Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1906-12-06
FIFTY YEARS AGO
An Open Letter to a Chum Of a Half
Century, Reminding Him of the
Great Storm Of 1856
ENIRA, Iowa, Dec. /, 1906

JUDGE ID. M. HARRIS, Mo. Valley:
| DEAR OLD PARD:-Do you call to
mind just fifty years ago of the terrible
storm that commenced on the morning
of December lst and ragged for three
| long days? Do you remember that you
and [ were caught in it, and how we
| fought for life? Do you remember how
| we thanked God when we reached the
grove, and how your mind went out
for the safety of your wife and six chill
dren alone in that big house on the hill?
Yes, Judge, know that you remem-
Der that at that time you was young
man and was a large kid. Well,
Judge, was looking over my line of
| fifty years and often wonder what in
duced you and [ to remain here and
help to develop the country, denying
ourselves of every comfort of life. You
and L have seen many hard storms
since that one of 1856, but none that
equaled it. Now for the benefit of the
younger generations that live in the
counties OF Audubon and Cass, desire
to give a partial history of the destruc-
ton of human life, and also of animal
life. The storm ragged for three days
and you and remained in that grove
till the morning of the fourth day when
we started for Hamlin's Grove, dis
tance OF perhaps four miles. The snow
was so drifted that it was next to inn
| possible to get our horses through, and
we abandoned our vehicle, each one
leading a horse. In places the snow
would be packed hard enough to bear
the weight of horse and in some spots
the crust would give way and the horse
" ould drop down in the loose snow
over his head, and then would come
the tug of war. However, we managed
to reach the home of the Judge The
Judge climbed over high drift and
bolted for the door, on opening which
he found his wife and children all-safe,
as the snow had packed 80 close to the
building it kept the inside warm with
out much fire. On seeing his wife and
children safe he turned to me and ex-
claimed: "Whit, thank God, the fam
lily is safe. On going to the outbuild-
ings we found ten fat hogs in a pen
frozen solid, the other stock being pro-
tected in a log barn, had weathered the
storm-as the old sailors say. Two
young men by the name of Ives left
Hamlin's house ON the morning of
December 1st to go to Holidays Grove
in Adair county, distance of twenty
four miles. They were both overcome
by the storm and perished. They had
almost reached the grove. Three young
men perished in the eastern part Of
Pottawattamie county An old trap
per was found frozen in his shock on
Middle Coon in Carroll county; also
two young men were lost in the same
county. In what was known as Indian
Grove, some eight or ten miles east of
Extra, the writer found the remains of
a man in May that was supposed to
have perished in the storm, and per-
haps his folks never knew what had
become of him. / marked the place
where l found the remains and went to
Hamlin's and reported my find. The
next day with Natty Hamlin, Urbane
Herrick, Anson Brown and George
Colder, went to the place where the
corpse lay and examined the remains
which were very much decomposed
with one of the feet gone. We wrote a
could and sent it to Iowa City and it
was published in the Iowa Capital Re
porter. We buried him where we found
the remains, and his history will prob
ably be unknown till the great Judg-
ment Day. / have often thought if
could find the place where we buried
him. | would like to report one more
incident. William p. Hamlin, who at
that time lived in what was known as
the upper grove on Buck creek, in Cass
county, found some ten or twelve elk
in snow drift near his home just after
the storm. The snow was so deep the
elk were helpless. The crust was strong
enough to bear the weight of a man, so
he killed them with 3'tommyhawk." {"
They were fat and made good meat.
He dressed them and hauled them to
the town of Lewis where he sold the
meat. | am aware that this statement
may appear tishy to some, but think
[. V. d. Lewis, who lives six miles
south of Extra, remembers the incident;
also Charles Marsh, of Atlantic, and
his brother Walter, and others.
The six children i speak of, of the
Hon. Judge Harris, believe are all
living today, their heads have grown
white, and the most of them are faith
ers and mothers, and some of have be-
come grandparents; but on looking
back fifty years l see them in my mind
as misses, youths and babies. I have
only reported a few incidents of the re-
suits of the storm, and if Mr.. Harris
should see this it will bring things to
his remembrance
| Very respectfully yours,
P. /. WHITFIELD.