The Holly chieftain., 1904-02-19

his team of highly strung horses up to
the wind required constant use Of the
whip. The team at every step tried to
turn its tail to the wind nnd "buchle
up" and Lyons knew if he ever got OF
the trail he was lost. The only resi-,
| dence between camp and tle ranch at
that time was the old PoplerDy house
just west of the Salvation Army. in
which lived Mr. House.
When our team got to the Buffalo
creek crossing of the trail. the cattle
in the big pasture had crowded under
the bluffs for shelter and we're so
cowed by the terrible stoT, that they
| refused to move and make d passage
way through which Lyons could drive.
1t seemed as though no amount of
yelling and popping OF his whip could
cut him way through. The cattle
, were so stiff from the cold that as the
leaders struck them they would fall
over on the ground and in some cases
Lyons had to drive over them.
At one time in the midst OF this herd
the nerve of our friend almost gave out
and he began to wondor II he had not
better give up and turn with the storm
and die. Our townspeople know that
Lyons is not made Of the kind Of stuff
that gives up easily, SO that II the idea
OF permitting himself to freeze to death
| entered his head. you can imagine that
the conditions were terrible. Forum
ately for him, the more he used his
whip and yelled and jumped about. the
better became his circulation OF blood
and rs each moment of effort passed
he found himself little stronger than
the minute before
By plunging and jumping and driv-
ing over and through cattle, he event
ually got through the bunch. The
/ time to pass the bunch seemed so long
to him then that he is afraid to say
how long he was in making the pass-
age. Immediately after passing the
bunch Of cattle he considered the ad-
visibility of heading Oft toward
Houses residence. The sight o, the
prairie and the densely snow-thick-
cned atmosphere convinced him that il
he ever got of the trail he would be
lost and frozen to certainty. Hump
ing himself together he began again to
swing his whip to force the leaders into
tho teeth of the storm. making the silk
| cracker on the end of his y'yteen-foot
| lash burn and sing about the ears Of
| his horses until each square inch
| of them seemed to be on fire. and the
| fire from the whip was more 10 be
dreaded than the bitter cutting OF the
| fine ice carried in the wind. Some
times going at full run, sometimeG
| trotting. and sometimes floundering
| through snowdrifts that made even Il
| walk seem impossible, the big team
came toward the ranch.
| Meanwhile the cow-punchers, occa-
| sionally looking out Of the old mess
| house. which was then where it Is now.
saw Lyons and his team show up
| through the dense snow, and with &
| yell OF welcome, they rushed out eI-
| pecting to find him frozen. but the
! man who had been q newsboy in New
i York City and the head hostler for
| BarnuEl's show when il Travelled over
! the country, and who drove six horses
! more easily than the ordinary man
drives one. was badly disngured, but
most thoroughly alive. His face was
blue, his left ear, left cheek and the
| left side OF his nostril were frozen, but
the constant exercise which he get
! from the continuous use OF his whip,
/ kept him alive Two CT the horses had
| their ears frozen, which will give one
some idea OF the intensity of the cold.
| 1t was shortly after this that the
cowboys on the ranch divided them
selves into two camps On the PROPOSE
| ton as to whether Lyons could turn a
si1 horse team around in the old hay
| barn, which was then q little over half
the size Of the present one. Upon this
occasion, betting ran high. bat the six
| horses were turned around without the
wagon or the horses touching post.
In 1887 blizzard more destructive
to cattle occurred than the one spoken
Of above. The river was frozen aoliG
and SO strong was the ice that the
| cow-punchers galloped across X in 4
body. Just before the freeze a big
river had come down. and when the
river froze it was bank full. The cattle
from the north drifted in in such guam
titles that the fences had to be cut. and
to save their lives they had to be
| dTifted south TO bo permitted to go
with the storm. As many as 10000
were trailed over the river.
| During this blizzard two men who
had taken up claims to farm by rain
fall were frozen on the prairie. The
claims OF the two men were located at
the corner where Mr.. Cox and Mr.
Marston now live. The men had evil
IDENTIFY left Granada to go home. Ben
Riley found the first man, who was
the younger Of the two, a young man
in the prime OF health, in the draw
where Mr.. W. H. Smiths house now
is. They evidently started to go to
their homes and found It impossible,
and turned south again. The young
man gave out first but the old man kept
Going until he StrucE the fence thnt
runs in front OF the old Tillett place,
wcat OF the Salvation Army. He
grabbed the fence with his hand evil