Published in the Waukegan Gazette, Waukegan, Illinois on Saturday, February 1, 1873
The details of the great storm in Minnesota are heart sicking. The reports from different sections indicate terrible loss of life and property.
In Winnebago City fully sixty teams had gathered from the surrounding country. Farmers with their wives were there, having left their little children at home, in many instances alone, little dreaming of the fearful danger so near at hand. Suddenly, and without any warning, the storm burst in all its fury. A panic ensued. Teams were hurridly hitched up, and fathers and mothers, fearing for the fate of their dear helpless ones at home, started off in the face of the pitiless wind and driving snow. Those who had to face the storm, in a number of cases, were compelled to turn back, thankful to have got back to the village alive. Others kept on, and, it is feared, met a terrible death in the snow drifts.
From Tuesday afternoon at two until Thursday evening at seven o’clock, the storm raged in all its fury. The buildings in the village were shaken like reeds, and fears were entertained that some of them would blow over. The air was so densely filled with snow that a building ten feet distant could not be seen. Rumors were numerous of those missing, but up to Friday morning no dead bodies had been found.
A young man had gone a mile or two from Garden City on Tuesday with a yoke of oxen and a load of hay. On Friday the oxen were found, but there were no tidings of the young man.
At Mankato a man named Wolverton was found frozen to death on the opposite side of the river from the city.
There was a report at Mankato, seemingly well authenticated, that a party of eight persons and a team of horses were found on the wagon road between Madelia and St. James, all frozen to death. The team was standing up and the driver had froze in his seat. The other seven persons were found in the bottom of the sleigh covered with blankets but frozen still in death. This seems like a horrible story, but it was generally credited at Mankato.
A man and two yoke of oxen were found southwest of St. James frozen stiff; name not given. A man and two boys and one yoke of oxen were found seven miles north of St. James. A man and a yoke of oxen were found within three miles of St. James. The unfortunate man had driven his team through the dooryard of a house, passing within ten feet of a shelter without discovering it in the storm. He was found only a few rods from the house, lying partly across his cattle.
A man and his wife [it is supposed] were found within three miles of Madelia. It appears that the man had unhitched his team and started out to find his house, which was only a short distance away, leaving his wife in the sleigh. He got lost in the storm and perished. His wife became alarmed after waiting awhile, also started from the sleigh, and met the same fate. The horses were frozen. The bodies were found on Friday.
A party of section men were at work four and a half miles from St. James when the storm struck them. The party, with one exception, managed to reach the village alive. They supposed their comrade had perished, and on Thursday afternoon they started out to find his body. After a lengthy search they found him asleep in a snow-bank, where he had lain 44 hours. On being aroused, the first question he asked was whether breakfast was ready. The second request was for a “chew of tobacco.” He had his shovel with him, and had dug out in the bank of snow a perfect set of rooms, which exercise undoubtedly saved his life.
A Faithful Dog.
Amid all the horrors reported, Mr. Hunsaker had one pleasant incident to relate. Among the section men mentioned above, was one who lived several miles from St. James. Of course, he was unable to reach home, and his wife became alarmed for his safety, and he was uneasy about his family. Imagine his joy on Thursday when a shepherd dog belonging to him came bounding into St. James with a little leather bag attached to his collar, in which was a letter from his wife containing the joyful intelligence that they were all well at home, and asking for news of her husband. Another letter was written informing the wife that the husband was safe, and would return home as soon as he could reach there. The letter was placed in the leather bag, and the faithful animal told to “go home.” Away started the almost human animal, through the fearful storm and snow drifts, and arrived safely at home with the precious news so anxiously looked for by the waiting wife and mother. This same dog was also sent with a letter to a sick neighbor and brought back an answer. That the dog is not for sale.
On Tuesday afternoon a man living some three miles from New Ulm came into that place after a doctor for his wife, who was about to be confined, leaving her alone at home. The storm was so terrible that no doctor would venture out, but one promised to go the next morning. Efforts were made to induce the man to remain in town, but he said his wife was alone and he must go back. Poor man! He never saw his home again, his frozen body being found about half way home. The next day the doctor managed to reach the house, where he found that the poor woman had given birth to a child, and both were frozen dead.
On Saturday last seventeen coffins were taken out of New Ulm to bury the dead bodies found in the immediate vicinity of that place. At Lake Heuskey, six miles from Lake Crystal, the bodies of 13 persons had been found frozen to death.
A teacher near New Ulm kept his forty scholars from Tuesday evening until Friday, walking a mile or more, through the storm to get food for them. A farmer living near Evansville, who had started to go to the mill was found frozen to death.
A young man and his wife and father were on their way home and were overtaken by the storm and lost their way. The men left the sleigh to find the road, and probably perished. The woman also started, after a time and was found so badly frozen that she can not recover. The team was found but one horse was dead.
A team of stage horses belonging to Blakely & Carpenter, going from Glennow to Morris, driven by Don Phelps, were frozen at New Prairie post-office, on Tuesday night. Phelps had arrived at the station, but the snow blew so fiercely and drifted in around the station door so fast that two men could not shovel it away so as to get the door open. The horses perished during the night.
A man and boy went out on Tuesday from Scandia, seven miles northeast of Morris, for a load of wood. The team was found on Friday frozen. No tidings of either man or boy. Names unknown. A Norwegian named Fladeland started from Morris on Tuesday for his home in Scandia. Up to Friday neither man nor team had been heard from.