The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-03-06


encounteo with Northwestern bliz-
zard and is taken from the columns
of "'The Dycumite and Talent" OF
which Mr. Parlett is now editor
LOST on THE PRAIRIE.
1T didn't look like hard thing
to do-to go from Grafton to Stark
weather in one day. These ambi.
tious and interesting Young towns
lie within hail Of the Canadian from
tier in North Dakota and perhapa
hundred or so miles apart
would merely drive the twenty
milas before breakfast, from Graft
500 road, catch a 500 train west TO
Egeland, and there either get the
Flame;s Grain line to wait on my
train and thus ride into Stark
weather or drive the twenty miles
Of the train couldn't wait. | had
written Superintendent Kelly, ex'
planning the great and thrilling up
lift in store, for StarlNweather and
limiting at the lifelong remorse that
would gnaw him If he didn't hold
the train. The bureau had also inn
plored him, and the LEGAL committee
had petitioned. considered the vic.
tory won.
''That week the cola wave arrived
Its shrivellng breath struck all the
Northwest. Trains were groggy,
tracks were blocked with snow,
many of THE trains were annuled,
and some lines suspended. We OF
Ohio consider IL pretty cold when
the mercury slides down to freez-
ing. and II perchance ii goes on
down to zero, we fly distress signals
and the oldes L Citizen racks his
memory But here the first snort
sent the quicksilver to fifteen below
Then with little despairing jerks it
kept slnlking to thirty-fve and for
ty, There was h wind from the
north that ought to have sent 1t a
hundred below, only Thermometers
have no souls and can't feel wind.
That wind strikes the face and
cooks II like steak on the fi7e.
''Out on the level prairie the snow
wasn't more than a foot deep, but
any little depression fills up, and
tree or hedge row piles up tremend-
Gus drihts to the leeward. We
started from Grafton in the dark
Of the morning, bundled in fur over
coats and buried in robes, with a
foot-warmer in the bottom of the
sleigh. A few miles out of town
sleigh and cargo bounced into the
air, turned neat sideIwheel and |
went head first into a snowIbank my
feet kicking into empty space We
had struck one Of those drifts The
driver hung on to the lines, or the
been written. We righted things,
gathered the flotsam back into the
sleigh and repaired the harness My
grip busted open, my dress suit and
gandy ties scattered over the wheat
belt What a reproa1h on vanity, a
Epiketall adrift near the North
Pole
But this twenty miles is inciden-
tai | callght the 500 train west
and was told that the track was
blocked with snow so that we
would not get to Egeland. Gangs Of
men were at work shoveling and
moving the snow fences higher
while big rotary snow-plows were
at work boring out the cuts. We
reached Alsen after dinner, ana
here the conductor assured me was
bhe end OF the trip, the track ahead
being net yet exhumed. was yet
perhaps thirty miles from Egeland
Fasteners should be informed how
TO recognize a town in the North
west. Miles away over this flat,
treeless stretch you may see a cou-
pie OF buildings and perhaps a !
windmill. That Is a farm house,
not a town. There must be an ele-
vator building then 1t is not
farmhouse, but a town with a real
estate office and miles or avenues
marked off on the map.
'Alsen Is town 1t has one street
with four buildings. Already they
have had preaching" twice. Here
] barGained with Nels Clock,
blonde Norseman, TO haul me TO
Starlnweather, which he reckoned
was about twenty-five miles to the
southwest aud could be made I'm
-four hours for eight dollars. Nels
Informed me 1t would be a Hhell"
of a trip, but he'd make 1t II hat
the nerve and the eight, He used
that warm word several times in
each sentence, probably to offset the
terrible cold. There was a royal soul
In Alsen TO whom I owe permanent
gratitude, who loaned me his arctic
armor He put my meet in his win
ter gondoias, pulled a fur bag owes
my head, upholstered me in a fur
storm coat and pair Of long whis-
kered gloves. A Swede friend SOL