, where, with the
Arctic ocean on the north and Bering
sea bounding 1t on the west and south.
the frozen tundra, plains and noun
tains, comprising what may poss bly, be
called the Nome peninsula. offer con-
ditions simply Ideal for meteorological
disturbances OF great violence, writes F..
A. Throckmorton from Nome to the Gin
cinnati Enquirer These billiards. are
literally created in few minutes, and
In the following description Of one the
writer has endeavored to adhere to ac-
tual facts: .-I'
Day after day the Arctic sun peepel
above the southern horizon and as 1t
coursed along the line Giv.ding the sky
from the great field of hummocky Ice
covering Bering sea It looked like a
huge ball of FURNISHED copper Strange
and Enthusiastically shaped figures appear
ed In silhouette against the coppery
sphere; gnomes and giants of grotesque
form, animals and birds of huge mold
and startling shapes, were sharply out
lined. These strange forms were dis
torted pyramids Of ice and snow heaped
up by the sea before the ice king en-
chained all the dreary waste in his cold
embrace.
One day in the southwestern sky a
mirage-that remarkable phenomena Pc
culiar to the Arctic desert of ice and
snow, as well as the troDic desert OF
sand, appeared, and for more than
twenty minutes three inverted figures
of men in an inverted boat rowed on
an inverted sea, with the shadowy out
lines of inverted mountains In the back
ground. With the sea frozen as far as
the eye could scan. no one could eX-
plain the location of these weird boat
men so strangely reflected on the sky.
To the westward Sledge island, dot
in the frozen sea- reared its preclpitous
sides above the field Of strangely heap
ed ice North and east the frozen tun-
dra, plains and mountains glittered In
the eerie sunlight OF the short days. No
tree or shrub broke the monotony Of the
white waste
Night after night the moon shone in
the remarkably clear heavens with a
brilliancy so great that the shadows or
animate and inanimate things on the
dazzling white Of the snow looked like
black canoes.
The stars hung infinitely high. The
stiffness Of death-a frozen death-hung
over all. Not even the mourntul, VOL
like howl of the malamute dogs proke
the silence. In the spectral light or the
brilliant nights sledges drawn by REIN
deer with tinkling bells, fitted along the
trails like phantoms
And so it had been for a fortnight OF
short days and long nights Then' one
evening, after the coppery sun haa
buried itself in the sea, little ciouu
came fitting over the ghostly 1ootnills
to the eastward; then too, three, four
dull gray clouds followed in quick sue
cession like wraiths CHASING eacn
other in play; a little puff of ICY Wlhd
sent the loose snow on the tuiiu l. q
whirling into mistlike wreaths that soon
mingled with the white expanse and all
was still
Minutes passed and succession OF icy
pUffs whiTled into life a LONE ll Rofo "a
snowy forms that came lying pei IorS
in white; faster and faster came lhe toF ae
and battered clouds and the nochs VI
ghostly snow sheep were shorn vi rr Tlen
feeces by fierce blasts or vino. nv ~
in the wan light that preceded tie aIC ,a'c
night. could be seen approaching " Wlo 1s
ever increasing velocity great wan ~ =,
snow so flourlike' and poWdery lhdt ~
might have been diamond aust srouIiu
enthusiastically fine.
A few moments Of sllence--a silence 80
portentous so depressing that one WdntF WANT, q
TO cry out to relieve the tension on one
nerves, and the arctic blizzard mas en-
veloped all the white waste!
Roaring and swelling the WIND swept
over the tundra like the furIes OF lIly i
olcg5r. and as the kissing ana nliloWlHg
snow enveloped plains and mount ans anu u
foothills all the demons OF nell seemed
to be shrieking in unison. -
Whoof! from the east whoot. from tne
west; whoof. from the north; WHool !.
from the south-nightmare sounns from
the four corners of the compass conIln-
ued for an hour, and then stupendous
moan as though Boreas We're IN mortar
agony. During an occasional lull hcarse
WhisDerings could be heard. as II the god
of the tempest were breathing nlaleolcc
lions on the mamInor mad invaders Oh
the desolate land. Then the wind re-
newed it's aSor!zing- scream, ana inc
poWdery snow sWirfed faster ana Easter.
AS the long night wore on the blizzard
lapsed into a suilen roar. the Ice plains
were swept clean Of their snowy cover
ing and the raVines were nlled from riiii
to rim.
In the gray dawn of the next morning
the wind waned and sighed as II weary
Of the nights reVelry. and then, at last.
the c0ppery sun again came W ouI VI
the ice-bound sea, and all was SIN.
God pity the mushers caught out on
the tundra in such storm! 1hey race
not for claims, but for life-and death
is often the runner-up.
Next summer, when the tundra is no
longer Wind-swept ice field. but quaN-
a poor devil will be found wherc ne laY
down to sleep from the drowsiness that
cvercame him when the pitiiess biizzard
beDUmbed him into that happy state that
precedes the endless slumber OF frozen
death.