The Sauk Centre herald., 1930-11-27
TABLE OF BIG SNOW !
BACK in '66 TOLD.
Story of Horse Hitched to
Church Steeple Matched
by Fort Ridgely Yarn
OFFICERS LOST 3 DAYS
Storm Strikes Suddenly, Piles
Up Drifts-Battle for
Fuel

SOOIleIlOW one mas always SOICeIl
the impression that Baron MUNICH
ausen was an irresponsible old
liar.
The fact that he told such i'm
possible yarns is what gave him a
reputation, but perhaps he doesn't
deserve the credit he has enjoyed
as the worlds champion prevari-
Gator. It may well be that he was
nothing more nor less than his
torian.
One place in his book he tells
how he was driving through the
country one night when a snow
storm became so bad that he had
to stop for the night. He tied his
horse to post, rolled up in blan-
ket and slept comfortably. Next
morning the sun was shining
brightly, it was warm and pleasant
but his horse and carriage were
nowhere in sight. A noise above
him attracted his attention and
there was the unfortunate creature
hanging from the top of church
steeple.
It was quite evident what had
happened. The snow had COM
pletely covered the church and the
baron had mistaken the steeple for
hitching post. Then the weather
changed, the snow melted, and the
rest is easily understood.
This account of the baron has
always sounded like fable, but
after reading about snow storm
at Fort Ridgely, back in February,
1866, one can't be too sure.
The old timers will admit that
there were more deaths in the
blizzard of 1873, than there were
in the storm Of 1866, but when it
comes to sheer quantities of snow
emptying the skies, they will con-
cede nothing. The only snowfall
on a comparable scale was the one
Baron Munchausen wrote about.
In 1866 the merchant at Fort
Ridgely was B. H. Randall and his
assistants were Richard Pfefferle
and a Harry Simmons. The store
was also the postoffice of the Fort,
from which it was separated by
300 feet of open ground. This dis
tance is important to the story. Be-
tween the fort and the store were
the guard house and the magazine,
and the stables were about 200 feet
over at one side. Guards were
placed at all of these points and
were changed every two hours.
The store was a popular hang
out for the officers, who met there
to play little poker or engage in
friendly conversation with the CT
villains from the adjacent country.
The evening of Feb. Ia, 1866. wit
messed such a gathering. In the
store were Pfefferle, Simmons,
Lieutenant Kronkte and another
soldier from the fort; Miles P.
Clark and a man named Thomp-
son, who had come down from Red
wood Falls to get the mail. It had
been mild, pleasant day with no
indication of an approaching ava
lanche of snow.
Suddenly, about o'clock, just as
the card game was getting well un-
der way, and the conversation was
flowing freely, without the slight
est warning, the storm struck. 1t
was so violent that the occupants
of the little store were unable to
Immediately understand what was
happening. It appeared as though
the building would disintegrate at
any instant. The visitors began
scramble to get back to the fort,
but f1oundered around for more
than half an hour before they could
reach their destination, although
it was. only 300 feet away. Luckily
they kept together. for they were as
blindfolded men, and had they
parted company, all would certain
ly have perished.
AS it. was they got no further
than the guardhouse, stumbling
against the rear of the building en-
tirely by accident, and then groped
their way along the wall until they
reached the entrance on the other
side. Lieutenant Kronkite is said
to have offered cash reward 10
any man who would conduct him
into the fort, but none could be
induced to take the risk, even
though it was known that the fort
was less than 10 0feet away.
Those marooned in the stables
had very trying experience. They
did not dare leave the buildings
for fear of being lost, and had no
fire all night long to fight off the
intense cold.
The commander of Fort Ridgely
was Captain Kellogg, and to supply
milk for his family used 70 keep a
COW in a small stable outside .he
square northeast of his quarters.
On the morning after the storm
he sent one of his men out to milk
this cow. The wind was still blow
ing furiously and the man lost his
cap, and in attempting to recover
it, lost his bearings and struggled
blindly in the drifts of snow until
late in the afternoon. TO assist
him in getting back to the fort, it
was suggested that one Of the can
mons be fired, but as none of these
could be reached with safety, 1t
was decided to load an old mLsket
with heavy, charge OF powder.
fasten it to a post outside the
building and fire it my means Ut
long string attached to the trig-
ger.
The rlse was successful. Tne
man heard the discharge, go. his
bearings and soon appeared at the
northeast corner Of the fort. drop
ping at the threshold from ex-