Unreasonably Warm: The Children's Blizzard of 1888

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Oh, hey there.
Oh hey there, how's it goingtoday?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm good neighbor.
How are?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
you Neighbor, we're the history buffoons.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I am neighbor.
How are you Neighbor?
We're the history buffoons.
I am.
You are Jesus Christ?
Yes, we are.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
That is Kate.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I am Kate.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
I am Bradley, welcome .
Why are we doing that wholething over again?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
So we just came from.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Our favorite bar in Elkhart Lake.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Let's call it a working lunch.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
No, actually it was a working lunch because we were
talking our podcast up to people.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, so we want to give a shout out to our bar
neighbors, paul and Janie, Ibelieve, is her name.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
I think that was.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
In Elkhart Lake.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
They were super nice and they're very receptive to
what we do.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
So yeah and um they were.
They were lovely to speak to,so shout out to them and they
actually gave us a potentialorigin uh topic, so yes we'll
see if that uh comes to fruition, that'd be great, and for those
of you have who have started tofollow us recently.
Thank you so much.

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Yes, and please, please, please, go review us and
rate us on wherever you getyour podcasts from Apple,
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And we are also a little bit more active on
YouTube.
Yep, we've been putting up ourshorts on there for our episodes
, so and we have our long formon there as well, and that has
been a continuous thing.
But we're just a touch moreactive on there now, and then
we're also on TikTok as well.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yes and uh also, in addition to rate and review us,
please reach out to uh historybuffoons podcast at gmail and
send us any uh questions,comments, um topic ideas we, we
would love to hear from somepeople to uh, you know, just
help grow the podcast and andhopefully help everyone who does

(02:23):
listen to it enjoy it yeah, sothank you so much for the
newcomers who are just startingto listen.
We appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
We definitely, definitely do, and we absolutely
appreciate the ones who've beenwith us from the start.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Thank you so much.
Thanks, al Thanks Tara.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
And my parents.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Thanks, Kate's parents.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
So you bought us a couple of Leinenkugel beers that
I didn't know existed.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, I knew that one existed, I didn't know they had
it in a 19.2 ounce form, theone I got for myself.
It must be relatively new.
I've never seen this before,but I saw these and I'm like,
well, these are good podcastbeers and plus they're 19.2
ounce.
So we get a little bit of ataller boy, not even a tall boy.

(03:05):
Little bit of a taller boy, noteven a tall boy.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's a taller boy.
Oh, they're taller than a tallboy tall boys are 16 ounce.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Oh, these are 19.2.
So what do you have?

Speaker 2 (03:13):
I have the lennon kugel's barrel man barrel man
ale, which is an amber ale, andit is a proud supporter of the
milwaukeeers which I have reallycome to love over the last two
years, and Barrel man was amascot.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
He was their original logo for the Brewers.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
The original logo and he's a current mascot as well,
right.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
He does show up at Brewers games, yes, but yeah, he
was their original logo back inthe day and it's kind of your
style, so I'm hoping you like it.
I've never had it myself.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
This is an Amber ale.
Did I say that?

Speaker 1 (03:51):
already, yeah, okay, and so I have a lightning
Kugel's tropical hazy IPA.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Oh, and you've not had that one.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
I didn't know they made a tropical.
They usually don't make ipas,so I was really like excited
that I saw this.
It's got a hop with sunglasseslounging in a canoe on the lake.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
What's a hop?

Speaker 1 (04:10):
look like um, it's flowery looking.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I don't know if you can see it from there I cannot,
but I will look up close whenI'm able to but yeah it looks.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
It's kind of like a bud, almost it looks like a like
a budding flower, like a budlight anyways.
So, uh, let's crack our beers.
So so it's like a flower bud ina way oh okay, not exactly, but
I was trying to best describeit to you.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Penny, you're supposed to be good literally
all my cats have put her wakesfor penny because she's not one
for bribery and she's usuallynot the one to make noise, but
yet here we are, so cheerscheers, oh delicious oh, not bad
I have had a couple beersalready, I'm not gonna lie I'm

(04:59):
feeling pretty good.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'm gonna lie.
I've had a couple beers too,and and by a couple I mean more
than that.
So in Wisconsin, when you sayI'm going to go have a beer,
that, means two to three.
When you say you have a couplebeers, it means five to six
roughly give or take.
It's going to vary betweenpeople.

(05:21):
Yeah, I'm still trying to getthe like wisconsin lingo down,
yeah, so if, if you're gonna gohave a beer with the boys kind
of thing, you're having at leasttwo to three minimum, right,
it's, that's what a beer is inwisconsin.
So sure, we've had a beer today, but uh, no, that was fun.

(05:43):
It was nice talking to somepeople and, um, very, very nice
people, and we talked to twocouples we actually talked to
about the one, mostly about thepodcast.
They were very interested so itwas kind of cool, so that was
nice.
But uh, yeah, so, um, what doyou got for me today?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Well, I do have a question, and it just came up
out of the blue because I'mgreat like that.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves?

Speaker 2 (06:09):
What, okay?
So do you recall, like when youwere growing up, any particular
blizzard?
Do you remember like a massiveblizzard?
Do you remember like having asnow day, staying home?
Playing in the snow, or tryingto drive in it, or do you
remember anything like that?

Speaker 1 (06:30):
there was this one particular snow day that I do
recall.
It wasn't so much a blizzard,um necessarily, but it happened
in may.
Oh, I believe it was, if Iremember right, may 1991.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
I want to say that's very specific, you weirdo.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
So, uh, I remember my brothers waking me up that
morning saying, hey, get up, wedon't have to go to school today
.
I'm like what?

Speaker 2 (07:00):
are you talking about ?
Well, it's May.
Yes, I got to go to school.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
And they're like no dude, look outside, it snow May.
Yes, I got to go to school andthey're like no dude, look
outside.
It snowed.
So I look outside and sure asshit, boatload of snow.
It's like super heavy, wet snow.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
So like the kind.
You can't move with asnowblower because it's too wet.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
It gums it up basically, yeah, so my dad
stayed home, my mom was ateacher, so she was home, and
then my three, my two brothers,the three of us.
So we were out, uh, shoveling,and the house I grew up at had a
pretty steep driveway and ithad a section like a turnaround,
if you will.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Um a roundabout?

Speaker 1 (07:35):
no, it wasn't around the sack no, we lived on a
cul-de-sac but it had basicallylike it was.
There was like an island ofwoods driveway around it and
then.
But then I had another partthat went up to our garage.
So, like my brother would parkhis car there eventually, and so
would I when we got older tohave cars.
Anyways, in the middle, in thismiddle section, there was some

(07:58):
giant trees and my dad and Iwere shoveling on this
particular part of theturnaround and he just goes,
goes.
He just turned to me and goes.
Why don't we take a break?
Why don't you go inside?
Just take a break a little bitand we'll come back out and
finish, because again it wassuper heavy, wet, snow yeah, and
how old are you?
I.
I was about 12 okay roughly ifI'm, if I'm remembering the

(08:18):
right year.
I could be off on the year, butyeah I'm pretty sure I want to
say it was 91.
So I'm like, all right, being akid, I'm like, yeah, cool,
let's take a break.
Literally minutes after Iwalked away from where I was
standing, this giant fuckinglimb oh no, fell exactly where I
was standing.
It would have killed me, oh my.
So because again, the the snowwas so heavy yeah, it just broke

(08:42):
the limb yeah.
Wow, it was still early enoughin the year.
It might have been a dead tree,I don't recall, but if I would
have stayed there shovelingwhere I was, I would be dead.
So Well, thanks Dad.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Thank you for not dying.
Otherwise, this podcast wouldnot exist.
It's my pleasure for not dying.
Yes, thank you.
Yeah, this podcast would notexist, it's my pleasure for not
dying.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, I really needed this wow, okay, so I remember
two right which is not many,considering we're in the midwest
I mean, don't get me wrong, Iremember other ones, but that
one is that stands out in mybrain.
So well, I really don't have astory like that.
Um, I remember like I wasprobably 10 ish, give or take

(09:32):
five years, I don't know um Iwas.
Wow, I was dorothy gale forhalloween and uh, you know, it
was those like plastic masks, oh, I remember those yes With the
cut out eyes and all that yesand the vinyl outfits.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yes, super uncomfortable, like the mask
would cut into your face kind ofthing.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
I remember those.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
So Halloween that year was delayed because of a
snowstorm.
And I just remember, like twoor three days later, going out
with that costume, sure, with agiant coat on yeah, storm.
And I just remember like two orthree days later going out with
that costume, sure, with agiant coat on and all you could
see, was this plastic mask um.
The other one I remember is umwhen I was in college.
I was living with four othergirls in a house that my parents

(10:21):
bought for me and we all, like,rented it out to them right and
um, it was a lovely experience.
Would probably never do it againbut, just the fact that I was
able to have a house and likethat was amazing for someone my
age.
But stupidly, we all had a snowday.
Stupidly, me and one otherperson were like let's go to
walmart.

