davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13

experience. Practically the same thing
has happened on the Great Northern,
even on its main line. Now on those
main lines not more than eight pas
.senger trains and four freight trains
run each day. What would happen to
the Boston & Albany railroad If only
twelve trains ran a day. Why, with
all its equipment for fighting snow
and the extraordinary number Of trains
which it runs we know only too well
the story Of our thra ldom during the
past winter. The attempt, however,
on the branch lines in North Dakota
Ito break a snow blockade is still more
nearly impossible. ~ "a
Take the line that has got into the
public dispatches, New Rockford This
is on branch about one hundred
miles long that runs from jamestown
to Leeds. It has only one train each
way day. The line is north and
south one, the worst direction obvi-
ously for snow blockading. 1t has sew
eral cuts and is in a valley where
snow falls very heavily and stays. No
wonder the Northern Pacific railroad
has been unable to- get. any trains
through, and we are compelled to be-
lieve President Elliot when he de-
clares that he has done his best to
penetrate that awful adamantine
mountain of snow.
Ten years ago there was a branch
line in North Dakota so situated that
| the Northern Pacific did not try to
open it up all winter simply because it
was practically impossible to do so.
| When blizzard succeeds blizzard and
Isnowstorm succeeds snowstorm, no
amount of snow blowing can do any
thing. Towns along this line were fed
by wagons from the main line. No
one suffered. II
That Hanna Line.
Then take the Hannah line, another
about which the Interstate commerce
commission has been exercised. II
you will take up railroad map OF
North Dakota you will see a curious
arrangement of seven branch lines ex
tending north from the main line OF
the Great Northern to the information
al boundary. These lines run one OF
4 two trains up and back each day. The
1 Hannah branch begins at Larimore
i twenty-five miles west of Grand Forks
and runs 125 miles northwest to Han
nah in Cavalier county. I know some
thing about that line, because I lived
on it for year when its terminus was
Langdon, the county seat Of Cavalier
county This line runs uphill almost
all the way. It's terminus lies on tor
of what they call 'the mountain
which is a rise of ground belonging
probably to the Turtle Mountains lit
tie further west. It is the easies
I thing in the world for snow blockade
i to occur there. There is but one pas
senger train each way and one freigh1
train. When a genuine storm occur:
and snow falls for twenty-four Of
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13
SNOW BOUND IN DKO7AA PIONEERS OF RECENT CONDITIONS


The multitudinous, dispatches that
appear in our New England newspa-
pers regarding snow blockades in the
west, especially those accompanied by
fuel and food famines in North Da-
kota, must have caused in the minds
Of 4 Transcript readers a very great
amount Of dismay and even horror.
The question has probably risen in the
average Bostonian mind why people
will live in such a God forsaken cOun-
try and especially under what code Of
morals railroad managers operate that
will permit the isolation of town
such as one observes very often in dis
patches We read, for example, that.
on the Hannah branch Of the Great
Northern railroad no trains have run
for a week. We see that dispatch
has arrived from New Rockford to the,
effect that the snow blockade is still
on. that no trains have got through
for ten days and that it is without
food supplies or fuel Of any sort We:
also read of three trains being stuck
In the snow drifts within a few miles
of Grand Forks Trains have been
stuck there tWenty-four hours apart;
in other words, three No. or three
No. 6 trains have been stuck in snow
drifts within a few miles of each other
unable to get through for a long time,
and then the three got out together.
These look like horrible conditions.
They pull on our heart strings; they
have led the president and the inter-
state commerce commission to send
out numerous dispatches and orders
and they have served to picture Mr.
Hill of the Great Northern and the
managers of the Northern Pacific rail-
road companies as ogres Of frightful
mien and most insolent attitude to-
ward the public I must admit that
Mr.. Hill is an ogre but / can excuse
him on this count. And to one who
has passed his days and nights Of
summer and winter in. North Dakota
and has gone through the billiards
and snow blockades and village fires
at night there are many elements Of
ascination, even of amusement in
these experiences.
What q Railroad "cut" Means. AM
But before 4 speak more fully re.
garding that phase, it may serve the
public, I think, If ] explain why such
ockades are possible. We are accus-
toned to think of railroad building in
North Dakota as the mere act Of Law
Ing some bars Of steel across wooden
ties on fiat prairie with no grades and
no cuts, nothing but the broad level
land with It's horizon stretching far
away, affording a practically uninter-
rupted view. This is true Of a large
part Of North Dakota, but it is not
true Of all of It. There are long
stretches Of railroad when no grade
whatever is encountered, but there is
also the rolling prairie with its hills
and rivers and its frequent cuts even
in the eastern part Of North Dakota.
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13
Wtlo7 WHAT WHEN7 WHERE9 WHY7
Every printed made
oerning them. these six questions

