CHAPTER XIII
The blizzard
of January 7, 1873, was a fearful one, and
considered as the worst this country ever
experienced. These storms are generally disastrous
for the reason that they come up suddenly.
The morning may be fine and clear, causing
people to start out on the prairie, and in
a sparsely settled country where houses are
several miles apart, a sudden blinding snow
storm makes it almost impossible to find a
shelter, and is extremely dangerous to any
who are out. On the morning of January 7,
1873, the sun rose bright and warm, giving
promise of a beautiful day. There was then
a stage line between Spencer and Rock Rapids,
the stage driver being Peter Baker.
He started out from Sibley in the forenoon
with one passenger, Mr. A. K. Jenkins,
and when ten miles west from Sibley they encountered
that terrible blizzard out on the unsettled
prairie. It continued warm and pleasant until
about noon, when the treacherous northwest
wind commenced blowing and a dark cloud hovered
in the western horizon. The snow commenced
creeping and sifting over the ground in the
peculiar insidious style so well known to
every dweller on our broad and unprotected
prairies. In a very short time the storm king
was holding high carnival, and the air was
filled with flying snow, driven by the force
of the wind into the minutest apertures and
piling it into drifts wherever it encountered
and obstacle.
The storm raged with
scarcely an abatement until Thursday morning,
when the thermometer indicated 22 degrees
below zero.
As above stated, Mr. Jenkins,
in company with Mr. Baker, the stage
driver on the Spencer and Rock Rapids Stage
Line, left Sibley for the latter point named;
when about ten miles distant from their destination
the storm struck them in all its fury, so
completely hemming in their horses that they
soon yielded to the influence of the cold
and sunk down in a deep snow drift and soon
died. Mr. Jenkins tried to keep his
blood in circulation by by walking, but to
the contrary, he became so helpless from the
effects of the cold that even with the help
of his companion he was unable to regain his
seat in the coach. After eighteen hours insane
from suffering he laid down before Mr. Baker's
eyes and died.
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Meanwhile,
Mr. Baker was conscious that he was
losing the use of his limbs, and could render
his companion no further assistance. Mr. Baker
was found frozen to the knees on Friday afternoon
about 3 o'clock, about one-half mile from
the stage road; he was taken to the nearest
house and cared for until the next day. He
was then taken to Sibley. Soon after both
his legs were amputated, and on the 25th day
of May, 1873, he died.
George Hamilton
was out in the same blizzard, and a man of
less nerve and endurance would have certainly
perished. Mr. Hamilton started in the
morning to go to Milford, and while only about
four miles from home crossing the prairie
the storm struck him. To face the storm and
try to return would have been the height of
folly. So that all Mr. Hamilton could
do was go with it. This he did, and kept on
traveling until he came to a corn field, where
the snow had formed in large drifts, and into
one of these his horses got down. Mr. Hamilton
worked with his horses until they were on
their feet again, and then as night was coming
on, he unhitched and after having shoveled
the snow away from the front end of his wagon
tied his horses there. Here he spent the night,
with that terrible storm howling in its fury,
with no shelter and really without sufficient
clothing, for the storm wasn't looked for.
He kept at work shoveling the snow away from
where the horses stood and twice lay down
near the horses feet and got into a dose [doze],
and each time a horse stepped on him, just
enough to wake him up and he went to work
again. It is only a wonder that he didn't
go to sleep never to wake again, and probably
such would have been his fate, only for the
horses feet. Finally morning dawned and Mr.
Hamilton feeling that he was near somebody's
place, hollered as loud as he could and there
came a response. By this communication of
voice the parties living near by came to where
Hamilton was and himself and horses were gotten
over to the house, it being where _____ Smith
lived. The horses were placed under shelter
and soon Hamilton was in the Smith
shack which had the comforts of a stove, red
with heating. Mr. Hamilton found that
his clothing was not proof against the driving
snow, for it had drifted through in considerable
quantities next to his skin. He staid at the
Smith habitation two days, then when
the storm was over made his trip to Milford
and on his return found parties searching
for him, supposing, of course, that he could
not be otherwise than lost. This narrow escape
which George Hamilton had in this April
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blizzard shows how easily a
man of caution and of excellent judgment can
drift into danger, and where the chances of
living are against him, but a blizzard on
an open prairie, comes sometimes so unexpected
and unlooked for that it is not a lack of
caution nor an error in judgment to be caught
out where life becomes suddenly in danger.
