Press And Daily Dakotaian

A Dakota Blizzard by one who Knows.

Glen Ullin, D. T. Dec. 10—Mr. Peter Hannigan, a farmer residing near Glen Ullin, was out prospecting near the Cannon Ball river and had camped for the night in a sheltered place on Antelope creek on the night of the commencement of the late November snow storm. He relates the following as his experience:

I had a good supply of quilts and blankets, and made my bed in the wagon box, which was high, with thin boards over for a cover, the cover being fastened down by a rope passing around the box. Being comfortably fixed I soon fell asleep, the horses being fastened to the front end of the wagon. The storm came on during the night, the wind being in a direction to blow the snow over the bank directly on to the wagon and horses. I was awakened in the night by the breaking down of the cover on the wagon box from the weight of snow on it. When I got out the snow was pouring over the bank, onto the wagon and horses, at a rate that would have covered them completely in an hour's time. The wind blew a gale and the night was as dark as 'Egyptian darkness'. Without any light, I managed to harness the horses to the wagon and move a short distance to a point where the snow did not sift over the bank quite as fast. By this time I was wet with the driving snow, and somewhat chilled, and the horses were wet too and chilled. I took two of my quilts and fastened one on each horse to keep them from freezing—took two blankets and wrapped around myself. It was then probably about two o'clock in the morning. To keep from freezing I commenced walking back and forth till dawn of day, and as the morning brought no abatement of the storm I kept up the tramping during the entire day and all of the following night, and into the second day. In the afternoon of the second day there was a little lull in the storm. During all this time I had had no fire or anything to eat for myself or horses; when the lull came I cut some brush from the bank of the creek and succeeded in kindling a fire sufficient to make some coffee and thaw out some of my provisions and had something to eat. I was enabled to get water for my horses and let them feed some on the tall grass on the bank of the creek near. The storm was yet too furious to venture out on the prairie and I put in another night in the coulee. The next morning I started out for Glen Ullin, reaching home in two days, stopping over night at a ranch on the Heart river. My horses were in an exhausted and nearly famished condition when I arrived home. They are all right now and so am I, but I would not repeat that experience for all of Dakota territory. Fortunately I was not frozen except the end of one of my thumbs and some of my toes were frosted, but I think they will not be troublesome.