/ Local Items.
B Important lawsuits.
/ Important action Of public authori-
ties. N
Investments, patents.
Lectures subject.
Local sentiment as to school, tax.
liquor laws.
Marriages.
Murders.
s Musical matters, societies.
New buildings. factories, additions.
New firms or partners.
Obituaries Of prominent persons.
Parties, birthday or social.
Parties leaving town to locate else.
N here. 53
Personal items. @
Political rallies, caucuses. conyen-
lions.
Presentations.
Reunions, receipt IONS.
Public requests.
Public demonstrations. meetings,
i Runaways. collisions II damages.
the results.
Schools, terms. teachers. vacations.
Social affairs.
Societies doings, fraternal or secret.
Strikes. labor troubles.
3 Sudden deaths, their cause,
Suggestions for local improvements.
Suicides full particulars.
Town meetings, town officers re-
ports.
Violations Of law.
Wedding anniversaries,
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13

- 5-a E
thirty-six hours at a stretch, as it did
ten years ago this winter, the possi-s
bilities Of anything like a snow block
ade are immense j.
a Thanksgiving Blizzard.
We were SO situated on Thanksgiv-
ing Day in 1896. The storm struck
the little cottage I lived In about 2
O'clock in the morning When say
struck, mean struck. There Mas al
bang, as if some projectile, had been
thrown against the house, and then a
roar. That roar kept up Its roaring
all that night, all the next day, and
near all the next night. During
Thanksgiving Day there was nothing.
to do but to sit by ones window and
watch the twisting snow. You who
were out in Tuesdays storm may ina
CINE that was a blizzard, but it was
the faintest imitation. This was real.
Hall. a block without getting behind a
building was about as much progress
as anybody could make. Seeing across
the street was out of the question.
| The snow came into your eyes and
mouth with the heartiest familiarity.
lit struck you very forcibly. 4 1t burned
the face with its bitter impact and re-
manned long enough to freeze, and a
burn succeeded by freeze on the
same human surface is an experience
lone doesn't care to try often.
Through all this tempest there came
"a mail carrier, who did not know any
better than to bring the mail that
morning from twenty miles away. He
was a French Canadian, named Alex
ander La Liberte, but called by ev.
1serybody Joe La SWEET, I don't know
why. 1t was, Of course, his little In,
dian ponies that carried him through
but how they arrived only the ponies
| could tell. OF course, Joe froze his
1 ears and the back of his head and
neck and his toes, but within couple
of hours after he had arrived he was
smoking cigarettes and throwing dice
i as usual.
They had a Thanksgiving dance ir
the country near by and the drunkard
of the village staggered out of il
4 about midnight, and must have beer
caught early by the storm. His fate
was much mourned, but after three
days he turned up all right. s,
But there were tragedies. Out OF
the prairie one couple were driver
/ from their shack that night by fire
i from their straw stove (the stove tina
burned light stuff like straw. /
1 burned down the shack and all tina
| they had, and when they turned ava.
from it after the fire had died out
q hoping to find shelter somewhere, tn
j raging storm bore down upon them
| bewildered them and lost them, an,
| their shelter was the snowdrift ii
| which they died. And in another plac
j not far from them a father was KEEP
/ away from home by the storm, ant
the mother yentured out to feed tn,
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13

horses who from their barn were call
ing wildly in their hunger. She, too,
missed her way, and the next day they
found her body In the snow.
"a few years before, during one Of
these blizzards, a eningitis
epidemic broke out. 1t was new dis
ease. There was not enough medical
help, and even with plenty of doctors
little could have been done, for we do
not know very well yet what to do
with such cases. The little folks of
that village died like flies; the people
were in helpless terror. Nor could the
bodies be buried. because no spade
could cut the frozen sod. Readers with
keen memories for trifes may recall
my yarn about this episode printed a
few years ago in Nice lure's; they may
now be told that there was much fact.
in that fiction.
| The Drift Of Things.
But to get back to this town Of
Langdon during the blizzard of ten
years ago. When the people began
to dig themselves out they found the
snow in the middle of the road any
where from ten feet to twenty feet
thigh. They found it in some places
crushing in store fronts and reaching
two-story windows. They did not at
tempt to do anything more than dig
themselves out, and then they began
to wonder when the train would come.
| It took four days to repair the wires
so that the markets could be got, a
vital thing in the wheat country. 1t
! took six more to get train through
! Men had worked like mad, had used
4 up several snow-ploWs, and when they
arrived at the town they were greeted
like so many heroes that they were
j They had worked night and day, and
they had done well.
4 We had fairly good time during
j the Whittier-like experience and oul
4 chief speculation was what had hap
pened in the world since we left it
The editor of the weekly paper ran al
amusing column, What may have
J, happened" And when the mail came
we found to our disgust that nothing
worth any account had happened a
q all. There were several other block
AIDES OF a day or two each during tht
winter, one of them during the frs
week in March. That storm kept til,
august North Dakota legislator,
y penned up in Bismarck day or tw,
after it had been compelled by statut,
limit to adjourn. Suddenly withou
warning the train came and the nobl
legislature piled on without, fear, al
!, OF them paying their board bills.
, SnoWbound on a Train.
!, The vision passenger has on on
of these snow trains is very interes
ing. He finds himself passing throug
a narrow canyon whose walls are Xix
marble in whiteness and rigid aspect
He sees only the tops of the telegraph
poles, for the snow has mounted up t
the very wires. The snow fences. bot]
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13

