Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1898 — TRAGIC WINTER. [ARTICLE]

TRAGIC WINTER.

Maaaartaa of the Terrible Storm ta Sotrth Dakota Sixteen Years A<a According to certain weather wiseacres in the Northwest the coming wintar will be an unusually severe one in that region. It te to be hoped, however, that no such winter as that of 1880 in South Dakota will ever again visit that State. The story of that time te full of interest, especially to those unfamallar with Its detail* Wednesday, Oct 18, 1880, was in Southern Dakota a typical northwestern fall day. Rain fell during the day. The next day the weather was rather pleasant, but threatening. Friday, the 15th, a change occurred. and snow began to fait This continued almost steadily until the following Sunday night, when It steered off. Monday snow agate fell, and from that time on anew storms were of frequent occurrence during the whole winter. On Nov. 19 the Ice which had been running for some time in the Missouri river suddenly formed an Ice bridge, and became so solid during the night that crossings could bo made with safety the following day. As the result of the almost constant fall of snow and high winds huge drifts were formed, some of them from 20 to 30 feet deep. In many places fences and trees were buried completely out of sight, and only the tops of telegraph poles were risible. This necessitated in some Instances the propping up of the wires to keep them out of the snow. In the new portions of the territorj there were few herds of cattle, but In the southern counties thousands of animals perished. Along the Missouri river hundreds of deer, antelope and other wild game became foundered in the vast drifts, and were killed, dubs in many Instances being the Instruments of destruction. All the railroads were blockaded and some of them did not begin operations again untH the following June. So great was the quantity of snow and moisture that fell during the winter that every lake bed was filled to the brim. The result was that crops for several seasons following were enormous. But the hardships experienced by the settlers on the prairie and the Inhabitants of the prairie towns was insignificant compared with the disasters which befell the residents of the towns along the Missouri river when the floods came the following spring. Since the spring of 1862 the spring “break up" of the Missouri river had not been attended with any disaster save in isolated eases, and It was therefore not strange that the settlers on the bottoms had been lulled Into a false sense of security, and regarded the stories handed down In regard to great Inundations of the past as the mere vaporings of chronic exaggeratons. But It was a terrible awakening, and for ten days the Missouri river valley for hundreds of miles was covered with a seething torrent of water and Ice which brought ruin to thousands and death u> scores.