USA > South Dakota > Jerauld County > A history of Jerauld county, South Dakota > Part 16
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At the time of the great blizzard R. J. Miller was teaching the Bar- ber school, located at the northwest corner of section 35 in Pleasant
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township. The pupils in attendance on the 12th of January, 1888, were Emery, Richard, Amelia, Emma and Cora Barber and Sarah and Anna Elmore. A young man named Frank Harrington took Mr. Barber's team that morning to take the children to the school house. The storm struck when they were but a few yards from the school. They reached the house safely, but were compelled to stay there until the next morning. Heavy blankets were thrown over the horses and tied on so they came through the storm in good condition though badly chilled.
At the same time Miss Minnie Stanley, (now Mrs. S. W. Boyd of Pleasant township) was teaching in the Waterbury school. This school house was located about forty rods north and a little west of the north end of the Main St. of the town. The pupils in attendance on the day of the great blizzard were, Clara Leeds, Walter Rowe, Agnew Hull, Elton Hill, Frank and Percy Snart, Frank, Jennie and Clara Hopkins, Elmer and Minnie Waterbury, Della, Ernest and Arthur Herring and Rasmus Nelson.
When school closed at four o'clock in the afternoon, the teacher formed the pupils in line holding each others hands, and placing herself at the head, started for the village. She had placed Percy Snart, the largest of the boys, the last in the line, to bring up any who might falter or break away. Nothing serious happened until they reached the four corners by Herring & Rice's store. There a high bank of snow had formed across the street. Over it the whole line tumbled and hand clasps were broken. The teacher gathered the children again and piloted them to Hart's real estate office and got them in out of the storm. But in looking them over in the office she found that Percy Snart was missing. The teacher at once ran to Mr. Snart's store to see if the boy had gone there. He had not been seen and the alarm was at once given that he was lost in the blizzard. A few men rushed out calling and shouting the boy's name, but about that time he reached one of the office rooms on the east side of the street with ears and face badly frozen. He had held to the line until it fell over the snow bank and then became be- wildered and could not find the others. He wandered about until he ran into a trench that had beeen cut through a drift to E. N. Mount's barn east of the street.
At the Needham school house in Anina township W. L. Holden was teacher. The pupils were Ada Needham, Alex. Truman and Ernest Ves- sey. School started that morning with but about one scuttle of coal on hand. About two o'clock in the afternoon the room became so cold that the teacher determined to take the children to the Needham residence. about 80 rods south. Fortunately the road had been well traveled and
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the snow blew out of it so that they were enabled to follow it without difficulty.
Frank B. Phillips was the regular teacher at the Teasdale school house in the northeast part of Dale township. Business matters called him away for a couple of days and his mother took his place for the 11th and 12th. She spent the night of the IIth with her daughter, Mrs. B. B. Beadel, who resided on the Northeast quarter of section I of that township. On the morning of the 12th her little grandson, Jesse Beadel took her with a one-horse sled to the school house. A few moments after their arrival the storm began. They remained in the school house several hours waiting for the storm to abate. The horse, still hitched to the sleigh stood at the south end of the building, but the whirling snow was fast covering it. Pity for the poor horse prompted the boy and his grandmother to attempt to go to her home, three miles southeast, on the NE 1/4 of 19 in Alpena township. The road was little better than a path across the prairie and could not be followed. When about a mile from home they entered a corn field, where the horse fell in the deep snow. Jesse got out and unhitched the animal and assisted it to its feet. but he could do nothing to get the sled out of the snow. Walking was impossible and by this time they could not tell which way to go. The boy then kicked the snow away from the sled as much as possible and tipped it up so as to form a shelter from the wind and snow. He wrapped the robes about Mrs. Phillips so as to keep her as warm as possible and then crawled down beside her to wait. Darkness came on and still the storm raged. About daylight the next morning Jessie was able to see his uncle's house about half a mile away and he told his grandmother to remain under the sled while he went for help. As he rose from his cramped position he saw the horse a few rods away. His limbs were numb and he could scarcely stand, yet he made a brave effort and staggered along toward the house some distance before he succumbed to the intense cold. And there they found him a few hours later. Mrs. Phillips was rescued, but terribly chilled and badly frozen.