(10:41):
That was not a good idea no,I'm not surprised at that we
only went to walmart because wehad nothing else to do it was
really, really stupid.
So in essence I don't have acool story because I don't have
that kind of memory.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Hey you know, what's funny is that you went as
dorothy gale yes, yes my mommade uh.
She was very crafty person.
She made uh and it was ahand-me-down.
So my brothers also have wornthis before me, but I went as
scarecrow, not from the wizardof oz, but just a scarecrow just

(11:15):
a scarecrow.
So, yeah, all we need now is uhtin man and the the lion and
we're good I was tin man forhalloween when I worked at a
independent living facility yeahum, all the staff in the
kitchen.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Because I worked in the kitchen, we all went as
characters of uh wizard of ozand I was the tin man.
I ruined purposefully ruined apair of pants by spray painting
them silver, sure, and then Igot like a party hat that I
spray painted and she just got afunnel for like oil, because

(11:52):
that's yeah, well, I guess Iwent cheaper than that
apparently but yeah, um, sowe're actually going to talk
about it, kind of a gale, I meanpart of a gale, we're going to
do.
You know what a gale is?
Yeah, high winds yeah yeah, um,we're actually going to talk
about a blizzard today.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Oh okay, I mean, if the question hadn't gotten you
there I mean I, I was there, butI'm glad you had to like
interject with that.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yes, so in the mid to late 19th century there was a
colossal wave of immigration toto the united states from europe
.
Okay, so we're talking about16.5 million people that's a lot
seeking a new life.
Sure, they were driven by thepromise of land and freedom and

(12:36):
just a whole new life,essentially, yeah, and there was
a lot of like push-pull factorsthat kind of came with this.
So some of the push factorswere, like europe was, was had
widespread poverty, unemployment, um.
There was an agriculturalcrisis, like the irish potato
famine, yep, um, a lot fledoppressive regimes, um, or as I

(13:00):
try to say at one time resumeresume I've read it phonetically
, my bad.
There was a lot of like denselypopulated nations and there was
just limited opportunities foradvancement Right so so people
were kind of seeking refuge.
So some of the pull factorswere the American dream.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, I mean, that's really still why a lot of people
try to come here today.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
It's a land of opportunity.
There's people who were willingto work hard for prosperity.
And then there was thisindustrial boom in America that
people were drawn to.
There was the promise ofreligious tolerance for those
seeking to escape persecution,essentially for their religion.

(13:48):
And then there was theHomestead Act of 1862.
So the majority of immigrantsinitially settled in the East
Coast cities like New York andBoston and Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
That's typically where they landed.
If you will, yes.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
But many, particularly Germans and
Scandinavians.
They headed west, philadelphia.
That's typically where theythey landed, if you will.
Yes, so, and but many from like, particularly like germans and
scandinavians, um.
They headed west, um.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
There was a vast wisconsin has a lot of german.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yes, yes, immigrants, if you will back when it was
established or whatever exactlyyes, there was a vast grassland
um, stretching from theMississippi River to the
Missouri River, and theHomestead Act was a way for them
to have a job.
Really, yeah, yeah.

(14:34):
So I'm going to talk about aparticular book.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
It is by David Laskin and it is called the Children's
Blizzard.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
The Children's Blizzard.
The Children's Blizzard.
So it just was blizzardingchildren Like they were coming
down.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
So I'm going to explain the Homestead Act real
quick by a quote from this book.
The Homestead Act was signed bylaw by Abraham Lincoln in 1862,
and it was the first colorblind, sexblind, equal opportunity
piece of legislature on theAmerican books.
White, black, male, female,foreign born or native born, it

(15:13):
made no difference.
As long as you were 21 or olderand could muster $18 for the
filing fee and lived on the landand farmed it.
For five years, 160 acres wasyours, which is a lot of land.
That is a lot.
So like let's pack up kids,we're going to America.

(15:33):
Like how big of a decision isthat, can you?
Imagine like packing up a Sarahand your two kids and just
hiking over to Europe becauseyou get 160 acres for $18.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
But the funny thing is $18 back then was hard for
people to come up with.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
It is yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
So I mean that was a lot of money back then.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, If I had to guess, it was probably around
$600-ish.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Honestly not that bad If you think of it in that
regards.
But look how much you made aday, though.
Back then, agreed, agreed, mostpeople make eight dollars and
not you like it.
You can.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
You can talk about it um, yeah, I just had a sip of
the line of google barrel manale.
Again, it is really good.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Um, I'm still partial to my modelo, but um, you don't
have to cut everything downbecause you like Modelo more.
Okay, you can like it.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
We obviously know, I just want Modelo to listen.
Give me beer.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Constellation Brands.
Please reach out to us.
That'd be great.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
So we've got a couple of winters before the
children's blizzard.
Okay, so the Snow Winter, theSnow Winter got a couple of
winters before the children'sblizzard okay, so the snow
winter, the snow winter.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
I know it's.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
It's a very creative name it's so unique I would
never guess they would have hadsnow in a winter it was the
winter of 1888 to 1881, so likewe'll say, like nove to like
April, can you fix?
That 1880 to 1881.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
You said 1888 to 1881 .

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Pardon me, 1880 to 1881.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
That makes more sense .

Speaker 2 (17:12):
It was referred to as the snow winter, the hard
winter, the long winter, and itwas a period of exceptionally
severe weather in the westernand midwestern United States.
Okay, there was extreme,prolonged cold and heavy
snowfall, and this list, uh, ledto massive snow drifts and
blizzards.
Oh dear.

(17:33):
And winter, the wind.
This winter is known for theincreased use of the term
blizzard in popular lexicon.
oh really, so this is kind ofwhen blizzard became normal
normal, yeah, okay so, and thenthe abrupt spring led to
widespread flooding along themississippi and missouri rivers

(17:53):
well, if there was that muchsnow, that makes sense obviously
compounded additional hardshipsduring right during that winter
.
That makes sense and then wehave the winter of blue snow,
and that was from 1886 to 1887.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
Why was it blue snow?

Speaker 2 (18:09):
I will let you know.
Temperatures plummeted todangerous low levels, resulting
in widespread freezing.
The winter is infamous for thegreat die-up D-I-E Die-up.
Okay, it was a catastrophicloss of livestock oh sure, I
suppose that makes sense thecombination of harsh, harsh

(18:31):
weather and previous droughtconditions led to the deaths of
hundreds of thousands of animals.
Wow, that's crazy.
And it's noted that thepreceding summer was very dry
and that there were many prairiefires oh so it's theorized that
the smoke and ash from thesefires contributed to the blue
tint that was reported in thesnow oh, that makes sense okay

(18:55):
yeah, I can't make sense of likeI don't get the correlation.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
But I guess I can see how that could affect it,
though, yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, I could understand how it could affect.
I can't understand, like whythat correlation?
Why isn't it gray?
Like charcoal-y or somethingyeah.
Or maybe it's more blue in thesun.
I guess that could be.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
I suppose yeah, Penny .
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (19:21):
So now we're going to head into the Children's.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Blizzard.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Okay, so that's going to be um the winter of 1887.
Okay, so like november-ish,until um 1888, so it's a
blizzard that was in the dakotaterritory.
So it was before north andsouth dakota became states,
right, um, which were inapproximately 1889, so just like
a year earlier oh, it was stillconsidered a territory.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
I didn't realize that's when they became states.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
And then Missouri was affected and, just for
continuity's sake, missouribecame a state in 1821.
And it affected Nebraska aswell, and that was a state in
1867.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
That's where you're from.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
I am from Nebraska and Faja and Maja, mother,
father.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
I got it.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
You will recognize quite a few of these.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Oh, there we go.
Yeah, have you ever been to theDakotas?

