The Voice

by JAMES C. OLSON, Superintendent STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
One of the most serious catastrophes in Nebraska's history was the great blizzard of January 12, 1888. The book, In All Its Fury, published by the Blizzard Club under the editorship of W. H O'Gara of Lincoln, for many years president of the club, contains many reminiscences of the experiences of Nebraskans and others during the great blizzard.
Typical is that of Mrs. Margaret Davey of Greeley who apparently was serving as a baby sitter when the storm hit. In later years she wrote:
"I was twelve years old at the time, and living with a married sister, but at the time of the blizzard I was visiting my mother who lived five miles south of Greeley.
"That morning her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Cleary, wanted to go to town to do some trading and they asked if I would stay with their children while they were gone. There were three children, one of them a baby about seven months old. They expected to be gone only three or four hours.
"There was a little boy out herding the cattle and just before noon he came in and said the cows were acting wild. So I told him we would put them in the yard and leave them until after dinner. Just as we got them in the blizzard burst upon us. I investigated and found no fuel. There was only about half a basket of cobs. There was no milk, no water, not a thing to feed the baby.
"We had a little old-fashioned cook stove to keep us warm, and I went to the corn crib and brought in corn to burn. It was about thirty yards to the corn crib and I had to make three trips. I did not have any difficulty in finding it and getting back to the house as the chickenhouse and windmill guided me. but I had a serious time of it, just the same.
"I went to the windmill for water but it was frozen so I had to melt snow for water.
"In those days women nursed their babies so I had to find something to feed the little one in my care. After a long search I
found a little bit of whiskey in the cupboard and I mixed a drink for him with sugar and water and whiskey so we got along all right, though the children got hungry, of course. I found it hard to have to walk the floor with the baby far into the night. When he finally went to sleep his eyes were open and I did not know what to think of that.
"The parents were frantic and as the wind began to die down they came home, arriving about five in the morning.
"The house was frame, with three rooms. We did not really suffer with the cold. The wind was penetrating but the walls and windows were sheltered by the deep drifts of snow."