The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-30
A FAMOUS HIKE.

''But speaking of winter hikes, how would you like to strike off on five hundred mile hike across the plains in twenty below zero wealth err" asks the Cave Scout in the January issue of the Boys Life, the Boy Scout Magazine. '"That is the kind of a trip that was made by two hundred Minnesota boys just fifty-six years ago this winter, and the Cave Scouts Dad was one of the boys in the party. This was one of the se- verest winter marches ever undertak- en and is known in Minnesota his tory as the Moscow expedition, a name which it derives from it's com parison, in hardships suffered, with the disastrous winter invasion of Russia by Napoleon. But this ex- petition, unlike that of Napo1eon's. was a good turn hike.
 "It came about this way. In the fall of 1863 word was brought to Fort Smelling that a band of Indians. at Fort Thompson, on the Missouri riv- CT, were in a, starving condition and that, unless supplies were sent inn mediately they would die of hunger. The authorities knew the trip would be a severe one, so a call was issued for volunteers and two hundred men from Companies D, E and H of the Sixth Minnesota Infantry, then in training for the Civil War, offered to go. The party left Mankato Mime sota, on November with 13O wag- onloads of provisions and 500 head of cattle. When the expedition had cov- cred only a little more than one hun dred miles of the distance to Fort Tomphson there came a heavy fall
 of snow, followed immediately by
 
 from then on, for the entire period of the trip, the party fought blizzards and biting cold, with the thermome- ter averaging nearly twenty degrees
 below zero.
 For four hundred miles their route led across an open plain, with
 out settlers, without shelter, without fuel. But on they pushed into the
 teeth of the gale, bivoucking each night in the snow, and gnawing froz- en rations to. satisfy their hunger.
 ''The suffering of the animals was pathetic. No space was provided in the wagons for forage as it was planned
 to carry the animals through the trip
 by allowing them to graze each night
 on the prairie. But such a heavy snow fell that the animals could get very little grass and the men found
 it necessary to scrape the snow off
 for them. This, however, was far from sufficient for their needs and
 the oxen began to drop In their yokes
 AS an animal fell, a bullet would end it's misery and another from the herd
 would be yoked in to take his place
 As many of the frozen carcasses as could be carried were piled on the wagons, to be used as additional
 food for the Indians
 ! After nearly a month of this strug- gle, the party finally arrived at Fort Thompson, where 1t was found that nearly forty of the suffering Indians were already dead for the want of food.
 After resting at the fort for three
 days the return trip was begun on De- cember 5-a journey which had in store for the men even greater hard ship and suffering than they had en- dured before. When only four days out on the back track, a terrific bliz- gard set in and the snow fell to such a depth that the wagons could not be dragged through. Consequently it was necessary for the men to march ahead of the wagons in dou- ble file, blowing through snow. of tentimes waist-deep, in order to l break out a trail.
 Lay dI IteI oAy they struggled on in this manner, their progress de- l layed by the unprecedented severity 1 of the weather, until a new danger | confronted then-the rations began 1 to run low. One by one their arti- | cles of supply became exhausted, | pork, sugar, hardtack, until finally, 1 on the last lap of the journey noth- ing remained but flour. There was no fuel to cook with so the men 1 mixed the flour with snow and ate it i raw.
 | Finally, when even their flour SUD- l ply was nearly exhausted they l reached Mankato, after more than 1 two months spent on the wind-swept 1 shelterless plain. But they marched l into camp in Mankato in good physi- 1 cal condition without losing a man. .' |