Speaker 2 (20:20):
I have been to South Dakota a couple of times,
beautiful.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
I actually think South Dakota is very underrated,
with a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
It's so beautiful I've never been to North I
haven't either.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
I've heard not to, but either way, sorry for all
the people in North Dakota, butI've been to South Dakota
actually a number of times andthere's a lot of nice places in
there.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
There's a lot of great places, touristy, but then
, like the black hills are sobeautiful the badlands and all
that.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
And then, um, well, technically, uh, devil's tower is in
wyoming it is, it's on theborder it is.
I have been there as well,which is I love devil's tower
but but then we went to Devil'sTower, then into South Dakota.
It's really quite a nice area.
We really like it.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
During COVID year my family was supposed to go to
Deadwood and all those likeCuster State Park and the
Badlands and all that that yearand sadly we had to put it off
so we could stay safe and wehaven't been able to go back,
but it's on the list.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Sarah's and my honeymoon was at Custer State
Park.
We stayed in the Badlands andwe went to Mount Rushmore and
Deadwood on my birthday.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
I think honeymoons in the continental US if that's
where you're from is underrated.
Most people are like let's goto Hawaii, let's go to Europe.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
Let's go to Italy or something.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Jamaica.
No offense to any of those,because I went to the.
Cayman Islands for my firstmarriage.
My second marriage with Nathan,we went to Mackinac Island in
Michigan.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
I fucking loved it.
The problem is people want totry and do something more exotic
.
Yeah, but there's so many coolplaces.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
There's so many cool places, the.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
United States is huge .

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, you just have to have an open mind Anyway.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Who's going to be like?
Let's go to South Dakota forour honeymoon.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
But it was fucking awesome.
I think my parents went toWisconsin for their honeymoon,
did they really?
Yeah, they had friends thatlived somewhere in Wisconsin and
they visited them for a littlebit, that's cool though.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, I mean, I like Wisconsin.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
So folks that had migrated were just trying to get
on their feet Right.
So imagine two solid months ofbelow zero weather, just
relentless no, that sucks thestorms out west started early in
november of 87, okay, and itjust kept getting worse and
worse, piling up snow anddropping the temperatures week

(22:56):
after week, and it was unusuallyrigorous, with blocked
railroads and impassable roads,and you know, everything is
communicated through theserailroads and newspapers, and
and none of this, none of thiscould like continue essentially,
with these blizzards happeningright.
So a ton of newcomers were notready for this level of severity

(23:20):
sure so even people who are whohad been part of the this
prairie for a long time werecaught off guard with this type
of weather okay um.
So in december, early january,we're talking temperatures where
the mercury in the thermometersat the time were frozen solid
that is fucking cold.

(23:41):
We're talking around negative46 degrees fahrenheit.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
And that's not the windchill, that's the
temperature.
That's just the temperature.
Do you have what the windchillswere?

Speaker 2 (23:50):
No, Okay, I didn't think so but damn, could you
imagine Later?
I do Not really windchill, butmore miles per hour.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Oh dear.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Damn, damn.
It stung your lungs, it crackedyour lips, it made your eyes
water.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
I bet.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
But then in January it got worse.
A record-breaking cold snaphappened, lasting almost two
weeks, and just before theblizzard that I'm going to talk
about capital letters theblizzard, people started seeing
sun dogs in the sky, and I justtold you today what a sun dog
was, in preparation of our storytonight well, it's funny
because we were talking aboutthat couple, right?

Speaker 1 (24:30):
that wasn't it that who we were talking about, or no
, we were talking to that otherperson.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
We were talking to somebody today about sun dogs.
Do you remember that picturethat I showed?

Speaker 1 (24:42):
you can explain that real quick what a sun dog is it
basically had the sun in themiddle but, then it had almost
like I don't have a lack of abetter way to say it a
reflection on each side of apartial sun, if you will.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yes it looked like three bright lights in a row and
like almost an orb around it,but it's actually kind of known
as like an an omen, a bad sign.
Um, extreme cold is on its way,essentially I didn't.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
I've never heard that before.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
I've never even seen a sun dog, nor heard what a sun
dog was.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
I can't I honestly don't think I have.
I mean, I don't recall anythinglike that, and if I've seen it,
I didn't like it, didn't?
I don't know register basically, yeah, um, but I also wouldn't
have known that's a sun dog.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Also, where the fuck did they come up with sun dog?
Anyway, I mean Unexpectedlyyeah.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
It's weird, because why is it a sun dog?
Because it didn't look like adog, I mean.
Neither are hot dogs, so yeah,that is odd that they, but I
don't know, things are calledweird things, I guess.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Anyways, so imagine this January 12th 1888.
Okay, after weeks of brutalcold, yeah, suddenly it's a
spring day In January, january12th.
Yes, that's wild.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
It hit 32 degrees fahrenheit that had to feel like
70 the day before it was 20below yeah, that is wild from 20
below to 32 degrees is thereokay?
Is there a reason for thetemperature change?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
yes, okay, the sun was bright, shining, there was a
nice soft breeze.
People went out to care fortheir livestock because they're
like, hey, we haven't.
I mean, we're doing our job asfarmers what we can but now we
can do more.
So let's go and take care ofour livestock.
We'll do our chores.
Finally, enjoying a break inthis weather.

(26:41):
The kids are finally able to goto school.
They hadn't been, because ofhow awful the weather was no, it
makes sense, yeah so so theyall stayed home.
So to that day, january 12th,they're like, oh my god, we can
go to school.
That's amazing, of course.
They all walked.
They all walked to school yepbut there was something off what

(27:04):
was it?
The air felt strange like heavythe sky was a weird color, okay
, um, there was a particularwoman named maria albrecht who
had this like uneasing feeling,a sense that something wasn't
right.
Sure, and despite the beautifulweather, maria wanted to keep
her two kids Actually, she had acouple of kids, but these two

(27:25):
particular home from school.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
She's like fuck the rest, I just want these two.
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
They were all too young for school, oh I gotcha.
But two of her boys were schoolage and she's like I don't want
you to go to school.
Yes, okay, she had a fight withher husband about it oh,
because he's probably likesending to school.
Yes, he thought that she wasbeing silly well, it was a warm
day.
What could go wrong?

Speaker 1 (27:48):
well, I'm guessing a lot of things could have went
wrong somehow she knew peter,her son, one of the school-aged
children.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, remembers spending the whole morning
staring out the window missinghis brother, who, his older
brother, who did go to school oh, so one of them did go one of
her kids decided to go to school, the other school-age boy, and
then all the younger kidsdecided to stay home so I'm
guessing we learn what happensto the older boy eventually okay

(28:16):
, so what happened was, as faras the weather yeah there was,
uh, warm, moist air.
Okay, so the Great Plainsexperienced like an unreasonably
, unseasonably- there it is.
Warm temperatures.
This warmth was due tomoisture-heavy airflow coming
from the Gulf of Mexico.
Okay.
So, this front was coming upfrom the Gulf of Mexico that was

(28:39):
warm and heavy with moistureSure, heavy with with moisture
sure, and then coming fromcanada was a cold.
A massive, intensely cold airmass right um surging southward,
and then this arctic frontbrought with it extremely low
temperatures.
So the collision of airpressures abrupted this air and

(29:06):
it became like a frigid arcticair, with the warm, moist air
created the perfect conditionsfor a very powerful blizzard.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Okay, so this clash of winter systems resulted in
rapid and drastic temperaturedrops.
Sure, in some places fallingdozens of degrees in a very
short of time.
We're talking 18 minutes.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Oh, my God 18 minutes .

Speaker 2 (29:32):
High-velocity winds up to 40 miles per hour.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Oh, dear, All right.
So was the warm day that got upto 32, was that because of the
air coming up from the Gulf.
And then.
So there was like maybe a dayreprieve, and then the air from
canada basically met up and saidfuck you it was the same day oh
, this all happened in this allhappened.

(29:56):
Well, I guess that would makesense if the kid went to school
the day before was negative 40yeah, and this was 32 and this
in the morning of january 12th.
It was 32 degrees later in theafternoon like like 10 30 to
noon.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
We're talking 40 miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
We're talking heavy but super thin, super, super
thin blowing snow so basicallycreating whiteout conditions
someone flipped the switch fromthis nice 32 degree weather and
was like nope we're going backto winter.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yes, okay, wow.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
So 18 minutes.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
And in some cases.
Yes, it was that quick, so I'mgoing to quote from the book
here Quote one of the manytragedies of that day was the
failure of the weatherforecasters.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
One of the many tragedies of that day was the
failure of the weatherforecasters.
Well, I mean, they fail todayand they have so much more
instruments and technology.
What are the people in 1888?
You said right, I got the righthere.
What are they going to do?
I mean seriously.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Well, there was the failure of the weather
forecasters.
Of the weather forecasters, Ifeel you're compounded by faulty
science, primitive technology,human error, narrow-mindedness
and sheer ignorance.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
You gotta love that sheer ignorance, because.
But how would they have knownthough?

