The Winslow mail. (Winslow, Ariz.) 1893-1926, 1925-05-29
TOURISTS ALMOST
FREEZE TO DEATH
ON CANYON ROAD

visited Arizona this spring will re-
member to the last day of their
lives their experience while here.
People start on auto trips to find
interesting and unusual expert
ences, and to enjoy the thrills that
come from meeting unusual circum-
stances and overcoming dangers
and hardships of the trails, and to
a party Of fasteners, consisting of
three elderly men, three women, a
boy of IA and a girl of 10, came
an adventure reminiscent of what
the pioneers of sixty years ago had
to undergo.
The adventure was not exactly
what fasteners would expect in
Arizona. Instead of being lost on
a burning desert, far from water,
being overcome with the heat, and
the rest of the traditional Arizona
deprivations, these people almost
suffered death by freezing, being
lost in the dense pine forest Of
Coconino county during a rain and
snow storm which bound their two
automobiles on the Grand Canyon
highway during the blizzard of
April %, "a and rs.
The account of their adventure
and rescue was given to The Mail
by Jack O'Brien, Santa Fe train
man, who at the time was enjoying
a weeks vacation on his ranch at
Spring valley and visiting with a
brother, Mike O'Brien, who owns a
ranch in the same valley. p
Early in the afternoon of April
% the party left Grand Canyon via
the Maine highway. The eight peo-
pie were travelling together in two
cars, a Paige and Packard.
Among members of the party were
federal judge of North Dakota, a
United States marshal from Wis
consin, a novelist and magazine
writer from New York, and a writer
from Los Angeles.
The day was cold and windy, but
could get through to- Maine with
out difficulty. However, when about
an hour out from the canyon, rain
and snow began to fall. Instead of
turning back, the drivers attempted
to get through to the National Old
Trails highway. When still about
twenty miles from Maine, the cars
stuck in the mud, and the rapidly
falling snow soon obliterated all
traces of the road. They could
neither go forward nor back. The
road maps they had showed no
signs of habitation between Maine
and Grand Canyon. There was no
food in the party other than a few
cookies and one or two cans of
fruit
They decided to camp in their
cars until the storm blew over, and,
IN order to keep warm, as the mer-
curry had fallen to below zero, they
kept the motors running. About
midnight their fuel ran OUT They
were not supplied with blankets or
covering of any kind, and none Of
the party wore heavy clothing.
Their suffering soon became in
tense, and to add to their misery,
the three men, each we'll above 60
years of age made heroic efforts to
extricate the cars from the mud,
and in working with the few tools
at hand, and attempting to push the
cars, what few clothes they had
were soon torn to shreds, leaving
them in worse condition than be-
fore.
None of the members of the party
were accustomed to situations SUCH
as confronted them, and by daylight
next morning were in what they
thought a hopeless position.
The blizzard continued all that
night and most of the next day, and
daylight brought little relief, for
the overcast clouds prevented the
weather from moderating.
By evening, after having been
stuck for more than twenty-four
hours, they resigned themselves to
their fate.
Huddled in one car for what little
cheer and bodily warmth could be
derived from companionship, the
second freezing night was spent.
Their condition had become pitt
able, the women becoming seriously
i'll with exposure; the men exhaust
ed from their strenuous exertions
and cold, and the two children
crying and fainting with hunger.
About o'clock in the morning
of the third day, when all had
given up hope of rescue, one of the
women, partly to relieve the situa-
ton by one more effort, and be-
cause, if they were to be rescued
at all, it would have to be within
the next few hours, started or
what she believed would be A
twenty-five mile walk through the
three-foot snow, over an invisible
road, to the little settlement Of
Maine.
After trudging and struggling for
two hours she saw a lighein dis
tant farm house, and fought her
way to it. She reached the door
just as her last strength was leav-
ing her, and fell fainting on the
threshold of the kitchen of the Mike
O'Brien ranch house.
She was given attention and
taken care of by Mrs. O'Brien, while
Mike and lack who had heen