At the center school house in Viola township Mrs. Wm. Wagner was teaching. The children at school on the day of the blizzard, were Frank Jonker, Karl Kruse, George Kruse, Frank and Florence Wagner, Ferdi- nand, Anna and Celia Clodt. The teacher retained the whole school all night, and the next morning Louis Jonker took all of them to his resi- dence for breakfast.
During the winter of the great storm Miss Anna Groub was teacher in the Groub school house in Marlar township. It was located about twenty rods southeast of her father's residence: The pupils in attendance on the 12th of January were Wm. James, Ira and May Grace, Allen and
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Frank McLean, Ed and Glen Ketchem, Zacharia Groub and Arthur Col- ley. In the afternoon John Groub undertook to bring the teacher and scholars from the school house to the Groub residence because of lack of fuel at the school. He made several trips taking two or three members of the school each time. The last venture was with his brother and the two McLean boys. He kept the directions all right but got confused as to the distance. When he had gone what he thought was but little more than half way to the residence, his brother Zacaria ("Trix") saw the tracks of his sled where he had been sliding down a large snow drift near the house and from which the wind was blowing the snow. He called John's attention to the marks on the snow bank and insisted they were near the house. John thought the house was some ways off and was for going further. At that instant Anna, the teacher, opened the door and called. Trix was right. The house was but a few feet away - and they were safe.
The Cady school in Anina township was taught that winter by Miss Sarah Fish. The pupils in attendance on January 12th were George and Jesse Martin, Jake and Lon Winegaarden, Dick, Chas, and Leo Lehmer, and Tillie, Galen, Will and Grace Shultz. All the pupils were kept at the school house until the next day.
At Crow Lake the school was held in the residence of Mrs. A. M. Allyn, her daughter Ellen being the teacher. The only children in the school Jan. 12th, were Frank and Joseph Dusek. They stayed at the Allyn house all night.
In Chery township M. A. Small was teaching in the southeast school. The pupils at school on the day of the storm were Sarah, Kate, Maggie, Anna and Joe Thomton, and Jesse Small. After the storm began Mr. Thornton became so worried about the children that he started out and went to the school house, half a mile from his residence, and warned the teacher to not let a child go home while the storm continued. He then went home and making up a package of provisions made another trip to the school.
Mrs. Rose Gregory was teaching during that winter in the Dale Cen- ter school. At the school on the 12th of January, 1888, were the teacher's three children, Bert, Laura and Francis; Amanda and Lillabelle Chap- man; Mary, Dan and James Tracy: Rosa Youngs ; Matie, Nellie and Robert Mercer. In the afternoon Mr. Mercer, who lived near the school house, went after his children and took them home, but the risk was so great that he refused to take the other pupils out into the storm. The teacher remained at the school house until the morning of the 13th.
The Kogle school in Franklin township was taught by Miss R. E. Havens, now Mrs. L. J. Grisinger of Lane. As soon as the storm struck
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she took a number of scarfs, tied them together and made a line that would reach from the door of the school house to the shed in which the coal was kept and with the help of the larger boys brought enough coal into the school room to last until the next morning. No one left the school house until the blizzard was past.
John Francis, who was teaching in the Steichen district in Blaine township, remained at the school house all night with Chas. McCune, one of his pupils.
J. A. Ford stayed all night with his school at the Ford school house in Viola township. The pupils were Howard and Susan Phillips ; Lillie Ford, and Mable Rhodes.
Miss Nellie White, who was employed in the Hawthorne district of Wessington Springs township, retained her pupils at the school house until Friday morning.
Miss Nettie Miles, who was teaching the Rock Valley school in Frank- lin township that winter boarded with David McDowall's family. On the morning of the 12th of January while at the breakfast table Mr. McD. told of some of the storms he had seen in Iowa, and then said to the teacher, "If any such storm comes on while you are teaching, don't let a child start for home." With her at the school house that night stayed Charles and Clarence Black; William McLean; May, Maggie, Nell, Will and Henry Shanley, and Gilbert, Margaret, Anna and Allen McDowall. The next morning at daylight Mr. McDowall went for them and had the whole school at his home for breakfast.