Speaker 2 (31:17):
So they did have a type of weather forecasting.
So it was the Army Signal Corpswas handling it.
They were collecting data, theywere making forecasts, but
getting that information out tothe people was a completely
different story.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Well, yeah, it's not like they could go.
Hey, check the internet for ourupdate.
I mean, obviously you havenewspapers and stuff, but even
that shit took days.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yes, exactly so the newspapers and telegraphs were
the main ways in which that wordwould get out.
But the planes, they werenotoriously tricky to predict.
I mean, we're in Wisconsin,it's tricky to predict today.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Right.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
And during blizzards they did not have telegraphs.
No, everything was shut down,sure, okay.
During blizzards they did nothave telegraphs.
No, everything was shut down.
Sure, okay.
So they were doing their best,but they were super limited by
the tech and the communicationof the times.
Okay, we're going to talk abouttwo first-hand accounts of this
blizzard oh, nice okay we'regoing to talk about walter allen
of the dakota territory, who iseight years old.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
And we are going to talk about Etta Shattuck.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Etta.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Etta Shattuck.
Like Etta James, etta.
What's the singer Etta?

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh shit it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Etta Shattuck, who's about 19 years old.
Okay, okay, okay.
So we're going to talk aboutWalter Allen now.
Yeah, yeah, he is from thedakota territory, right?
He's eight years old, yeah yes,so he had a very special job in
school.
Oh, he was so excited to gobecause he hadn't been in a
couple weeks, because theweather because how cold it was.
Yeah each row of desks wasunder the supervision of a row

(32:58):
monitor.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
And was he that row monitor?
Yes, row monitor.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
They were in charge of coats and shoes for all the
children in that row.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
And he took great pride in his role.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
He really did.
His task was to jump up beforethe children at recess or the
end of the day and gathereveryone's coats and gear and
pass them out to the appropriatechild.
He has to know what went whereand who know what, when, where
and who who had what, and so on,yeah.
So in his grade school therewas approximately 100 children

(33:31):
in this particular day in aboutfour classrooms.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
That's pretty good for 1880, honestly.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
So I'm going to quote the book here, quote the
vestibule of the school, wherethe children hung their wraps
and stowed their wet shoes, wasless jammed than usual, since
the weather was so mild.
Some kids had dispensed withcloaks and overcoats altogether
made woolsley and calico dressesand petticoats or thick skirts

(34:00):
and trousers would have beenwarm enough on such a wild, mild
, warm, uh, wild that wasamazing.
I'm still keeping that in therewarm enough on such a mild
morning okay one girl rememberedslipping out of the house in a
short cape made from the bottomof an outgrown coat, before her

(34:21):
mother spotted her and insistedon a heavier coat.
So Walter had a prizedpossession in his desk.
What would that be?
A delicate little perfumebottle, I'm imagining, like an
atomizer, you know, with alittle squirt squirt.
Yeah, like the little pouch, ifyou will.
Yep, that's like an atomizer,you know, with a little squirt
squirt.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
Like the little pouch , if you will, yep, it's called
an atomizer.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
I never knew that.
So to clean their chalk slatesthey would have an erasing rag
and most kids use like corkedbottles of water to scrub it
clean with that rag.
But Walter had a perfume bottlethat he cherished.
It was pretty to look at but heactually loved it because the
water came out in such littleamounts that it was just perfect

(35:09):
for his slate oh sure yeah, itwas perfect.
That's cute.
He loved it.
Nice, okay, miss etta shattuck,age 19 oh, that's the
19-year-old yep.
She lived with her parents nearSeward Nebraska, which is near
Lincoln.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Fun fact, my parents have a home there.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Fun fact.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
In Seward.
Second fun fact Etta's father,Ben, was a prisoner at Belle
Isle in the Civil War.
Oh, Do you recall?

Speaker 1 (35:42):
I do.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Belle Isle was the place of a lot of POWs that got
transferred to Andersonville,where we have an episode on
Andersonville.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
We sure do.
That was the one Sarahsuggested.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
So he was potentially exchanged with other
Confederate soldiers.
So he never actually went toAndersonville, but he was at
Belle Isle as a POW.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
That's crazy.
Yeah, that's funny.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
So Ben couldn't quite make it as a farmer in Seward.
So by 1886, they moved toAtkinson, nebraska, which is
about 183 miles or about threehours by car northwest of seward
.
Okay, again, ben couldn't makeit as a farmer there, poor guy.

(36:28):
His daughter, edda at 19,earned 15 a month.
Wow, that's approximately $836a month today.
Wow.
And she was a school teacherand she was the sole breadwinner
for her parents and four othersiblings.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
She was 19 and a school teacher.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Mm-hmm, there were many, many school teachers who
were nearly the same age as someof the oldest school kids.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yeah, I'd say that's wild, because they barely got
through it themselves and nowthey're teaching other kids.
But you know, had to startsomewhere, I guess, Right?

Speaker 2 (37:05):
But her $25 a month wasn't quite enough and after
two years everyone but Ettamoved back to Seward.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
She stayed with a host family, close enough to the
school to walk there daily,just to kind of finish out the
school year.
Sure, enough to the school towalk there daily, just to kind
of finish out the school year.
Sure, on january 10th, withless than um, with less and less
children in attendance becauseof the weather, yeah, she
decided to close the school andend the school term it would
reopen in the spring and but shewouldn't be there.

(37:37):
she wanted to return to sewer tobe with her family.
Sure, makes sense.
But before she could leave sheneeded to be paid and there
would need to be a signed orderby the school, uh district
superintendent, which would thengo to the district treasurer
and then she could get her money.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
So basically, that's how they figure out.
Yes, sure.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
So January 12th she'd walk to the superintendent's
house, then on the 13th she'dboard a train to seward.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
That was her plan that was the, that was the plan,
but this all happened on the12th right.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Yes, yes, yes so at 10 30 am on the 12th walter
eight-year-old walter'sclassroom.
They had been reciting apassage in their books and they
suddenly stopped for a fleetingmoment, maybe like a minute.
Everything went eerily silentokay then the sky blackened wild

(38:31):
.
A huge dark cloud that had beenlurking on the horizon had
rolled in okay the wind shifted,whipping around from the west,
and it hit with such force thatit was actually dangerous to be
outside.
Oh really, the air was thickwith snow, like someone had

(38:52):
dumped a bag of flour, that'swild.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
I mean, that's pretty thick.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
And the wind kept changing direction, swirling
from northeast to northwest,building into a full-blown gale.
See how I'm bringing it backaround.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
That was amazing.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
I never thought you'd get there, I know You're
welcome Look at you.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
You did.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Within three minutes it was howling at 40 miles an
hour.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
That's wild Jesus.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Within five minutes you couldn't see 15 feet in
front of you that's not very far.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
No, wow, okay.
Could you imagine?
I know the time frame we'retalking about.
Just think if this was likewhen cars were around, if you
were driving in that um, prettysure I would be pulled over if
you didn't, you're, you're dumbbecause you'd be fucked.
Yes, that would have beenterrible.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
So obviously silver lining, I don't know so the
windows and doors rattled as thewall of shattered crystals
slammed into the school.
That's how they described it inthis book shattered crystals
slammed into the school wow.
The teachers announced that thechildren were to go home.

(40:04):
School was absolutely dismissedfor the day.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
How in your right mind can you send kids home?