Mr. Hamilton's claim, as will be noticed
elsewhere, was then on Section 30, in Fairview
Township. Mr. Hamilton believes that
his deliverance was providential; that it
was there on the prairie he made his first
original prayer which God gave him then and
there the assurance that it would be verified.
In this same storm a resident
of Fairview Township lost his life. There
was then a postoffice on the Spirit Lake and
Worthington route, about a mile south of where
the town of Round Lake now is. It was kept
by William Mosier, and Mr. Wheeler,
whose claim was on Section____ in Fairview,
was at the postoffice in Mosier's house
when the storm came up. Wheeler started
for home and unable to find his house, he
wandered with the storm and at last exhausted,
benumbed with cold, lay down and died. He
got nearly to West Okoboji Lake in Dickinson
County. He was found soon as the storm cleared
up by Mr. Tuttle, whose house was not
far away from where Wheeler perished.
Some others were out
in the blizzard, but not far from home so
that these got home safely.
One other death occurred
in the county, that of Peter Ladenberger.
After the storm he was missing and no trace
of him could be found it was concluded that
he must have perished. He was still unaccounted
for until the 29th day of November, 1873,
when the account of his being found, given
at the time, is as follows: When Fred Krueger,
while out hunting in the valley of the Ocheyedan
fifteen miles southeast of Sibley, found the
remains of some person, they proved to be
those of the unfortunate Ladenberger. Mr.
Krueger did not inform any person of
the finding of the remains until Sunday, when
he related the facts to Mr. S. S. Parker.
Early Monday morning, Mr. Parker came
to town and informed the proper authorities,who
immediately summoned a jury, consisting of
Messrs. McCausland, Parker and Warren;
these gentlemen with the acting coroner, Mr.
Turner, Dr. Mellen and some
witnesses to identify the remains, started
for the spot to determine, if possible, whose
the remains were. The party proceeded eastward
to the Parker settlement, where Krueger
joined them; then going southeast
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they crossed the Little Ocheyedan,
the rolling prairie, and descended into the
broad valley of the Ocheyedan. When near the
junction of the Little Ocheyedan with the
Ocheyedan, the party separated, and going
to the southwest Mr. Parker soon discovered
the remains. The dead man was lying—probably
as he fell—breast down, with right arm
thrown back. The skull lay a few feet from
the trunk. At his right foot was a hole, and
is is possible that the surface of the snow
was on that account uneven and caused him
to stumble. A pipe, a carpenter's pencil,
a silver ring, several pocketbooks, cap and
pieces of clothing were found. The remains
of the body were placed in a coffin and taken
to Sibley. The pocketbooks were thawed out,
and furnished conclusive evidence that the
dead man was Peter Ladenberger. On
Tuesday the remains were buried. Mr. Ladenberger
was a carpenter, and the last work he did
was to put up the liberty pole on the court
house. He came from Sheboygan County, Wis.,
and had no relatives in the county.
The first settler in Fairview
Township was Mr. Ellis, who took his
claim in 1871. This was the only claim taken
in that township during that year. There were
considerable many claims taken in this township
in 1872, the year of a general rush to Northwest
Iowa. In April, 1872, George Hamilton
settled in Fairview and took east half of
the northwest quarter of Section 30. Mr. Hamilton
drove with his team, his wife with him, from
Clinton County, Iowa, and after taking the
claim lived on it continuously until final
proof, himself and wife not being away from
it at the same time except one night. He has
now other land adjoining, but of these early
settlers in Fairview, who came there in 1872,
Mr. Hamilton is the only one of them who still
lives in that township. He put up on the start
a very comfortable house, broke only about
four acres the first year, but has since been
engaged in extensive farming, and is a very
worthy and substantial citizen of Osceola
County. 
S. A. Dove
came to Fairview in May, 1872, and settled
on the southwest quarter of Section 8. C.