Mrs. J. W. Harden, during the winter of 1888 taught the largest school in Franklin township in what was then called the Larson school house. Many of her pupils, who stayed with her that night, are now grown and still living in Jerauld county. Among them were: Andrew, David and Jennie Reid; Wm. and Robt. Brownell; Oscar and Christ Lindebak: John Volke; Emma and Lizzie Forst; Henry and Christ Refvem; John, Angeline, Christ. and Anna Burg; Emma, Dora, Lydia, Henry. Martha and John Goll; Selma Newman.
N. E. Williams, now of Mattock, Iowa, gives the following account of lis recollection of the time :
"The blizzard of 1888 was one of those convulsions of nature that can only occur when there is a certain combination of circumstances and con- ditions.
Those conditions are only present at rare intervals and such a storm may not occur again in a hundred years if ever, and on account of the thicker settlement of the county and the presence of groves and fences to serve as guides to the bewildered, such a storm would not at the present time be nearly so calamitous.
The winter of 1887-88 opened with unusual severity. All through
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December and the early part of January the snow covered the ground deeply and the cold was steady and intense.
The weather being so cold and the roads so bad the settlers who lived long distances from town had remained at home until coal and provisions were nearly exhausted, so that when the morning of January 12th opened warm and balmy some one from nearly every home started for town to replenish their supplies. Stock that had been shut up in the stable for a long time were turned out to feed around the straw piles and to get a little needed exercise. Everything was in just the condition to make a sudden storm cause the greatest amount of loss and suffering possible.
At that time I was living on the old homestead in Anina township, the family consisting of my wife and one little daughter, about two years old, my brother Geo. O. Williams, and myself. My brother was teaching the Moore school in Anina township and I was teaching the Nesmith school over in the edge of Viola. We were short of provisions and someone had to go to town for more. So George concluded not to teach that day and hitching up the team to a home-made sled he started for the "Springs" taking me with him as far as the schoolhouse where I taught. Before leaving home I turned the cattle out into the yard, which contained a large straw pile, and which was surrounded by a good high fence.
It was somewhat foggy and the air was saturated with moisture, the sun showing dimly through the haze. On every hand we could see cattle wandering around the prairie enjoying the unusual warmth and teams going across the plains in the direction of Wessington Springs and Woonsocket.
At forenoon recess I was standing in front of the school house, sur- rounded by a group of the pupils and was just saying that I ought to dismiss school and go to Woonsocket for coal when a sudden whiff of cold air caused us all to turn and look toward the north, where we saw what appeared to be a huge cloud rolling over and over along the ground, blotting out the view of the nearby hills and covering everything in that direction as with a blanket. There was scarcely time to exclaim at the unusual appearance when the cloud struck us with awful violence and in an instant the warm and quiet day was changed into a howling pande- monium of ice and snow.
The moisture which filled the air was changed to particles of ice, and driven by a wind of tremendous velocity, it drifted in through every crack and crevice almost up to the stove which we kept red hot to drive away the fearful chill which accompanied the storm. The noise of the storm was so deafening that it was impossible to conduct classes, so we passed the day in such study as was possible under the circumstances. My
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mind, meanwhile, being racked with anxiety as to what was happening to the family and stock, and filled with fear for those who were caught out on the prairie. I had heard of such storms lasting for three or four days and could not help worrying over our own fate if such should be the case this time, twenty of us shut up without provisions or sufficient fuel in a little shack on the prairie. It was evident that our safety lay in remaining where we were and peremptory orders were given that no one should leave the schoolhouse for any purpose, for the storm was so blinding, bewildering and suffocating that one could not face it for a moment and it was equally dangerous to go with the wind without any guide or landmark. .
As night drew on and the children began to get hungry, there were tears on the part of the younger pupils and rebellion on the part of the older boys who, with the rashness of youth, proposed to go home in spite of everything but I would not allow them to attempt it and told them that they must stay there even if force had to be used to make them do it. In spite of this, however, two of the big boys started out when my back was turned and for a few minutes I was sick with anxiety, but they soon came in again, white and scared, and after that there was no trouble, all were glad enough to stay.