Speaker 2 (40:09):
because it's not that bad yet I get that, but jesus
fuck young walter.
As the real monitor, he was toget the children's wraps and
hand them out as quickly aspossible.
Sure, this took 10 to 15minutes, right which?
Doesn't sound like a lot oftime, but it's obviously getting
worse it was enough time thatthis, the storm, had gotten so

(40:31):
much worse and they literallycould not go outside and please
tell me they didn't.
No, jesus christ edda, the 19year old.
Yes, had been walking to gether payment when the storm hit
oh boy so many firsthandaccounts mentioned that the
onset of the storm was precededby a loud roar I have to say

(40:56):
something real quick.
The fact that we're gettingfirst-hand accounts at least
tells me something yes okay andno, oh shit it was preceded by a
loud roar like an approachingtrain oh, boy like it was
audible the storm coming inright right the sound was the
wind smashing the snow intopowder oh really it was compared

(41:21):
to putting snow and ice into agrinder.
The turbulence pulverized thesnow into talcum powder.
Wow, super, super, superfucking thin snow.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Right.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
The father of the family that she was boarding at.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Called her from his porch.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
I say like on the phone.
They didn't have phones backthen.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
No, he would not dare to go after her.
He had a family to look after.
He didn't go after his board.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
I mean, can you blame him?
He had his family.
She was just there Temporarily,their kindness to let her live
there.
She was literally leaving thenext day Right.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Well, she was supposed to, on the 13th, take
the train to see seward, seward,seward.
Yes, so she was not that faraway from the house, but she
couldn't hear him over the windright makes sense so there there
was a 40 acre pasture aroundthe house and it was pasture it
was fenced in, which was rareduring this time there wasn't a
lot of fences, but thisparticular field was fenced in,
okay, and she no, she hadn'tcrossed it yet right okay.

(42:25):
So the snow felt like frozensand against the eyelids,
nostrils and lips.
You couldn't face into the windor open your eyes for even a
second right.
The wind was blowing so hardthat if you fell, you didn't
know if you could get up againjesus so edda found the fence

(42:46):
okay she knew if she could justfollow it all the way around, it
didn't matter which way shewould go she would end up at the
house.
She would get there, yes, okayso she walked and walked, and
walked and she never saw it how,because it was that dense
outside but I thought the fencewould get you there she didn't

(43:10):
get there.
Somehow she did not get there.
So what did she do?
She crawled under the fence and, just like that, when she
turned around, the fence wasgone where'd it go?
It disappeared in the snow okayso literally they cannot see in
front of themselves right now Ihad to be wild.
So edda drifted with the forceof the wind and, like a miracle

(43:33):
from the fucking heavens, sheran into a haystack oh, wow,
okay so with no pitchfork or thebasic use of her hands, because
they were like fucking so coldI'm sure I would hope she had
gloves on, but who knows backthen so it was a warm day.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
She didn't why would you?
Yeah, because how the daystarted.
Why would you have gloves on?

Speaker 2 (43:55):
so.
So she burrowed in as far asshe could, which wasn't much.
Her legs were still exposed tothe knife-biting elements of the
blizzard.
Oh, dear Okay.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
It's kind of like Luke going into the Tauntaun.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
But more hay.
Do you know what the insidetemperature of a Tauntaun is?
No Lukewarm.
You butthead you are such abutthead.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Jesus, am I wrong?
I'm not going to answer that.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Because you know I'm not, but you want me to be.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
I'm not going to answer that.
The kids in Walter'sschoolhouse yes, in Walter.
The kids in walter schoolhouseyes, walter hadn't noticed, okay
, that there were draysapproaching.
There were.
What drays?
They are a strong low cart orwagon okay typically without

(44:55):
sides.
That's used for hauling heavyloads by horse.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
So a couple of drays were passing by the school, so
the wood of the drays werealready frozen solid as a rock.
Sure, the children loaded intothe drays, and Walter,
responsible as he is, waiteduntil his entire row was
accounted for.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Aw Walter.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Walter was one of the last to board.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
The teachers did a head count.
All were there, all wereaccounted for and off they went.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Did they accidentally count someone twice?
No, I feel like that's wherethat's headed.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
Within 10 yards.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
Oh, dear 30 feet.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Walter had a sad realization.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
What.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
He left his perfume bottle.
He left his perfume bottle inthe classroom.
You can get it later, dude.
He knew what the cold did toliquid in a glass bottle I get
that, but your life's moreimportant he knew that the glass
, as fragile as it was, it wouldcrack and break yeah without
even a thought, he jumped off ohwalter.
And he trudged back to theschoolhouse.

(46:03):
Now, the drays were movingsuper slow when he dropped off,
so he's like I can go in, grabit, come back out and just jump
right back on the dream, butwith how, with the, the state of
the storm, you're not going tosee that they were.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
They were gone, yeah.
They were not visible and theycould have been 20 feet ahead of
them.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Yes, and it wasn't visible Right.
So, oh dear, so out of sight,in the whiteout, out of earshot,
in the wind.
Snow clogged his nostrils Right, coated his eyelashes.
Snow blew down the neck of hiscoat, oh boy, and up his sleeves
, yep.
The air was so full of powderedice crystals and it was moving

(46:46):
so fast that Walter had troublefilling his lungs Right.
The exposed skin of his faceand neck spread through his body
and brain.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Oh Jesus, his body and brain, oh Jesus.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Instead of turning around and taking shelter in the
schoolhouse, he decided to setout for home, though he could
barely see or breathe, right,good Lord, did they find him
frozen in a pose of walking orsomething?

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Good Lord?

Speaker 2 (47:15):
The whiteout was horrendous, but it was the
assault on their eyes.
Sure that was really rough.
I bet that tiny vicious pelletsof snow from the wind were like
shards of glass tearing intohis vision, god damn yeah he
would tear up and, mixing withthe snow he would, it would form

(47:36):
an icy crust yeah, that'sterrible it sealed his eyelids
shut.
Oh boy, he tried to like brushit away, but it ended up like
burning his eyes yeah and thenthey were super inflamed.
They were probably creating likelittle micro tears in his eyes,
god, um, and so his sightstarted blurring.
The pain was super intense.

(47:58):
Yeah, so he just left thefrozen crust over his eyes.
Jesus Christ, that had to suck.
He couldn't see, he couldn'tforce his eyes open without
ripping the delicate skin aroundit.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Wow Okay.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
And then his face began to vanish it was encased
in a mask of ice, leaving onlythe littlest openings for his
nostrils and mouth is the onlyreason why that?

Speaker 1 (48:24):
because obviously he's trying to breathe in and
out.
That was how am I trying to askthis?
Obviously there's some warmerair coming from those spots.
Is that the only reason whythat those are open compared to?

Speaker 2 (48:36):
the rest of his face.
There Probably there's airmovement, right yeah?

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Not even just warmer, but just movement.
Yes, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
So the cold kept beneath his clothing, turning it
into a frozen armor like arigid cage around his little
body.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
I bet.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
And it happened so quickly and horrifying.
There was just a swift descentinto this oblivion.
There was a howling wind.
It filled his ears.
The frozen needles and snowslicing his skin so fucking
painful.
He started stumbling.

(49:13):
He was lost, disoriented, andwe don't know how long.
He had Minutes Before the windclaimed him or his frozen limbs
gave away.
Exhaustion ended up pulling himunder.
Sure, walter stumbled to theground, but he noticed down

(49:34):
there that the snow was a littlebit softer.
The wind was not as vicious, sohe curled up in the snow.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Etta in her haystack.
Her shelter became a frozenprison overnight.
Oh, I bet it was snow-packedsolid, essentially trapping her
in there.
Right, Her core stayed a littlebit warm, which I'll kind of
tell you a little bit aboutblood flow.
Sure, so her core stayed alittle bit warmer, but her legs

(50:07):
were frozen, just useless,Because those were hanging out
still right, those were hangingout.
She drifted in and out ofconsciousness.
There would be like littlerefugee mice in there that would
like nibble at her wrists.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
Oh boy, they're looking for anything, so yeah
and she was very religious.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
So she, she prayed, she tried to sing hymns as best
as she could, and just believingthat god would send her some
kind of help right, wow so yourbody temperature is a steady,
pretty steady 98.6 degrees.
That that's the average AverageYep.
It begins to slow.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
Mine's always lower.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
So is Nathan's.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Yeah.
So the forces of this blizzard?
There's radiation, there'sconduction, there's evaporation
and there's convection.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
And somehow they all steal your heat.
Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
So your uncovered head radiates warm into the icy
air.
Your damp clothes, soaked andheavy, become a freezing blanket
.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Well, like you said, for Walter, it came like an
armor, basically.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
The wind strips away the thin layer of warmth
clinging to your skin, replacingit with this bitter, agonizing
cold.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
In essence, you're being swept away in a river of
freezing air, peeling away yourbody heat layer by layer.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
The wind chill intensifies the assault,
essentially on your body At fivedegrees below zero, and then
plunging to 40 below yourexposed flesh threatens to turn
to ice in just minutes.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Yeah, I can imagine.
It only takes literally minutes.
And that seems long at thatpoint, because, good Lord, and
then they're shivering.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
It's a desperate attempt at keeping warm yeah,
that's.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
That's why you shiver is to try and generate heat in
your body, and you can't fightit when it's those conditions
and shivering also burns throughadditional energy correct
because it's trying your body.
It's your body trying to doanything to help you, but you're
also using that energy, whichthen weakens you.

