1888 Blizzard

On January 12, 1888, the weather in the west was mild, compared to previous weeks. Little did the people know that a massive cold front was in route and would be catastrophic to the people, their livestock, and the economy in the dekota and nebraska praries. The cold front would cause one of the worst blizzards for the region, killing close to 500 people. The factors that made the death toll so high involve the mild weather before the storm, the lack of technology for warning systems, and bad timing.

In the cold December, when the land is white with snow, my children’s children go to play on Bloody Ice. Its incarnadined surface is a source of mystery, another one of our town’s curiosities. Sixty years ago—but how my memory dims!—I saw the red take hold. I saw wicked things rising from the lake, and when they left, they took my brother with them.

The two men lay in the snow, listening to the branches creak in the forest. Silence. A crow cawed in the distance, interrupting the calm only for a second. As the two men’s fate approached, they began to perceive things that they had never experienced before. All the crackling, shuffling, and whistling became crystal clear to them, and they wondered how they had never heard these sounds before. Little shimmers and sparkles caught their eyes as if to tell them to enjoy their last moments in this world. Frost glittered in the slivery moonlight, cascading upon them through an opening in the dense canopy

The Blizzard of 1888 tested how much the human spirit could take. Stacking problems on problems, it was unforgiving to everybody in the area. Though the immigrants who came to the US all took different paths and ended up settling in different places of the Great Plains, in the end they both went through the same cold, unpredictable blizzard.

According to the forecasters only about 12 inches of actual snow fell. Their assumptions on the rest of the snow is it blew from Lake Erie to the sounding locations. Snow was recorded in areas up to 100 inches deep (usatoday.com). This varied some from location to location but all the surrounding areas were hit hard. Most areas only see this amount over weeks or months. Most of the snow accumulated in several hours up to a few days. Never had snow crews seen this much in such a short period of time. Due to the large amount of snow it left many motorists stranded. A large portion of the death tolls from this storm came from people stranded in their vehicle. Once there vehicles were stuck there only means of heat was from the vehicle running. In some cases the vehicles ran out of gas and in some they broke

To start off, on page 92 the author writes “The snow fell thickly. We were forbidden to sit down or even to move. The snow began to form a thick layer over our blankets.” Eliezer was on the train and so were the rest of the prisoners. This illustrated the snow building up on them. From the way that the author described the snow, it kind of gives you an image of a lot of snow on top of the prisoners. Next, on page 94 the author writes “ ‘Throw out all the dead! All corpses!’” The living rejoiced. There would be more room. Volunteers set to work. They felt those who were still crouching. “‘Here’s one! Take him!’” They undressed him, the survivors avidly sharing out his clothes, then two “grave diggers” took him, one by the head and one by the feet, and threw him out of the wagon like a sack of flour.” This showed the readers using description, how the prisoners who had died were being tossed out of the wagon like if nothing had happened. In the end of the story the author tried to describe things as clear as he could to help the reader picture the setting and characters in the

Thesis: The Children’s Blizzard of January 12, 1888 was the worst blizzard to experience from the Dakotas to south Texas of all the damage from the winds and the snow, the amount of people that died,and the buildings destroyed. So many children died so that's why the name of the blizzard the Children’s Blizzard.

One of the worst hardships faced by not only women, but all homesteaders was winter. Winters were hard in the West and challenged farmers; crops were frozen and cattle herds were decimated. Homesteaders tried their best to prepare for the harsh winter but like Bess Cobb, many were afraid it would “be [there] before [they were] ready for it.” Even though there was preparation, there was still the fear that it wasn’t enough and that half of what the women planned to do did not get done. The cold that “crept in through the thin walls,”

“Who back East or down South could have conceived of a land where the temperature could fall eighteen degrees in just three minutes?” the author stated. (Laskin, 39) This actually occurred in the nation’s history. It is somewhat expected to have some days where one has to bring a light jacket for later in the day because it is predicted to get cooler. “Who would have guessed that farmers and school children could start their days in shirtsleeves, without heavy overcoats, only to experience wind chills that night that were forty degrees below zero?” the author wrote. (Laskin, 39) The people who had to endure the freakish drop of temperature and monster of a blizzard definitely did not predict any of this could ever happen. Had the people been

Three years ago, what I thought was only supposed to be any other November night, turned into a blizzard that made headlines all over Northwest Kansas, specifically affecting Colby and Atwood, leaving us with over 20 inches of thick, heavy snow (Newton). It piled up against houses, and blocked roads. The snow fell fast and it fell

From the 1900’s to 1930’s, many families bought land to make farms. This was also the time that large flat and plain areas like Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were hit by devastating dust storms.

It can snow up to 40 to 50 inches of snow. Blizzards occur in winter. Some past blizzards are up to 50 inches in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, and other places in the mid west. There has been many storms in the past that have caused damage. Usually weather reporters may use the words “ Historic”, “epic”, “ significant”, and “record breaking” a little too often when talking about winter storms in the United States. These blizzards have occurred in 1993, 1978, 1996, 2010, 1888, and 1940 are the seven of the worst blizzards in United States history. 35 mph and visibility of less than a 1/4 mile for more than 3 hours. The first blizzard to be declared a Federal Emergency was in 1977, affecting upstate New York

The harsh ding of the frozen bell woke the slumbering snow. The frail cabin walls offer little shelter as Ppeople enter and cluster into groups shivering with their tattered clothes and muddy arms around the frail wooden cabin. A man in the groupYuri turns to observe the walls of the campof his internment before entering. Men on the wall stride passionatelyrelentlessly, staring down at the group like eagles observing their prey.

The winter was fast approaching; the cold wind blowing from the Dnieper River brought the whooping cold, running noses, and influenza to the kids and adults alike. There were never enough blankets, warm clothes or medicine; the wood was scarce, the oven produce suffocating smoke. In spite of all efforts of the exhausted priest and his helpers, several kids did not survive the winter.

Fiction often tells a story. Whether it is a fantasy such as “Lord of the Rings” or grounded in reality like “The Ice Palace”, the stories told often have a meaning that goes deeper than the surface. One such piece of fiction that has a deeper meaning is “The Hermits Story” written by Rick Bass. At first glance this short story tells a tale about a woman and a man that get stuck in a snowstorm while out training dogs and their adventure to get back home. Within this writing Bass weaved much more into the story. The ice and snow that is found everywhere within the book serves as the catalyst for the deeper meaning. The use of ice and snow in “The Hermits Story” represents suppression which appears often in physical and mental ways.