History of Osceola County

by D. A. W. Perkins 1892

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 an 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 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.

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 to 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, 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 the 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 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 post office 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, who claim was on Section --- in Fairview, was at the post office 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, 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 it 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, Wisconsin, and had no relatives in the country.

The first settler in Fairview Township was Mr. Ellis, who took his claim there 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 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 but 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.

The following is the way Osceola County stood in the year 1873:

Holman Township

 

Goewey Township

Fenton Township

Wilson Township

Horton Township

In 1873 Osceola County had the following:

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Osceola County Iowa Genealogy - The IAGenWeb Project