(52:24):
So it's a double-edged swordkind of thing.
It is yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
So the cold seeps into your bones, your skin
slowly surrenders to the cold,becoming stiff, unresponsive,
and once the shivering stops,your body gives up, shutting
down pretty quickly, right.
So your blood thickens, oh wow,and your heart weakens, sure,
barely pumping, okay.

(52:48):
So there's less oxygen, there'smore lactic acid, and then
there's a failing heart, right,and your body, trying to survive
, pulls blood from your skin toyour core.
So I learned this in aestheticschool it's called retrostasis.

(53:08):
I did not do additionalresearch on this.
This is just memory.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
That's amazing, so why don't we just move on so?

Speaker 2 (53:19):
essentially, you've got blood throughout your body
and as soon as you put likesomething cold on your body,
that blood rushes away toprotect the inside core, sure.
And then, once it realizes thatthere's not a threat, your
blood comes back, essentiallywarming up the skin Gotcha.
So the blood pulls from yourskin to your core.

(53:42):
It actually kind of makes youurinate a little bit more
uncontrollably and it alsodehydrates you by doing that.
That's weird.
Your brain is starved of oxygenand that starts to fail.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
You lose your touch with reality.
Oh shit, you hallucinate, youbecome delirious.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
So can I ask something real quick?
Mm-hmm, what if you never werein touch with reality?

Speaker 2 (54:04):
what do you lose?
Then, so eventually yeah ascold as it is, you start to feel
warm, which is.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
Isn't that wild that your body does that?

Speaker 2 (54:19):
it's's almost burning , right, you start to remove
your clothes.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
Yeah, because this has happened to many a people
over there.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
It's called paradoxical undressing.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
Oh, it's actually got a name, okay.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
It's a desperate delusion, right?
So you don't feel cold anymore.
You're lost in this world whereyour brain is dying.
You're no longer trapped inyour body, you just watch it
freeze.
Isn't that wild yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
That's just amazing that your brain does that to you
.
Yeah, in a way it's just crazy.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
So the Drays rode through Main Street and dropped
off the kids of Walter'sschoolhouse, one by one, to
their parents.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Except for Walter.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
But Walter Allen's parents Were waiting, didn't see
Walter.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Well, because he wasn't there.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
His father and his brother Will set off on another
dray oh dear.
So the drivers of the drayswere like, okay, we're going to
save our horses, we're going topack up, we're going to go home.
And they were like, okay, we'regoing to save our horses, we're
going to pack up, we're goingto go home.
And they're like, well, there'sa kid missing.
They're like, god damn it.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Son of a bitch.
So these drays, that's a toughchoice, because they obviously
are doing their thing and theyhave their things to protect.
They have family, they havetheir horses, which is you know,
you know in essence part oftheir family and or livelihood
livelihood absolutely but yetnow you have this eight-year-old
.
It's like, fuck yeah, kill ourhorses or look for, you know,

(55:51):
potentially kill the horseswhile they look for this child,
yeah, or save the horses, yeah,it's.
You know.
Obviously most people go withhuman life over the animals,
which I understand, but alsokind of sad, but it's like you
can't just leave this boy outthere.
Yeah, it's really tough.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
So his father and brother Will set off on another
journey retracing their tracks.
Yeah, they did end up back atthe schoolhouse, but there was
no one inside, no outside, novisible tracks, no walter well,
which is understandable becauseof the conditions, would have
covered tracks and whatnot,right, oh, yes, so so his father

(56:31):
was going to stay behind andkeep looking.
But the drivers of the drayargue with him about the dangers
.
Well, yeah, and the fatheragreed, but no one was watching
out for his brother will oh,come on okay will was gone where
did will go?

Speaker 1 (56:50):
will went looking for walter well, yeah, but where
did he go?

Speaker 2 (56:54):
so will also found that the visibility was better
right next to the ground sure,and so he started crawling yes,
and with whatever luck that hehad in the world, he found
walter's body.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
How the fuck that's amazing luck, 100 luck, holy
shit walter was unconscious butbreathing oh, he's so, he was
still alive.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
He was still alive, okay his limbs were limp, which
meant they weren't frozen yetwhich is impressive will picked
walter up and walked towardsmain street, despite his house
being right there, right nextdoor, aka like closer to where
the boys were yeah was theirfather's law office and Will was

(57:42):
like I can't, he's carryingthis eight-year-old boy in this
awful weather.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
He's already probably exhausted from the weather, let
alone carrying another human.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
So he stumbled inside the law office.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Wow, I mean smart move really At least shelter
right.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
His body gave, gave out, but he mustered enough
strength of strength.
Eventually that will staggerednext door to his house where
will and walter's parents werejust beside themselves so wait,
his father's law office was nextto their house, literally next
door, wow okay so will was likeI can't make it any further with

(58:20):
this child in my hands.
I have to just find shelter.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
So he left Walter in the law office, and then he went
home.
Yes, went next door home Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
That's wild.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
So Will and his father went back to the law
office, and Walter was barelycoherent.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Right.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
And they ended up so he couldn't even walk.
Walter was delirious.
He couldn't walk will, and hisdad dragged him back to the
house.
Walter's eyes were open but hewas really confused, staring
from his dad to will and backagain.
He had no idea he'd gottenthere from the school why would
he, though he's probably like,literally not there?
yeah, and all he could feel wasthis like awful stinging, and on

(59:05):
his body it was like on firewhich is the cold he was oh, it
was so cold, yeah, and he wasshivering so hard he couldn't
stop okay but what he didn'tnotice was a little trickle of
liquid running down his leg.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Oh dear.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
As he was warming up, his perfume bottle was thawing.
Wow, and it busted the perfumebottle.
The glass had shattered and itwas running down his leg.
He lost his perfume bottle.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
So all of that for nothing, as in essence right.
No, that's sad because heobviously loved that thing he
cherished it so much and thewhole reason why he put himself
in harm's way was to save thisperfume bottle that he cherished
so much.
And it was all for not it had.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
It had uh frozen and then just busted the little
fragile glass.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Yeah, that's sad because obviously I have a young
son and you know, maybe hedoesn't have anything that he
cherishes that much particularlyyet.
But I get like there's thingshe loves and it's like kids get
fixated on things, yeah, um,because they just don't know
better or whatever, whatever youwant to say there.

(01:00:24):
But that's sad because I meanthat's devastating to him
because he lost the thing he wastrying to save, yep, because he
cherished it so much.
So that's, that's.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
That's sad, wow a man by the name of Daniel Murphy, a
local farmer.
Okay Checked his dwindling haysupply after the blizzard and
found Etta.
He almost missed the sound.
Oh shit, but three days.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
Three days Holy fuck.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
After the storm yeah, he heard a thin quiet voice
inside a haystack that said Isthat you, mr Murphy?

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Wow, so she knew who it was it was Etta Shattuck.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Wow, miraculously she survived 78 hours that's wild
Exposed to the extreme cold.
That's crazy.
Murphy and a hired man that hehad carefully dug her out,
finding her alive but withseverely frostbitten limbs.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
I was going to say she has to be frostbitten
because, good Lord.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Murphy thankfully knew the dangers of frostbite
and rushed her home and his mindwas getting word out to her
family which was in Seward.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Right, right right 183 miles away she was supposed
to take the train two days priorto the one, they found her.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Yes, exactly, yeah, wow so after that blizzard, it
was like the world held itsbreath.
It wasn't over, right, therewas just dead.
Skill, it was still.
It was still brutally cold,right, and the sky was like this
clear but painful blue.
Okay, there was tiny icecrystals in the sky.

(01:02:07):
They called it diamond dust.
Oh wow, everything was white,just endless white, and we're on
the prairie with very littlestructures, right, right, yeah,
towns were shut down, completelyburied.
Okay, you couldn't see acrossthe street in some places, jesus
Christ, Could you?
imagine Like that's not that far, I know that's just wild.

(01:02:27):
And there was just this awfulsilence and the only thing you
could see was like smoke risingstraight up from chimneys trying
to stay warm.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Yeah, but burning overtime really Just to warm up
the houses and whatnot burningovertime, really just to warm up
the, the houses and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Once the, the sun rose, you could start to reveal
kind of what happened.
Okay, dead cattle everywhere.
They were just frozen solidthey had nowhere to go.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
Some, I'm sure some had little shelters and stuff
and I'm I'm trying to blank onthe name I'm trying to think of,
but, yeah, barns.
No, if anyone's looking for apodcast partner, I am available.
No, like I'm drawing a blank onthe term, I don't know.

