Year: 1874

| ne WAS JOuTneylnB IN our 0lreCtlO0, nav
ing come up on the mail-sled the day be-
FORE and gladly availed himself of an in
vitation to encamp with us for the night.
1t being nearly dark on our arrival at the
river we did not think it necessary to
build fire, both on account of the
warmth of the evening and the quality
OF the fuel, of which we were unable to
find any except wet, green elm, hardly
ignitable. SO, having eaten a cold sup
per, we set about our preparations for
the night.


Elm River, like all prairie streams, is
narrow and runs in channel much be-
low the surface of the plain, having, in
consequence, high banks, which in most
cases are precipitous, but on this stream
sloped back with only moderate abrupt
ness to the level prairie. 1t was on the
farther bank that we selected our place
of rest for the night, without shelter, of
course, but sufficiently below the level to
be out of the sweep of the wind as we
thought.


The half-breed and myself had for bed
ding four large buffalo-robes and four
blankets; and our custom was to spread
one robe and blanket under us and use
the remainder as covering. The amount
under was sufficient, owing to the snow
preventing the cold reaching us from the
earth, and rather increasing the amount
of heat than otherwise. Mr.. Wheeler
had two robes and two blankets. Welay
with our feet toward the stream, Mr..
Wheeler placing himself Immediately
across the head of our bed-if so may
call it-wrapped in his own bedding.
am thus minute in the description of
our positions and bedding in order to
more thoroughly impress the reader
with the intensity of the storm which fol-
lowed.


| 1t was about six o'clock in the evening
when, after taking off our wet shoes,
we retired, with overcoats and caps
on, as customary The sky at that time
exhibited no extraordinary appearance,
and the temperature, if anything indi-
Gated snow Being fatigued with the
labors of the day l was soon asleep, and
| did not awaken until about half-past
nine O'Clock, when / was aroused by the
tossings of Mr.. Wheeler in his efforts to
adjust his bedding more comfortably. l
observed that il had grown colder, and
that sharp wind had sprung up, which
seemed to come down the channel of the
stream instead of across it, as we had an
ticipated in the selection of a camp.
| However, having the guide on the wind
ward side, / thought but little of it, and
was soon asleep.


awoke again, as near as can judge,
in about an hour and a half; this time
from general sensation of cold which
| snveloped me. l found both my COM
| panions awake, on speaking to them, and
| that Mr.. Wheeler had been unable to
sleep at all, owing to the cold, as he lay
with his head to the wind, ard could
not prevent it from entering under the
covering


1t was blowing perfect gale, and the
| air was so filled with whirling particles
| of Snow that we could not distinguish our
animals at the distance of few yards.
| From that time forward it was impossi
BILE to sleep. We did everything we could
devise to ward of the cold, and the half.
breed seemed especially anxious l should
not suffer; covered me with care, and
shielded me as much as possible with his
own person. But the chill seemed to have
taken complete possession Of me. /
could not restrain my desire to shake
and shiver, although knowing that it
augmented the difficulty. For time we
conversed on the severity Oft the storm and
our error in not having built fire, but
gradually relapsed into silence; each
one evidently engaged in endeavoring to
protect himself or moodily brooding over
his own sufierings.


| hSui pu1 1slCdl suilCllhB IL hhu hON bC-
come. The skin on my arms and limbs
felt quite cold to the touch and my bones
grew heavy and chill as bars of iron
Yet had no fear or thought even of
freezing to death On that point j sim
ply expected to shiver until morning
would give us light sufficient to build
fire. The mind, however, was unnatu-
rally acute. Thought on every subject
was very vivid and distinct. | remem-
ber to have received better insight of
several subjects which occurred to me
than at any previous time, and was able
to think more rapidly. This was, Isup-
pose, owing to the increased and en-
forced vitality necessary to sustain life
and to the stimulated condition of the
brain under the suffering arising from
the cold. Every thought was clear and
distinct. / thought over the business |
was upon and studied the minutest de-
tails of it, all with remarkable rapidity.
Occasionally my companion spoke to me
or touched me gently with his arm but
neither served to break up the general
current of thought.


All through this outer surface of
thought, however, there ran an under
tow of suffering. l was conscious of
growing colder; my limbs, especially,
felt more chill and heavy. / began also
to experience a peculiar sensation as If
the flesh for the depth of quarter or half
an inch was frozen solid and the con-
gealment gradually extending to the
bone. The bone itself at times felt like
red.hot bar. noticed, further, an in
creased labor in the beating of the heart
and could distinguish the pulsations
quite easily. At every throb could
feel the blood seemingly strike the end
| af ha xraino and arfarinc in tho ayfrnnNi
ties. This, after time produced slight
dizziness in the head and a laborious
respiration.


As time went on the sensation of sur
face-freezing extended to the trunk of
the body, and my thoughts grew less
connected, changing frequently from
subject to subject and narrowing down
to my own suherings. l noticed, fur
thermore, that the half-breed spoke
more frequently than before, and shook
me occasionally. Still had no thought
of danger, and even laughed at Mr..
Wheeler exclaiming: "Men, men, be-
lieve am freezing to DEATH"


However, during this whole period of
two hours or more could not prevent q
continual shivering and shaking, l en-
deavored several times to control my
nerves and remain quietly in one posi-.
tion, but without avail. AT the end of
that time | noticed / was becoming
!. quieter; but, while physically so, my
mind was suffering more. My whole
idea was to get warm. My body was


cold all over-frozen in, felt, to an equal
depth in every place. | clung closer to


my companion in the vain hope OF pro-
ducing more warmth. Oh, If l could
) only get warm againl


I felt I could willingly barter every


earthly possession to be warm.
thought bitterly of our culpable care
J lessness in not building a fire the even
/ ing previous, and of the Joy 1t would
/ be to sit before such blazing fires as
| we had on nights now gone. If could
only get warm againl Was there moi
| some way in which we could get to 4


fireS Could not the half-breed build one
| IL he would only trv | Monld give hin