Of wood and snow, have long since
been buried. Nor is life dull or mon
otonous on snoWbound trains The
deus ex machina comes out Of these
incidents as well as the Good Samari-
tan. People become exceedingly well
acquainted and life's secrets are pour
ed out to willing ears. On one train
remember the train had no dining car
but did have that now nearly extinct
species, the news and peanut boy. He
had no peanuts but did have an album
dance of that delectable stuff known
as e'crackerjac J" This young Napo-
leon of finance put up the price at {
once to Is cents a box and was
promptly cleaned out suppose there
were numerous incidents of the pas
sengers rushing to farmhouse for
milk for babies such as always get
into s.good stories" of snoWbonnd
trains, but confess never really
knew Of these pleasing affairs,
Exaggerated Stories.
fear this winter in North Dakota
has rather exceeded that fond record
OF ten years ago, if must believe the
dispatches, which have probably lost
nothing in picturesque in their
transmission SO far east. a man at
luncheon yesterday told me of Al
friend who said he was apenned up"
lin a North Dakota town for six weeks
| unable to get out-a story which re-
minds me of a golf term when the
ball is in an excellent position. On
doubtedly there has been some suffer
ing and great apprehension, but it is
surprising to know that Christmas
freight has not left St Paul; however,
4 except in the very new towns these
neighborho are prepared by expert
ence for isolation, and many contra
dictions of the alarmist stories are
now coming in. Two North Dakota
daily papers that come to my desk
are absurdly barren in asufferienge0
details; it is the news of the Thaw
case and Jamaica that they contain.
I Indeed, winter in a North Dakota
town is preferred by many residents
to the summer. 1t sometimes becomes
furiously hot in summer, and the mo-
1 squitoes and feas would do credit to
New Jerseys best record Days in
winter when it does not biz are
simply delightful. The month Of De
cember, 1896, was, in my Judgment,
a the finest month for comfort and bril-
i Iancy of sky have ever seen any
4. where. The sun shone with peculiar
strength and beauty, there was not a
cloud in the sky and the air was tonic
& itself. Day after day was the same
and although the thermometer re.
: manned pretty constantly at twenty be.
low zero there was 10 wind and one
noticed the cold not half so much as
he does these days crossing the Com
mon or standing on Huntington ave
nue. waiting for a refrigerator car.
=
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13
CORRESPONDENTS WANTED

Weekly
ship,
morning will
ceiyed up % if important
8#S TRIBUNE Bismarck
Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-13

Suggestions *
Accidents to persons or property.
Amusements, entertainments.
Anniversaries Of persons or socie
ties.
Annual meetings.
Assault, attempted murder.
Associations or companies formed.
l Balls, dances.
/ Baptisms, combinations.
! Building improvements. changes.
Burglaries, larcencies.
Card parties.
Changes In business
Church matters.
Clergymen exchanging.
Concerts. musicales.
II Condition Of business.
Contested willis.
Crops, ususual prices. quantities.,
and yields.
UeaInS.
Declarations, installations. ordina-
items.
Discoveries, antiquities. relics. curl
osities.
Dissolution Of firms,
Divorces.
Early fruits and vegetables.
Elections Of pflcers.
Epidemics.
Fairs. festivals, festivities.
Fires ss
Forest fires acres burned over.
Former residents movements visits
a Funerals.
improvements, public Or private.
Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-08-15

John Brown, of Omaha, was
in the Valley the guest of his
brother-in-law, Frank Tamil
siea.
Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-08-15
K. C.,s VS. *. P.,s

The Knights of Columbus
and the Knights of Pythias
will meet on the ball diamond
at the fair grounds, Saturday
al enc y, August 18th, at 2::3O.
Ihs -o-ers OF the game will
have to give a watermelon
feast for the winners, which
will be a pleasant affair no
doubt. The boys are anticipat-
leg a fine time and the friends
Of both teams will be out in
force to do some roofing.
Please bear this in mind ard 20
out and witness the big game.
Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-08-15