A. Foote the same year took the northeast
quarter of the same section. During a later
residence in the county, and after one of
the blizzards, it was impossible to get around
with a team, and the necessaries of life to
subsist upon were obtained by going on foot
with snow shoes. Dove and John Hanna
went to Worthington, eleven miles, with snow
shoes, and drawing a hand sled. They hauled
butter to town and returned with flour; there
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was no road, but they made the
journey in a day, though their return was
after dark. Dove came from Clinton County,
Iowa, and drove through with a team. He put
up first a sod house, in which he lived two
years, and then built a frame house, and in
1890 moved to Ocheyedan, where he now resides.
Most of the settlers
in Fairview have come at a recent date, and
few reach back any number of years. Among
its leading farmers at the present time are
S. Wright, Samuel Peterson, John Ward,
Frank Palmer, Levi Coyour, Charles McLagen,
S. C. Palmer, Fred Barneking, Fred Hindt,
Ed. Ward, Thos. Jackson, W. E. Proper, D.
A. Hall, John Hanna, Ed. Severence, Matthew
Walling, William and Samuel Hanna,
E. S. Webster, George Miller, Jerry Bean,
Milton Woodrow, George Shephard, _____ Steinkuehler,
W. D. Hendrix and William Mowthorpe.
CENSUS OF OSCEOLA COUNTY
FOR THE YEAR 1873
|
HOLMAN
TOWNSHIP
|
| Number of dwellings |
180
|
| families |
189
|
| white males |
320
|
| white females |
281
|
| persons entitled to vote |
187
|
| militia |
153
|
| foreigners not naturalized |
3
|
| acres of land improved |
2,553
|
| pounds of wool shorn
in the year 1872 |
45
|
| |
|
|
BUSHELS
OF GRAIN RAISED IN 1872
|
| Wheat |
2,269
|
| Corn |
4,800
|
| Oats |
1,572
|
| |
|
|
GOEWEY
TOWNSHIP.
|
| Number of dwellings |
143
|
| families |
146
|
| white males |
277
|
| white females |
199
|
| persons entitled to vote |
147
|
| militia |
1
|
| foreigners not naturalized |
1
|
| acres of land improved |
3,464
|
-95-
|
BUSHELS
OF GRAIN RAISED IN 1872
|
| Wheat |
2,174
|
| Corn |
5,420
|
| Oats |
2,605
|
| Barley |
346
|
| |
|
|
FENTON
TOWNSHIP
|
| Number of dwellings |
39
|
| families |
40
|
| white males |
76
|
| white females |
65
|
| persons entitled to vote |
43
|
| militia |
39
|
| acres of land improved |
866
|
| |
|
|
BUSHELS
OF GRAIN RAISED IN 1872
|
| Wheat |
694
|
| Corn |
2,265
|
| Oats |
680
|
| |
|
|
WILSON
TOWNSHIP
|
| Number of dwellings |
32
|
| families |
32
|
| white males |
64
|
| white females |
63
|
| persons entitled to vote |
34
|
| militia |
22
|
| acres of land improved |
420
|
| pounds of wool shorn
in 1872 |
5
|
| |
|
|
BUSHELS
OF GRAIN RAISED IN 1872
|
| Wheat |
39
|
| Corn |
1,337
|
| |
|
|
HORTON
TOWNSHIP
|
| Number of dwellings |
17
|
| families |
426
|
| white males |
40
|
| white females |
30
|
| persons entitled to vote |
20
|
| militia |
18
|
| acres of land improved |
144
|
| bushels of corn raised
in the year 1872 |
40
|
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|
In 1873 Osceola
County had the following:
|
| Number of dwellings |
419
|
| families |
426
|
| white males |
779
|
| white females |
630
|
| persons entitled to vote |
431
|
| militia |
324
|
| foreigners not naturalized |
4
|
| acres of land improved |
7,444
|
| pounds of wool shorn
in the year 1872 |
50
|
| |
|
BUSHELS
OF GRAIN RAISED IN 1872
|
| Wheat |
5,176
|
| Corn |
13,862
|
| Oats |
4,857
|
| Barley |
346
|
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