Blizzards

From Bassett’s History of Buffalo County

Page 80

On Friday, April 7, 1871, at 2 P. M., the colonists arrived at Gibbon switch and the cars we came in--some passenger cars, some box cars--were placed on the siding and left for our use. It was a warm, spring-like day, sun shining brightly and a gentle breeze blowing. An ideal day, and an ideal time of the day to reach our destination.

On Sunday, April 2d., a prairie fire had swept over the entire country leaving it black, bleak, desolate and uninviting. No rain or snow had fallen since the previous August, and not a green tree, shrub or sprig of grass was to be seen.

There was but one house in sight, that the railroad section house, standing where the present one does in 1915, in fact the same house, the only changes in forty-four years being a new roof, chimney, floor, sidewalls and a coat of paint of another color.

Page 83
About 2 P. M. Sunday it began to "spit" snow, the wind shifting into the north. By nightfall a furious storm of wind and snow was raging. When Monday morning came the snow was piled as high as the tops of the cars in which the colonists were staying.

Page 141
The April storm of 1873 is memorable in the annals of the West. Not in the memory of the white man has a storm so furious and destructive as was this one ever swept the plains west of the Missouri River.

Rev. Charles Marvin and family, Mr. Marvin being a missionary of the Presbyterian Church in this locality at the time. On Sunday, April 14, 1873; Mr. Martin was holding a religious service in a schoolhouse quite ten miles from his home. It was a warm, sunny, spring day with a southerly wind. Just at the close of the service, about 4 o'clock, in the twinkling of an eye, the wind shifted into the north, there came great clouds of dust, obscuring the sun, quickly followed by rain and hail. Mr. Marvin realized that a great and furious storm was at hand and that it was imperative that he speedily reach home to render assistance to his wife and children. That on foot and alone he finally reached home in safety was due to the fact that he traveled in a southeasterly direction; had it been otherwise he certainly would have perished. Commencing about 4 o'clock on Sunday, April 14, this storm raged in all its fury until the going down of the sun on Wednesday.

Page 300-301
The first actual settlement in the township was made in the spring of 1873 by John Davis on section No. 2, E. W. Carpenter and Joseph White on the west half of section No. 14, and Samuel Higgins on section No. 22. These settlers were located on their claims during the great storm in which Mrs. John Davis lost her life. On Sunday morning, April 13th, Mr. Davis started for Grand Island on foot, following the section lines east. The storm overtook him before he arrived at his destination. He left his wife in their dugout with the understanding that she would go to the home of E. W. Carpenter for the night, a mile or more to the south. The storm came so suddenly (at 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon) that it seems she did not dare to leave home. It appears that she undressed and went to bed, and that in the night the ridge pole broke with the heavy load of dirt (the dugout had a dirt roof). The rafters protected her so that she might have remained in the bed. The door was barred, and it appeared she forced her way through the window. She left with but little clothing and without her shoes. When the storm ceased (at sundown) on Tuesday, neighbors went to the Davis home, and not finding her, began a search, and found her body on a ridge about sixty rods southeast of her home. Mr. Davis arrived that evening. They buried her near the dugout. The place has changed owners several times and it is likely all traces of the grave is lost.
 

Page 184
April 11, 1871, D. N. Smith, agent for the town-site department of the Burlington Railway, in company with Moses Syndenham and Rev. Asbury Collins visited Buffalo County and located the junction point of the two roads.
[He had been delayed at Ft. Kearny because of a blizzard.]