Fire caused by sparks from a
passing engine partially de
stroyed the passenger depot of
the Chicago & Northwestern
railroad at Rapid City, South
Dakota, Saturday, August l1th.
But for the prompt response
and efficient service by the fire
department. it would have been
entirely destroyed.
H. J. Radden, the genial yard
office operator, left this morn
ing for Minneapolis, where he
will take treatment for his leg.
He will be gone for a week or
ten days.
The Williams Jubilee Singers
passed through the Valley this
morning to fill a chautauqua
engagement.
Mr.. and Mrs. George Thomp-
son came down from Chadron,
Saturday, for a visit with
friends and relatives in the
Valley.
Jud Haskins came UP from
Omaha, Saturday night and
spent Sunday with his parents
in this city.
GRANDPA Little is much I'M
proved after several days in
disposition.
Engineer L w. Stevens is
improving after several days
indisposltion. His health has
been rather delicate for some
time, and we hope he will soon
regain his usual good health.
He is one of the best known en-
gineeTs On the road.
Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-08-15
A Clean Campaign.

As this is a year when no cleo
ton is to be held, owing to the
new law, and none but minor
offices to be filled, makes it
good time for the people of Iowa
to take an inventory Of promis-
es and their fulfilment by those
in authority, and calmly judge
of men and measures, without
lresort to the usual mud sling
| ing process of partisan politics.
The country has long been too
much exercised by methods of
doubtful propriety, and an eff
fort by politicians to keep up a
division among the people so as
to benefit certain men and pro-
mote legislation for the advan-
cement of personal and party
ends. What the country most
needs is good laws and honest
mon to execute them, without
fear or favor of any man or set
of men,
1t is a little too early to be
INCREASINGLY "stewing" about
who is to be the next President
of the United States The time
to name the man is a year dis
tant, and the occasion will find
the man, and tits not, therefore
necessary to be troubled over
much with subject that will
be easily settled when the prop
.|per time comes. The immortal
Lincoln said: "Never cross the
stream until you come to
It." The right men for
candidates will be found when
the proper time comes, and all
those who feel that the honor
of this great nation depends
upon the election of any partic-
ular man to the Presidency let
such parties rest easy, for it is
not predestinated or forordain-
ed that any certain man is to be
elected to that high position
Times change, and change
brings to view, as a general
thing, the man who is wanted
4 for place and power.
Last year Iowa was in a per-
feet foment over who should be
elected governor ,"the stand
patters or. the progressives, /"
and the democrats in large num-
bers thought to better matters,
voted with the progressives, but
taxes remain about the same,
and experience demonstrated
that that ga rose by any other
name would smei! just as sweet
ly," and Iowa is still in the re-
publican column, and the ques-
tion of stand patter" or pro
gressive" isyet live matter with
! which to tickle the democrats
and keep Iowa loyal to her 20
litical idols.
Let us all take rest while Gen.
Taft and Senator Foraker are
engaged in their effort to make
the people of this country be-
lieve that the perpetuity of this
government depends upon their
Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-08-15
This would be a good time to
investigate the good qualities
of the Herrick refrigerator.
Sold only by j. R. McGavren.

A Missouri Valley mother
put. her little girl to bed and
told her to be good and go to
sleep and the angels would
watch over her. In a few min
utes the little girl went out to
where her mother was and said,
"Ma, | don't like the angels,
one of them bit me-" It was
one of those special breed of
mammoth mosquitoes that the
Valley is famous or.-Wood-
bine Twiner.
Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-08-15
Aonday August f2

A. N. Fountain returned Sat-
,rday evening from Canada,
where he had been on business.
Mrs. Harriet Allen returned
o her home in Mcndamin to-
Iay after spending a week in
his city with her sister, Mrs
|. L. Fry.
M. D. Myers left this morn
lg for O'Neill, Nebraska, ac-
pmpanied by several land
,ekers.
Mrs. w. II. Bail returned
rom Lincoln yesterday, where
ne had been visiting friends
or Ten days.
NV. D. Crawford, Of Okla
iona, is visiting friends in the
VALLEY.
Miss Helen Strain is the
guest of Council Bluffs friends
'or a week.
DR.. Boughton reports a son
,orn to Mr.. and Mrs. Chris
larson, south of this city, this
aorning.
Miss Myrtle Spencer was a
ogan passenger his morning.
Card of Thanks
We wish to take this method
bf thanking our many friends
end neighbors who were 50
kind to US during the sickness
bud death of Guy Kelsey. We
yish to especially thank the
Ioung men and young ladies
who assisted and censoled us,
lnd for the many beautiful
floral tributes.
Mr.. and Mrs. M D. Myers.
Mrs. Guy Kelsey.
The Sioux City Tribune got
|, 1T a go page edition yesterday
n honor of the fiftieth anniver-
ary Of the settling of Sioux
lily. The edition is profusely
Illustrated and many pictures
re shown, all of which are
|. interest to the older settlers
! the state. The Tribune is
ne Of the best newspapers in
5wa and has always been iden-
fled with the growth and best
slterests of Sioux City.