(01:03:20):
It's more like a lean.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
I obviously know what a fucking barn is.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Yeah, yeah, but like a lean-to kind of thing where
it's almost got like a slantedroof and three sides and an
opening.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Typically, even that would havebeen beneficial in this type of
weather, in this type of weather, but if you didn't have
anything like that, because,again, 1888, roam cattle or roam

(01:03:46):
whatever animals you have andit's like we'll get you later no
one planned for shit like this,right so, and a lot of people
didn't have the money to buildthat shit.
They just they only couldafford so much and animals were
secondary, were secondary totheir homes and such whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
But it wasn't just dead cattle.
No, they started to noticebodies.
Oh dear.
They would notice a gray sleeveout of a jacket, just above the
snow, a boot, a clump of hair,ugh geez, an arm.
But those that did survive thenight actually died when they

(01:04:29):
tried to walk.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Why.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
So the warmth is actually what killed some of the
survivors.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
How so.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
So you think that it would be a good thing, right?

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
You would think yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
But their bodies had been so cold for so long that
when they stood up or got into awarm place, their hearts just
gave out.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Because it was just so much on the heart.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
It's called rewarming shock.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
Oh wow, I've never heard of that before.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Their bodies just couldn't handle that sudden
change.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
So basically, your body goes into survival mode
during the cold.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Yeah right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
So the core brings all that blood into the center.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Everything else is like fucking tough luck.
Yeah, right so your limbs arethe first ones to go.

Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
Correct, because they also, especially when you bring
the blood to the center.
If you will, those are thefirst out.
Yes, so they're the first to go.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
So it clamps down on the blood vessels in your arms
and legs and keeps all the warmblood in your center to protect
your organs.
Right organs right.
So when you get warmed up toofast, especially your arms and
legs, all those clamped downvessels suddenly open up and all
that cold blood like an icytidal wave yeah rushes back to

(01:05:49):
your heart yeah, for sure andthat blood pressure tanks and
your heart just fails.
wow, that's wild.
Of course doctors know aboutthis now, sure, but back then
they didn't.
They can warm people upcarefully, focusing on the core
now.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Not just throwing them into a hot bath, but back
then they didn't understand whypeople were dying after they
were rescued.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
It was really dangerous and sad and just a
consequence of how cold itfucking was.
That's wild.
So when some of the people leftout in the blizzard were to
find the live, they died tryingto walk or being brought inside.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
That's crazy, could you imagine, because you think
it's like shit.
We made it through, let's gowarm up, but you did it too fast
and it fucked you more than ithelped you.
That's just crazy to think thatway, because you would think
we're good.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
So my stories about Walter and Etta those are just
two out of many in this bookthat I read called the
Children's Blizzard by DavidLaskin.
Many of the children that hewrote about died once they were
being rescued.
That's sad, yeah, wow.
It wasn't until January 17ththat Etta's father, ben, in

(01:07:11):
Seward, received a telegram thathis daughter had been found.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
That's crazy.
I mean, it's amazing.
And did she have any lastinginjuries?

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
Yes, she had severe frostbite.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
So it took Ben two days to get there by train.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
From Seward.

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
Yeah, I mean, that's how off of the blizzard was
Right, but also back then Idon't know how fast trains were
going at the time, at least fivemiles per hour.
But it was 183, 186, somethinglike that miles.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Yeah, it's really not that far In the grand scheme of
things.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
He had seen gangrene in the Civil War while he was a
POW in Belle.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
Isle.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
And he knew that her legs and feet were just too far
gone.
So Etta was transported in ahay-filled sleigh, okay, covered
with canvas, for um, a ninemile trip from atkinson, where
she was teaching, to o'neill,nebraska, which is where the
train depot was.

(01:08:14):
Okay, okay, so ben walked alongbeside her sure and despite his
war-related leg injury andfrigid single temperatures, he
kept up with her the entire time.
Wow, the train, unfortunately,was delayed an additional eight
hours by the weather jesuschrist, and it finally departed

(01:08:35):
on a tuesday right to ensureedda's comfort, there was a
makeshift cot that was arrangedin the baggage car for an
overnight trip.
Sure and Etta endured thepainful journey without a single
complaint.
Good for Etta, probably becauseshe was in and out of
consciousness.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
Well, that's more than likely, but we don't know
More than likely.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
So Etta's story dominated public attention
through the newspapers,including the Omaha Bee, which
was a newspaper back then.
So cute Omaha Bee.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Is it cute?
Because you like bees.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
I do like bees, and I like Omaha.

Speaker 1 (01:09:13):
I like Omaha.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
There was fundraising efforts through the newspapers
to help her heal along withother people, papers to help her
heal along with other people.
Um, the omaha b actuallycollected a lot of funds for
different people of the blizzard, oh wow.
So edda's doctors remainedpretty concerned um amputation
was the only option.
Edda lost both legs below theknee, that sucks news of her

(01:09:39):
ordeal spread and additionalfundraising campaign began,
highlighting her father's civilwar experience as well.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
I'm sure that didn't hurt.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
She initially appeared to recover, but her
condition did deteriorate.
The frostbite's damage was moreextensive than initially
thought and she required furtheramputations.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
What else did they amputate?

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
I think they went a little bit higher on her leg.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
Gotcha Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
But there was also a severe wound that was developing
on her back because of how longshe laid in the haystack.
Oh shit.

Speaker 1 (01:10:18):
Okay, oh shit, okay.
Despite her bravery andcheerfulness, edda's health
declined rapidly on february 2nd.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Oh so that I mean that's less than a month.
Wow, doctors suspected sepsiswhich weakened her even more
yeah, that'll do it on february6th, her condition worsened and,
surrounded by her family, shepassed away at 9 am, just shy of
her 20th birthday.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
God damn that's so young.
That's sad, yeah, especiallybecause she was a teacher
helping people and thenobviously nothing you could do.
I mean nature, fuck, how couldyou plan for that?
That's just sad that she diedso young, especially because she
made it through.
I know it's almost like justtake her now so she doesn't have

(01:11:07):
to do that, but at least shewas cheerful and she had a good
mindset and tried to make thebest of her shitty situation.
But, it's just sad thatultimately it took her life, so
that's too bad.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
Walter forever thanked his brother, Will
brother will.

Speaker 1 (01:11:22):
Well, how could he not?

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
for saving his life seriously.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
I mean he'd be, he would be dead if it wasn't for
his brother.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
So they remained close for the rest of their
lives well, that's good um.
He graduated from theuniversity of minnesota walter
did and then he worked at thesame newspaper that his brother
will did, oh nice, they workedat the same newspaper.
Okay, and wal Will did.
Oh nice, they worked at thesame newspaper.
Okay, and Walter stayed withthat publication for 50 years.

Speaker 1 (01:11:45):
Holy shit, wow Good for him.

Speaker 2 (01:11:47):
He died in 1973 at the age of 93.

Speaker 1 (01:11:50):
Oh wow, look at him, go yeah.
So I mean, could you imagine 85years earlier You're like I
almost died.
I made it to fucking 93.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
That's impressive.
Wow.
So the blitz blizzards victims?
Obviously unimaginablesuffering.

Speaker 1 (01:12:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
They died alone.
They died with family.
They died searching for family.
Yeah, they died looking fortheir cattle.
They died looking for theirhorses and fowls.

Speaker 1 (01:12:21):
Anything?
Yeah, yes, wow, some froze todeath quickly looking for their
cattle.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
They died looking for their horses and fowls,
anything, yeah, yes, wow, somefroze to death quickly some
slowly others, slowly, a nightof agony, their faces torn and
bloody from repeated attempts toremove ice oh geez they were
found in various states ofdespair, like waist deep in
drifts, clinging to fences orstraw buried under wagons, or

(01:12:47):
even outstretched on the snow.
Wow.
It's estimated that 1% of thosecaught in the storm perished.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
Only 1%.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
With children accounting for 20% of that.
Wow, Jesus Christ.
Of the fatalities Right two.
So this is the midwest blizzardright yeah 235 casualties,
although some estimate up to athousand.
Because we're not, we're, Imean like edda, is she, she's?
A number of the fatality, or isshe a number of the after

(01:13:16):
effects like we?

Speaker 1 (01:13:17):
right, you know it's hard.
It's hard to differentiate thatyeah the total snow
accumulation.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
Guess.

