The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-02
FREED FROM
THE DRIFTS
Senator E. G. Potter Has a
Thrilling Version OF
"Snow Bound. !"
Passengers Wore Blankets
and Had Two Meals
a Day.

I ana adQ i WO meals
a Day.
! Passengers arriving in Minneapolis to-
day on a Great Northern train due last
| Friday, tell of being snowbound for four
days and five nights on the prairies of
North Dakota in the midst Of the worst
blizzard the northwest has seen i'll many
years, with only food enough for two fru-
gal meals day, and with such small
amount Of fuel that the ladies had.-to
wrap themselves in blankets and the men
to wear their overcoats day and night to
keep from freezing. The train was COM
pletely lost the world. Late Thursday
afternoon it picked it's precarious way
out of Williston in the hope of being able
to reach Minot some fourteen miles to
the east, before night. Almost midway,
at. a little stopping place called Ray,
where there is only a siding, water
tank and coal shed, the train was
stalled. The engineer thought he could
aid, and taking the conductor with him,
started on the trip. The lone engine was
stuck in a drift in cut a short distance
out of the town and had to be abandoned.
This left the train of eight coaches and
about 250 passengers alone on the siding
and with all Communication cut off Then
started the long siege, during which the
cold had to be borne and hunger stifed.
There was much suffering.
Out of the Frying-pan
Among the passengers were State Sena-
tor E. G. Potter of Minneapolis. his wife
and daughter. They had started out of
Portland over the Northern Pacific. Some
distance west of Butte they learned that
the Northern Pacific tracks near McKen-
zie were submerged and that it would be
impossible to get through, or around.
For some reason the Pullman on the
Northern Pacific train was transferred to
the GREAT Northern. Thus it happened
that there was larger number of pas
sengers on the blockaded train than usual.
Senator Potter says that it was begins
ming to grow dark on the afternoon of
Thursday last. when the train pulled out
of Williston. At Ray the great drift was
encountered and the train stalled. There
was much discussion among the passen-
gers and train crews as to what should
be done and finally the engineer and con-
ductor decided to hazard the trip back to
Williston. It was showing heavily, and
the wind was blowing a gale, piling the
snow up in great drifts on the prairie and
filling every cut in the roadbed. The en-
CINE was started westward and was soon
lost in the binding storm. That was the
last seen Of it, or any semblance of aid
until Tuesday lmorFssg When q rotary
fought its way through s&nd brought med
zeal aid to Professor II. W. Colegroye, of
the University Of WASHINGTON, who had
attempted suicide on the train.
On Short Commons.
The day dragged along with exasperat-
ling slowness. The first day out confer
ence of the passengers was called and it
was deemed advisable to get along with
two meals a day until they learned how
soon aid could reach them. There is no
telegraph station at Ray, and 1t was i'm
possible to get into communication with
the stations on either side, and the rail
road agents in those towns were unable to
reach them with food or fuel or to get
any word to them The fuel supply car
ried in the three day coaches, two tourist
cars, two Great Northern sleepers and one
Pullman, was small and was being con-
sumed rapidly. The porters bundled
themselves up we'll and made their way
to the coal shed, some distance from the
train. After digging in the snow for
nearly two hours they learned that the
shed was entirely empty, all of the coal
having been loaded onto the locomotives
since the supply stock had been replen-
ished,
Fighting the Cold.
The following day the fuel became
scafcer and the ladies and children bum
died themselves up in the heavy blankets
and other bed clothing from the sleeping
cars, and the Amen wore their overccats
and walked to keep warm. They played
cards, conducted debates on all manner
of subjects and questions. from the most
profound to the most ludicrous, and did
everything Imaginable to amuse them
selves. They made the nights as long as
possible, retiring early and not getting
up until late, 1t was warmer and more
comfortable in the berths than sitting
up The porters were sent out again to
search for fuel. Again they began their
digging in the coal shed and after several
hours work picked up what little coal
there was strewn about the floor and on
the tracks, and managed to keep the fires
going in all of the stoves The water sup
ply gave out early on the second day, and
all that was used after that was secured
by melting snow.
An Incipient Bread Riot.
There was an incipient riot on the first
day. The second-class passengers in
sisted that they must have as much or
more food as the others, and as they were
in larger numbers and had more ravenous
appetites it was difficult to confine them
to their quota. Many were not willing,
as the irst-class passengers insisted, that
the women and children should be fed
and taken care of first, but after some
argument they were prevailed upon to
subside.
CoIegrove's Suicidal Attempt.
Monday evening Professor Colegrove Of
the University of Washington, who was en-
route east on vacation trip, and who had
been Respondent and morose, attempted
suicide by cutting his throat with a razor.
There was physician on the train but he
had no facilities for performing the neces-
sary operation and it was absolutely nee
essary to get into communication with
one of the meighboring towns. In their
desperation the passengers broke open
everything in the trains chests, and in the
conductors box found a telegraph instru-
ment. A young man, am electrician, on
the train, faced the blizzard and tapped
one of the wires and attached the instru-
ment. He knew little about telegraphy
and notified the operators at both Minot
and Williston of what had occurred. From
each place snow plow was started in
front of an engine bearing surgeon.
The ONE from Minot, after hard nights
work, reached the siding early the follow
/ ing morning, and the wounded man was
x,ol Erct INC IN, -