Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-02-21
Snowbound in 1896 |::: :;::
nv -,..v , -,.., ade of Ten
--o' 'RaNn D. iKAtl---- Years Ago.
BY FRANK B. TRACY

The multitudinous desratches that
appear in our New England newspapers
regarding snow blockades in the West,
especially those accompanied by fuel and
food famines in North Dakota, must
have caused in the minds of Transcript
readers a very great amount of dismay
and even horror. The question has pro-
badly risen in the average Bostonian
mind why people will live in such God
forsaken country and especially under
what code of morals railroad managers
operate that will permit the isolation of
town such as one observes very often
in dispatches. We read, for example,
that on the Hannah branch of the Great
Northern Railroad no trains have run
for week. We also read of three trains
being stuck in the snow drifts within a
few miles of Grand Forks. These look
like horrible conditions. They pull on
our heart strings; they have led the
president and the Interstate commerce
commission to send out numerous des-
patches and orders. And to one who
has passed his days and nights of sum-
mer and winter in North Dakota and
has gone through the billiards. and
snow blockades there are many elements
OF fascination, even of amusement in
these experiences.
Take the Hannah line. about which
the Interstate commerce commission
has been exercised. The Hannah branch
begins at Larimore, twenty-five miles
west of Grand Forks, and runs 125 miles
northwest to Hannah, in Cavalier coun-
ty. know something about that line
because / lived on it for a year when its
terminus was Langdon, the county seat
of Cavalier county. This line runs up
hill almost all the way. Its terminus
lies on top of what they call the noun
tain. which is rise of ground belong
ing probably to the Turtle Mountains {
little further west. 1t is the easies
thing in the world for a snow blockade
to occur there. There is but one pas
senger train each way and one freigh
train. When genuine storm occur.
and snow falls for twenty-four or thirty
six hours at stretch. as it did ten year.
ago this winter, the possibilities of any
thing like a snow blockade are immense
We were so situated on Thanksgiving
Day in 1896. The storm struck the little
cottage / lived in about two o'clock il
the morning. When | say struck.
mean struck. There was bang, as i
some projectile had been thrown agains
the house, and then roar That roa
kept up its roaring all that night. all th'
next day, and nearly all the next night
During Thanksgiving Day there wa
nothing to do but to sit by ones window
and watch the twisting snow. You VIII,
were out in Tuesdays storm may i'm
agine that was blizzard, but it was tn
faintest imitation This was real. Hal
a block without getting behind a build
ing was about as much progress as any
body could make. Seeing across tn
street was out of the question. Th
, snow came into your eyes and mout
, with the heartiest familiarity 1t struc
you very forcibly. 1t burned the fac
; with its bitter impact and remaine
, long enough to freeze, and burn sue
ceeded by freeze on the same huma
, surface is an experience one doesn't car
to try often. Through all this tempes
there came mail carrier, who did nc
, know any better than to bring the ma
| that morning from Olga twenty mile
away. He was a French Canadian
{ named Alexander La Liberte. but calle
by everybody Joe La SWEET, don
! know why. 1t was, of course, his littl
, Indian ponies that carried him through
but how they arrived only the ponie
, could tell. Of course, Joe froze his eal
and the back of his head and neck an
his toes, but within couple of hour
after he had arrived he was smokin
cigaretts and throwing dice as usual
But to get back to this town of Lang
don during the blizzard of ten years ag,
When the people began to dig then
selves out they found the snow in th
middle of the road anywhere from te
feet to twenty feet high. They foun
: it in some places crushing in store front
and reaching two story windows. The
did not attempt to do anything NOR
than dig themselves out, and then the
began to wonder when the train woul
come. 1t took four days to repair th
wires SO that the markets could be go
! vital thing in the wheat country
took six more to get train through
Men had worked like mad, had used u
several snow ploughs, and when the
! arrived at the town they were greete
like so many heroes that they wer
They had worked night and day, an
| they had done we'll. We had fairl