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
Total snow accumulation two inches six fuck
, that was my first number sixinches is all I was gonna say
six, but then I'm like I feellike you're tricking me, so I
went lower only six inchesthat's wild the horrendous part
of it was the fucking wind Rightand all the drifts and the cold

(01:13:45):
obviously.
Because I mean, you've been in astorm, I've been in a storm
where we got much more than sixinches.
I mean I've fucking driventhrough shit like that, Right,
Obviously different times, I getthat, but damn, that's wild,
Because in the grand scheme ofthings, that's not that much.
But it's the wind, it's thecold, it's the ice crystals,

(01:14:05):
whatever you were.
Diamond, ice diamonds is thatwhat they call them?
Was that what it was?

Speaker 2 (01:14:11):
Diamond dust.
Was that what it was?
Diamond dust, it was somethinglike that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
I'm drawing a blank.
I'm sorry, but yeah, it's allthat shit that really fucked
with the people, more than thedepth of snow.
So I mean, wow, diamond dust,diamond dust, that was what it
was.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
So two months later there was another blizzard
Motherfucker that caused morecasualties.
That was in the New Yorkeastern seaboard type area.

Speaker 1 (01:14:37):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
So actually there's more on that blizzard than there
is on this one, the children'sblizzard is it because of?
The number of fatalities?

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
okay, yeah, it was much more severe and I'm
guessing the location of it ismore new yorkish, right, that's
gonna help, but this one was somuch about the children.
Right, yeah, because what's thename of the book again?

Speaker 2 (01:15:04):
The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin.
Right, and I will tell you itis a gripping book.
There's a lot of technicalstuff about the weather Right,
but there are so many firsthandaccounts from journals and loved
ones.
It is truly a great, great book.

Speaker 1 (01:15:26):
So when we do episodes, you don't tell me what
we're going to talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:15:29):
But you did tell me you're reading this book and
you're like edge of my seat.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
Edge of my seat.

Speaker 1 (01:15:34):
Yeah.
So I'm like oh, good book, ohyeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
So like I did tonight , where I kind of intermixed
etta and walter, yeah instead ofdoing one full story and then,
another full story.
That's how the book is sure,only there's multiple people
several, several, several people, even more than those.
Yeah, so it was a little bitmore like chronological versus
what one person endured fromstart to finish right no, it

(01:15:57):
makes sense.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
But well, again, we like to focus not on everybody
right, but more just a couple,one, one to two, whatever.
So I like that you picked outjust the two.
But again, obviously, multiple,multiple people went through
probably way worse, some easier,and you know, luckily.

Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
But uh, no, that's wild yeah, people in iowa, yeah,
the western part of iowa.
They were actually fairlyreprieved from this because the
snow, the storm happened alittle bit um, a little bit
later in the day for them oh sothey didn't get caught out in it

(01:16:37):
.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
I was gonna say most of them probably were home by
then yes, kind of Kind of shitJust so luckily.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
Proximity to where it came.
They got lucky that way,whereas it took those North
Dakota territory people bysurprise more or less.
Yep, wow, that's wild.

Speaker 2 (01:16:53):
It was the Dakota territory western Missouri,
eastern Nebraska and a littlebit of western Iowa.
Oh wow, yeah, eastern nebraskaand a little bit of western iowa
, oh wow, yeah.
Um, this book by david laskinwas a freaking godsend.

Speaker 1 (01:17:09):
He had an index of the people.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Oh, my god like, okay .

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
So I like to buy kindle books because I can
highlight I can highlight, I cansearch and this is a library
book and the fact that there wasan index saved me oh well, yeah
, because, because you couldn'tgo through and highlight and
then check back your notes orwhatever, right, I mean you can
use posts and stuff, but it'sstill it's hard.
So it's nice that you're ableto utilize that.

(01:17:35):
So thank you, david yeah sowonderful author yeah, that was
the children's blizzard of 1888well, I'm glad to know that kids
weren't falling out of the skynope, because that's what I
thought it was.
I'm just kidding, that's no,that's wild, could you?
I mean, we've been through someshitty storms in our lives.

(01:17:57):
I mean, yeah, um, I know I havelike again, that one wasn't
really shitty for me, but Icould have died.
I still can't believe my dad'sjust like, yeah, why don't we
take a break?
Okay, and then literally, likethis log was fucking huge or
branch, I should say it wouldhave bonked me on the head and
killed me instantly.

(01:18:18):
But no, I mean, I've beenthrough a few being in Wisconsin
and nothing like that.
Obviously Right, but we alsohave a lot different life than
they did in 1888.
And I also would not go backfor a perfume bottle, and now I
never will because I know yeah,we'll leave it be Poor little
Walter.

Speaker 2 (01:18:38):
But yeah, he died at 93.
Isn't that amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:18:41):
I can't believe he lasted until 93.
I mean thank you, will I meanlike you said?

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
he.
It was his brother Will thatsaved him, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
Yeah, he owed his life to his brother, the rest of
his life basically.
Because if it wasn't for Will,luckily wandering off to go look
for his brother when no oneelse knew where the fuck will,
even went, for that matter atthat time and learning like I
should get low and justliterally crawled upon his

(01:19:09):
brother and then brought himback.
Yeah, that's amazing I mean,they just found him.
What fucking luck.
For what?
For?

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
for uh walter some of these family members didn't see
their loved ones for for daysoh, I would imagine days, yeah,
and somewhere, even like weekslater, they would finally
stumble upon someone's fuckingcrazy again look at the time
frame.

Speaker 1 (01:19:30):
So yeah, it's not like you can be like I gotta
send so-and-so a text.
Can't do that back then,obviously.
So you didn't even have phones.
You had you know telegrams andnewspapers?
Yeah, so it's like let's put anet in the newspaper, see if
so-and-so is out.
You don't.
You didn't even do that thenbecause you're just looking for
the people.
So, yeah, it's wild that thefact that you couldn't

(01:19:57):
communicate it's just weird tous because of how much you can,
you can over communicate today.
It's actually quite annoyingsometimes, but uh, back then you
you know, product of the timesand the means you had, you got
to hope for the best and be likewell, I hope they're alive.
That's just wild to think thatway, but that's how it was.
And walter got lucky, etta much, I mean, she survived for just

(01:20:22):
under a month after, but it'sjust so sad because she was
supposed to go home.

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
She was so young and she was supposed to go home.

Speaker 1 (01:20:27):
She was literally a day away from leaving.
Yeah, but she had to go get herpay.
Could you imagine if she didn'thave to go get her pay?
She wouldn't have been outthere.
No, so she probably would haveactually survived.
I so she probably would haveactually survived.
I mean in theory, in theory,she would have stayed at the
boarding house that she was ator the host house that she was

(01:20:50):
at the host house and she wouldgo the nine miles to O'Neill,
nebraska, the very next day.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
That's wild.
How did you like your tropicalAPA?

Speaker 1 (01:21:03):
It was good.
I will say Linen Cools is oneof my more favorite beers.
They still need to figure outhow to do IPAs.

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:21:10):
I mean a bit more.
It wasn't bad, Don't get mewrong.

Speaker 2 (01:21:13):
I liked my Barrelman Ale, my Amber Ale.
Yeah, I thought you might likethat one.
Yeah, I liked it.
I am a little bit set in myways and I probably wouldn't
like go out and purchase it same.
But if I was at a party andthis is what they had.
I'd be.
I would choose this.

Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
Yeah, that's why I was glad to see that they had
the the 19.2 ounce cans of eachof these, because they're both.
When we sample beers on thepodcast.
We're not sure what we're gonnaget.
I have a hard time committingtime committing to a six pack,
or especially more than a sixpack, like I bought that Corona
for the origin one.

(01:21:49):
Thus, uh, the angels go wasthat angels go?
I believe so.
Yeah, I think that's when we.
We did that on Um, but the wasa sun brew, a citrus cerveza.
What was the sun brew, citruscerveza?
I believe it was called.
Right, I had a feeling we'regoing to probably like this and
we fucking do.
We did.
Yeah, I have purchased a couple12-packs and sent.

(01:22:11):
She's taking a sip.
She's looking at me weird,which is normal, welp, I suppose
.
All right, buffoons.
That's it for today's episode.

Speaker 2 (01:22:25):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.

Speaker 1 (01:22:36):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.

Speaker 2 (01:22:50):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.

Speaker 1 (01:22:55):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
Remember, the buffoonery never stops.

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Unreasonably Warm: The Children's Blizzard of 1888

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