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Show 542 Ex. Doc. No. 41. t} 1 c r v ••n in g at "T u r lc r y cr c (' k," lH• n• t h c r e i ~ n o wood to b c f o u n t1 ~nd ht•8idt·~ thi,, all th•· grass around us had bc.-n bt.trnt up. . February 20 -La~t ni~ht we had an awful ~ torm, tt stdl contmut'd Sn•t·ra l lllttll' h<1ve h·· ·n froz ·n to tl •at h. We• have b••t•n obligt•cl to lay aucd aJl cl;~ y, in order to kf'l'P warm. The t)UOW is stdl drtfting <lhollt furious!_'. Pehnwr?; 21 -TlttS worning i~ tlH' first time for thirty -!o\ix hours that ,tny one h~s -v•·ntun·d out of heel. My men had thl·ir pro' V i ~ i nil~ r 1 ·ad y <' o o k l' cl , an d shan· d t h "m with M r. J3r o v.- 11' s party ; of .dl tht· tt·nto.; that had bt·t•n pitrhl'd Frtday night, mine was tbf' only o 11 <' w h i <' h ~ t 1 II t t' 111 a i n l' d . T h t' s n o w h a d h l' a p t' d u p a r o u n d t h ~ rest ~o that t\w inmatl'S w<·re obligt·cl to clt·scrt tht-m, and takt· rrfuge · in thl' \\agort~L About mint>, ~he wind had S\vt.'pt in s.uch a way ns tn kt•t·p opt·n a J>rlth around tt, al though the snow wa" on • 1 h·\'el with the t'd ~ r polf' of the H•nt. \Vc now brok • up some board.: that \\t' rt' in th<· '"agon!', and kintllcd a little fire. Soon tlw !'Uil ro~·; but, ll1St<·ad of OH<' . un, ve had thrct>; all RCt'llll'd of f'qual hrilliancy, but, as tht·y eontinul·d to ri::w, the middle ont· only retalnl'd it~ nrculetr form, while the others shot into hug<' columu ot ftrt:t, wlnrh blcndl'cl wtt h the air ncar their sumtuit~. The b•t·adth .ot tlt(· columns \\:t that of the ~un'~ apparent diamt•ter, and tlH'ir lH igbt <dH>nt twt•lvc times the same diamct<•r· they wt·rc bl'twt·tn twe11ty <•nd thirty cle·grct•s distant frotn the sun. flt•frre tht· "'un bad ri:-t·n lllOrt· than tl'n dq!r(•t·s, tl:is phenomena cntirl'ly dist~ppt·<trf•cl. ~omt: of the• m<'n call<.'cl my attt-ntion to this strangt• appt·a•an('r, but so t>n~ro ss t· d w(•rc tl1t•y with their own calamitit·. , th<~t they hardly seemed to be in the l~ast astonished at what tht•J BCIW Aftt·r som~ littlr whilt> Wl' .missed Prc~ton anti the sick man· we inquirt·d, but no orw knt'W anythtng about them. It was now' cri• 1 t> n t 1 h .at t h t • y ll a d be t• n b u r i t ' d b t • 11 c a t h t h c s n o w d r i ft , w h i 1'. h , f o r "o u t• 1 l1" t" n c c :1 round h <' cl fi II e d u p t h c nook in w hie h we h a tl t• n,. 1:o wd to th1· lt· v•·l of tl1t' pnttrit· ; ~~ tlw drift was of considerable •)XI • Il l: 111Ud1 time would b~· wa~ted !n examining it, urale·~s wo could l!lld .where tl~ey . ltad pttch<'d tht·tr tent. At last, I notice•l one poor Jt·llow cltggrnp: .1way to f111tl his boots; he showecl me whnc dH· Sl(:k mt~n had bt·en. T cn.llt·cl the rnt·n and immecliatl'ly ~t.'t to. wo1l ·. The sno\" w:'s six feet deep, and ~vc had only a Itttit• plt·n• of board to dtg wrth, and the cold was so gr<·at that n() o 11 t• co u I d work \' t• r ~ Ion g ~ l' for c his h <l ru Is b t' cam c p t> r f • et 1 y r i ~ i <I. Alter a good tlt·al ot bard drgg1ng, we found a pair of boots, which w~rt· n·t·o~nl:zed .by thl· mt·n as Prl'Ston': propt•rty. 'This urgt>d u9 to. n:n•·wP:I ex • rttnu~; at ~~·r~gth .we cleared tht· snow from a portion of hll-1 uufLdo robt> Cllld ltf.ttng 1t up, We got sight of the poor ft-1- low s lal· t·; ht• crwd out 10 a wt•ak voict·, bq{~ing us for Cod'A akl' !lOt to h•<t\l' l11rn to che. We as~url'cl hi 111 thttt we wuulcl not forsHke him, and i1~atn covcre\i hi f<H'e uutil we t·ould r.