THE SCHOOLHOUSE BLIZZARD
Penny for your Thoughts by: Nancy Whitaker
The day was January 12, 1888. The place was the Upper Midwest of the U.S. consisting of the states of Nebraska, Dakota Territory and Minnesota. The day started out with fairly warm weather and as children left for school some felt their coats were not needed.
With more than a mile to walk, the one room school started on time with Minnie Freeman as the teacher. Minnie was only 20 years old at the time and the day began as a normal day. One student said, “The sun was out until about 1:00 p.m.. Then the wind picked up, temperatures dropped and went from 21 degrees to -20 in a couple of hours.”
The snow came quickly without much notice and the wind was so strong it blew the door off the sod school house. Minnie used her head and got a piece of rope from the school and tied 13 children together to battle the cold, wind and snow. They made it to a farm house about half mile away from the school.
Minnie was named a hero in Nebraska, but the blizzard took approximately the lives of 215 children. One 70 year old farmer died in the blizzard after getting lost after feeding his livestock. Transportation came to a halt with the blizzard stopping the trains and any means of travel. One lady got caught in the blizzard and got into a haystack to protect herself. Days later they found her alive, but she died after surgery.
Pioneers William and Kate Krampen who lived in a small sod house in the Dakota Territory were unprepared for the blizzard. They ran out of coal for their fire, so William was forced to go to the town of Parker which was 23 miles away to get coal and supplies. While William went to town 19 year old Kate gave birth to their son, Henry. This was on January 8 and while he was in town the blizzard struck. William’s friends tried to get him not to head for his home, but he wanted to get back to Kate.
He had taken two horses with him and the horses froze and died, but William made it to a pig barn and stayed there. He finally made it home to his wife and new baby Henry.
I, of course, recall the blizzard of 1978, but even though we didn’t like being without lights or heat we all survived and still talk about our experiences. Lots of people have generators today to use if electric goes off and we have cell phones, flashlights and good weather reporting. It’s always good when we get that warning, because we have time to go get necessities like toilet paper and milk.
Do you like snow? I always have, but the older I get the less I like it. Do you remember the Blizzard of 1978? Let me know and I’ll give you a Penny for your Thoughts.