It soon became necessary to replenish the supply of coal. The coal house stood about thirty feet west of the school house. By creeping in the shelter of the west side of the house, then shutting my eyes and mak- ing a dash for it I was able to reach the coal house and after a number of such trips had enough coal to last until morning. While getting in the coal I first fully realized the awful smothering weight of the blizzard. ยท The face was covered with ice in an instant, the eyes frozen shut and the breath taken away completely, while the fine particles of ice were driven into the clothing until, in a few moments, one was fairly cased in icy armor. There were electrical phenomena present also and we amused curselves by putting the point of the poker to the stove and watching the shower of sparks leap out to meet it and by passing the hand over each others heads which would crackle and snap with electric energy.
After two o'clock the wind began to abate somewhat and shortly after that time Mr. Frank Voge, who had children in the school, appeared laden with good things to eat for us all. He had taken sonsiderable risk, but traveling with the storm was able to reach us in safety. All through the early part of the night we could hear the low moaning bellowing of Dr. Nesmith's cattle which were caught in the storm while near the school house and stood there slowly freezing through the night and when morn- ing dawned they still stood there, some still alive, some dead on their feet, kept from falling by the snow, which had packed around them to
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the knees and was almost as hard as ice. With the first streak of dawn, by which time the blizzard proper was over, though a cutting wind still blew from the N. W., I could stand it no longer and started for home. I shall never forget the sensation which overpowered me when I got to the top of the ridge which divides Hawkeye Valley from the pairie and saw the smoke rising from the chimneys at H. C. Stephens', J. A. Swan's and S. S. Moore's, while there were no signs of life at the Williams home.
I pictured my wife frozen to death while trying to save the cattle, the baby dead in the house and the home desolate. But my fears were groundless. The little girl was snugly wrapped in bed and the good wife was vainly trying to shovel away the snow from the barn door in order to get 'in a couple of steers which had saved their lives by getting in the lee of the house as they drifted away with the storm. I first got my half frozen wife into the house, started a good fire and then turned my attention to saving the stock and succeeded in saving three out of eleven head which at that time was all we had. It seems that the snow had drifted over the barnyard fence and packed so hard that the cattle could walk over it and the silly brutes, instead of seeking the shelter of the straw pile, had walked over the fence and drifted away with the storm. The cattle that were saved were a strange sight with their bodies completely cased in ice, their heads, masses of ice as large as bushel baskets from the congealed breath and, unable to sustain the weight, resting on the ground. Hammering off the ice with a club and pushing them around to restore the circulation it was possible after a time to get them in the barn. Their ears and tails were frozen and afterward dropped off. I think there were more bob-tailed and crop eared cattle in Jerauld county after the blizzard than ever before or since.
My wife had passed the night in great anxiety and suspense. She knew the cattle were perishing and feared that I had left the school house and attempted to get home. Once she started out to try to save the cattle, but after going a few steps realized that it was a desperate venture and the thought of what would become of the little girl if she were lost restrained her and caused her to return to the house. To this she undoubtedly owes her life. All night long she kept up as much fire as the short supply of coal would permit and had the lamp burning in the window to guide me in case I had tried to reach home.
Toward noon Bro. George appeared with the team and relieved our great anxiety. It seems that he got to the "Springs" just as the blizzard struck and was safely housed through it all. Our personal losses were small, but in the aggregate the losses were immense. Dead cattle were
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lying around the prairies all over South Dakota and here and there human beings were frozen to death or maimed for life.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis were the only ones who lost their lives in our neighborhood. They perieshed near their home, a short distance east of the school house, where the children end myself spent the night. Some men made considerable journeys safely in the height of the storm.
Mr. John Grant went from the "Springs" to his home, a mile south, and arrived all right. With the wind in one's back and a cool head it was possible. To face the wind was out of the question. Genial Mike Barr. afterward killed by lightning. started from Judge Converse's for home, became bewildered, and finding a straw pile, crawled into it for shelter. In the middle of the pile he found a huge hog that had taken refuge there. The warmth of its body kept Mike from freezing and thereafter it was never safe to say a word against swine in his presence.
