deep snow
drift, where they remained quite comfortably through the night.
Bottineau through his instincts reached the timber, and was safe, where
he was joined the next morning by McLeod. The Englishman was afterwards
discovered so badly frozen that he died, while the Pole was lost. The
only trace of him that was ever discovered was his pistols, which were
found on the prairie the next spring, the wolves having undoubtedly
disposed of his remains.

The remedy for these dangers is to avoid them by a close scrutiny of the
weather, and by never venturing on a big prairie if you can by any means
avoid it, and always being abundantly supplied with food for yourself
and animals, whether horses or dogs, besides fuel, matches, blankets,
robes, and all the paraphernalia of a snow camp, should you have to make
one. No people are more careful in these particulars than the Indians
themselves, from whom the French voyageurs undoubtedly learned their
lessons.

To give an idea of how treacherous the weather may be, and of what
dangers frontier people are subjected to, I will relate an adventure in
which I participated when living in the Indian country, which, however,
turned out pleasantly. I had been at my Redwood agency for several days,
and it became important that I should visit my upper agency, situated on
the Yellow Medicine river, about thirty miles distant, up the Minnesota
river. After crossing the Redwood river, the road led over a thirty-mile
prairie, without a shrub on it as big as a walking stick. The day was
bright and beautiful, and the ride promised to be a pleasant one, so I
invited my surgeon, Dr. Daniels, and his wife to accompany me. They
gladly accepted, and Mrs. Daniels took her baby along. (By the way, this
baby is now the elder sister of the wife of one of our most
distinguished attorneys, Mr. John V. I. Dodd.) Mr. Andrew Myrick, a
trader at the agency, learning that we were going, decided to accompany
us, and got up his team for the purpose, taking some young friends with
him, and off we went.

I had early taken the precaution to construct a sleigh especially
adapted to winter travel in this exposed region. It had recesses where
were stowed away provisions, fuel, tools, and many things to meet
possible emergencies. The cushions were made of twelve pairs of
four-point Mackinaw blankets, and the side rails were capable of
carrying two carcasses of venison or mutton, so I felt quite capable of
conquering a b