nned by Germans, Englishmen and
Irishmen (the Scandinavians had then just begun to make their appearance
in the Northwest) to be caught in a winter storm, and result in the
amputation of fingers, toes, feet and hands from freezing, but I cannot
remember ever losing a Canadian Frenchman. I recall one instance, where
a train was overtaken by a severe storm just about evening, where no
timber was in sight. The men built barricades with their sleds and
loads, and took refuge to the leeward of them, where they passed quite a
comfortable night for themselves and their teams. With the coming of the
morning light they discovered a timber island not very far off, and
started for it with their horses, to make fires, feed the teams, and get
breakfast. The storm had abated, and the sun shone brilliantly. One
young American lad shouldered a sack of oats, and not realizing that it
was very cold, did not put on his mittens, but seized the neck of the
sack with his bare hand. When he arrived at the timber all his fingers
were frozen, and had to be amputated. It was merely one of the cases of
serious injury I have known arising from ignorance.

No one who has not encountered a blizzard on the open prairie can form
an adequate idea of the almost hopelessness of the situation. The air
becomes filled with driving, whirling snow to such an extent that it is
with difficulty you can see your horses, and the effect is the same as
absolute darkness in destroying all conception of direction. You may
think you are going straight forward when in fact you are moving in a
small circle; the only safety is to stop and battle it out.

I remember a case which happened in this region before it became
Minnesota which fully proves the dangers of a blizzard to a traveler on
the open prairie. Martin McLeod and Pierre Bottineau, together with an
Englishman and a Pole, started from Fort Garry for the headwaters of the
Minnesota river. They were well equipped in all respects, having a good
dog train, and, in Bottineau, one of the most experienced guides in the
Northwest. While the party was in sight of timber it was suddenly
enveloped in a blizzard, and, of course, wanted to reach the timber for
safety. Here a controversy arose as to the direction to be taken to find
it, the Englishman and the Pole insisting on one line, and McLeod and
Bottineau on another. They separated. McLeod took the dogs, and he and
they soon fell over a precipice and were covered up in a