The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-12-28
REAL STORM SWEEPS
OVER NORTHWEST
OF Blizzard Nature-WOrst i'm Years
Traffic All Tied Up On
Railroads .

Tuesday morning, and the traffic and
business was practically at a stand
still.
1t had the earmarks of the real
thing so familiar to the pioneer set
tier. Following a snow Christmas
night which carried the total to
about eight inches, the weather
warmed up under a soft Chinook wind
with a sprinkle of rain. IAN ideal
condition for a genuine blizzard
Storm" said the old prairie citizen.
And it came with a remarkable
similarity to the one great blizzard
Of January IL, 1888, in its prelimin-
airy conditions, although differing in
some details. Both billiards. reached
Miller neal 8 o'clock in the morning,
but the record storm of twenty nine
years ago was a whirling mass of
snow, eddying hither and yon, and
the air charged with electricity.
Tuesdays storm started with a wind
in the southwest which soon veered
to he northwest and the murcury be-
gan sliding down the tube to 20 below.
The soft weather and sprinkle of rain
in the early morning resulted in a
coating of crust on the snow as soon
as freezing weather hit it. This fact
perhaps held the fine snow to the
ground, except where traffic of n
kind broke, the crust. However there
was enough snow loosened to fill the
air with a very fair representation
of what General Clusters wife called
"A Dakota Blizzard" in her Boots
and Saddles, written nearly forty
years ago.
AS there is plenty Of feed and fuel
in this locality, and people nave re-
sources then unknown. it is expected
that there will be little disaster to
man or beast, although the annoy
ance was great to both. Railroad
trains ave been struggling for two
~ - Nbit "SdIiSl, d Dls DuSl-
ness, shortage of cars, etc, and the
time cards were lost sight of. But
up to Tuesday morning there had
been no real stormy, windy weather.
With Tuesdays blizzard added to their
troubles it may be some days before
they get Strengthened out and back
on schedule time.
The Great Blizzard
Nearly 20 years ago, the new set
tiers in this then newly opened coun-
try were startled by a storm that has
never been repeated from that day to
this. 1t swept over all the prairie
states from Canada to Kansas, accom-
panied by extreme cold, lasted two
days, and left death and disaster in
It's wake. In Hand county alone
seven citizens persisted, and many
others suffered from exposure. Those
who went through this one great
storm will never forget it. And there
are still a goodly number of them
regular readers of this paper. who
viii recall conditions and incidents
OF those days either forgotten or un-
known to this writer.
From Press files of January 8
we take this account of that storm
which has never had its equal:
Thursday morning Jan. II. was
cloudy and calm, but the barometer
was at a very low ebb throughout all
Dakota and the northwest. The wind
blew gently from the east-what
there was of it. Everyone proceeded
to their morning work; the children
were sent to school as usual. In var
ious parts of the county people were
stirring about, going or returning
from towns. Shortly after 9 O'Clock
the wind suddenly veered from the
east to the northwest. The wind in
creased with great velocity, and the
unhappy wayfarer found himself en-
veloped in a binding, driving, Shrek
ing fog of frozen mist. After the fury
OF the storm had broken loose II was
utterly futile for one to guess as to
the points of the compass. A driver
could not see his team; a street walk
er could not have seen a II story
building two arms length distant.
Terror was depicted upon the counte-
nances OF those separated from their
loved ones. School children became
panic stricken, and parents frantic
for their safety. Hardly an individ-
ual who dared to go any distance out
doors but failed to experience the fact
that they knew nothing of direction
in that blizzard. The browning cal
amity of the storm is that man who
ventured forth in it never returned
their inanimate forms having since
been taken from a spotless shroud of
snow.
Nearly 100 manila lost thar I;vas