-move mort' o.f the ~uow· lt<t.ving clul!' a-. far as his waist, five mrn t'C\IIght hold ot h1m to tlrag h1111 out, hut the snow had ht•cu moist and was pat·kttd vt·ry hard, and ht• waSl held tight by the tt·nt whit·h had been brokt:c~ down by the pressure of the snow; however, we dug ( Ex. J)oe. No. 41. a l i ttl ~ mort• until Wl' could ~l't.i1t th(• rid g r polt· nf th(' trnt, which we ,.,Jt in two with our a t·s. \Vt• now clrt•\\' Prt•!'tou nut of rh e <l rtft, which hncl lik • to IHn t' jHOVt•d lw-1 ~r a vt· . Tits bt·d-fvllow, wiJo had bet·n murh wcak<·nt-d IJy •w·krws.;, wa" aln·ady dl'ad ~ ht: w a~ ' ht• mt~n whom w· h.HI clrag ~ t·d from .Jack son ' s l ~ ro\(' to'~ P .t\\' ll t!(' fork;' ' whl're ht• had ht•('ll lllrkt·d up by Mr. Bro\\'n~ :-- inc·t· which time he had bt•tn rt·CO\l'l'lllt?; fa s t. Poor ft·llow! it was ht~ d· ·~H in) :o l,·avc his borH· ~ on tht• d(· scrt prairi· · ~, wht•r(• wolv(•<..: howl his r cquit>nt. I t·aused tht· 111('11 to dig hi111 al so out ol the• clrifr and to p ut !11 · body into a wagon, in ordt.:r that Wl' might bu ry hit~ at t hE' Coli on W oocl fork. P r c ~ t. o n co 10 p I a i n c cl b i tt t' rl y o f t lw c o 1 d ; 1 h <' ~ 11 d d t • n c It i II w h i e h he ('Xpni.Jnced when we clrat.U~t·d him forth (for ht> SL' l' rnt•d at fir .... L 1o be tn a per:-.p.ira.tion) in~tarrtly stlll't·rH·d his limbs. 1Je bt' j.q.~t· d, he prayl·d, that WI' would briug-. hi~n ut·ar tht• fin·; but Wl' put him • 1nto a wagon, and, wrapp1ug· 111m 1n huflt~lo roh<·s, \\l' ~ tartt: d on 1ur m.ueh. St•veral tnllle!-5 had aln·ady hl•t•n .. frozen to tlrath. A~ w <• pro- ~ c c d · d, m u I e · s, that had s ~art r d o fl 1 n cl p pare n 1 I y good r o 11 d 1 t 1011 w o u I d d r o p d n w n i · 1 t II c h a r n l' ~. ·, and t h t · i r I i 10 b R w o u I d h t· eo m ~ pt·rfc c tly rrgid. Ev«•n nne ot tlw oxt·n ft•ll down bt•uumbt·d wtth ~t~ old. In a few hours wt• lost ~ix mul•·R and one o , , so that OHr r oad was mark('d out with dyin~ an1m;tl~. As we approach 1·d our ·Jcsti11cd camp grouAd, we saw. a wolt that was so badly froz .. n a~ to ht• unable to move. One of the ml'n put an end to it s uff~riuos l •y a bullet froU1 h1s riO(•. n The snow on tltc gt·rH~ral ~P rrf<u~ c of the prairie was nol mon· t han thret• or fnur iu~.;ht·~ in dl•pth, so that I ae~ · omplt~d•<·d the.~ Jnarch wtthout any gn•at clilfi ~· ul1y by twilig-ht; but none of the· t c tt m s a r r i t' d u n t d 1 1 o' e I or k t hat n 1 g h t. Peb1·uary 22-1 now made all IllY arrangPmcnts fnr going 011 with Mr. Smtth, ltaving my tnl'n to clwait thl• tno\" t•mt•nt~ of Mr. 13rown, wht, had agrt.•t)cl to transport their provis1ou and bt•dd 1rw a-. J<H as lndcp ·udenre, Mtss(')uri . n D uri n ~ t h <' tl ,, y , we ci u g a g r a v c for t h c tl n fortuna t c m n n w h () was sufl'ocated beneath th ·snow. On a high l,lurr po1nt, that ov .. rhangs u deep pool of qut .. t water, dos · ro th · spot \\ ht·re the road -crosst·S Cotton Wood io1 k, is the last n•sttug p•at'e of poor Pi I ch('r. Mr. Brown was in grt>at C'mharrassrn!'nt all day about the !':aft·f • of h 1 s tt·a ms. ~l'Vcra I of t h<'lll had 11 ot yd :1 rri vt•d; t I t' poor 011} m;.tls ba.d bt· n out another nigttt upon t be prairit!, wht-n· tht·y coulcl not get a 1110rscl to (•at. l n t b c evening, P rt· ~ton ram c into camp; h c had b t' t' n put into a w a~ on that r c· rna i nt· d I as t n 1 g h t up o 11 t II 4' p r a 1 r r t• a b 0 u 1 8 md .. s di . 1ant. This morning Ire sta• lt·cl and wallct·d to c;:mp. fle loo"l'tl (IS if he h.~el bct•IJ Slt·k for a long tiuu·, so greal was ll ,c shock h:s constitution had su'llalnt·d. fit• wid us tlntt wht>n J1c fi 1 s t '"'w n k t', he f '-'It v v r y r o 11 II or t a b I e, 1-1 n d It ad 11 o d dfi c · u I t) in bre;.\thing. At lt'ngth lie pt·rcctvt·d l11s C1>mpanton WHS dytllg. fie now made dforts to escape from his perilous ~tluettJOn, and fo1wd |