There was a cruel aftermath to the blizzard, funerals, surgical opera- tions, cripples, fingers with first joints gone, ears without rims, and some like poor Will Moss, who spent the night on the prairie in the shelter of his cutter, and supposed that he had escaped without damage, afterward died of diseases caused by the exposure.
Many incidents might be mentioned but space forbids, I write only of personal experiences and happenings in the home neighborhood. The storm, however, was not confined to South Dakota alone. It swept over northwestern Iowa with equal violence. Three persons lost their lives in the vicinity of Sheldon, where we now reside. Such a calamity is no more likely to occur in South Dakota than in any other prairie state, but those who passed through it devoutly hope that such may not happen again any time or anywhere.
Mrs. Anna Tryon remaincd all night with her school in the Fauston school house in Pleasant township.
Chapter 24.
The narrow escapes of individuals in the county, if told with fulness of detail, would fill a volume. I have gathered a few that can be verified, but many experiences, equally hazardous must necessarily remain un- told.
In the winter of 1888 E. S. Waterbury was residing on his homestead, the NE of 28 in Crow township. On the morning of the 12th of January he drove to the village, of Waterbury, taking his children, Minnie and Elmer, to the public school. After the storm set in Mr. Waterbury took
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the two children and Rasmus Nelson and started for home. Mrs. Water- bury was in poor health and at the homestead alone. Soon after starting the team got off the erack and plunged into a snow drift. The two boys Elmer and Rasmus then went ahead of the horses, pulled them back to the road which was well beaten, and joining hands were able to follow the track until they ran against the windmill near the house. They had led the team nearly a mile.
Mr. Timothy Tryon, who then lived on the S. E. of 26 in Pleasant township, was on his way to the home of C. S. Barber on the NW of 35, when the storm came on. He turned about and attempted to go back home but was lost and wandered about for several hours. By the greatest good luck he chanced to run against Z. S. Moulton's house in Crow Lake township and was rescued, but badly chilled.
Isaac Byam, who lived on the NE of 24 in Pleasant township, was at his well watering the cattle when the strom struck. He drove the animals into shelter and then went to the house. In the afternoon the coal pile was so covered with snow that he could not find it, so he went to the granary and brought a sack of corn. He made a second trip, but missed the granary and came back. He tried again and when he reached the place where he expected to find the building he could see nothing of it. He stood for several minutes trying to see the granary, which he knew could not be far from him. A lull in the wind, no longer than a flash, gave him a glimpse of a dark object. He reached his hand toward it and touched the side of the granary. By that time the snow had sifted into the building through some nail holes and small cracks sufficiently to block the door. He then opened the window and climbed in that way. He filled the sack with corn and again made his way to the house, a distance of about twenty rods.
In Viola township August Schuttpelz and W. P. Shulz were at work building a small shanty. They had boarded up one side of it when the blizzard came. They took shelter behind the side of the shanty. In a few moments the snow began piling in a drift about them. One of them took a scoop shovel they had brought with them and shoveled it away. The snow kept piling about them and they continued to throw it back, taking turns with the shovel. So all day and all night they fought against being buried alive in a snow bank. They were badly chilled but came out of it safe and sound.
On the NW of 13 in Franklin township lived Frank Kutil, on land he had purchased from Joseph Sucha. Sucha was at Kutil's house when the storm came. Like many other early settlers, Kutil was economizing. that winter, by burning hay, instead of coal. The stack was about twenty rods northeast of the house. Several times that day Kutil and Sucha together went to the stack for fuel, taking a rope with which to tie the
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hay into a bundle. After the bundle was formed it required the united strength of both to hold it. When they thought they were near the house they would stop and kneel down until they caught a glimpse of the peak of the roof and then go on. It was perilous work, but there was no other way.
In Chery township Mr. M. A. Scheafer was in his stable when the blizzard came on. He tried several times to make his way, against the storm, but each time gave it up and returned to the stable, where he was compelled to remain until the storm was over.
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