532 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



. ^wn bed, and covered him with blankets and buffalo robes; it va^ 



all I could do. 



^Ve now searched about and found the men by the- aid of the 

 <:racks on the surface of the snow, caused by the movements of the 

 restless sleepers; covered by the heavy mantle of snow they had 

 kept extremely warm, and now the chill air felt to them moVe in- 

 tolerable. 



We managed to find a few pieces of wood that we had collected 



last night; the wind still blew so fiercely that we could notkindle 

 any fire outdoors; we succeeded in lighting some pieces of wood 

 -in ihe tent and then built our little fire on the leeside of the wagonj 

 the men crouched arouad silent and shivering; I now called on 

 two af my men to come with me, they were two of my best men; 

 they had been hardened to peril in the service of the fur companies; 

 men who would not flinch under the most feartul vicissitudes; they 

 readily accompanied me, and we started down ihe river in search 

 of some spot which would furnish us with fuel and shelter; we pro- 

 ceeded down the river some distance, but seeing no timber on this 

 side, we crossed the river upon the ice, which was now sufficiently 

 strong to bea: us up; we built an enormous pile of logs and set 

 them in a blaze, and I sat down to dry my moccasins and leggins, 

 for I had broken through the ice while crossing a treacherous spot 

 in the river. 



My men were now sent back 1o collect all the property and to 

 iiarness up the mules, and move down to a spot directly opposite 

 the timber; many of them left their bedding, clothes, and guns 

 buried beneath the snow, and, half crazed with their forlorn and 

 -weather beaten condition, hurried down to seek shelter. 



At length the wagons arrived and we endeavored to drive the 

 mules to the south side of the river, where they would lave good 

 pasture grounds; some, however, took fright (when half-way over) and 

 rushed back, and one broke through the ice; we immediately passed 

 ropes under the belly of the animal and soon drew it out of the 

 'river; to keep its blood in circulation we dragged it backwards and 

 forwards; all would not do, its limbs became momentarily more 

 and more stiff, and at last the poor beast fell to the ground; we put 

 three buffaloes robes upon it and left it. 



My men now reported the full extent of our misfortunes; three of 

 the mules were found frozen to death, and half hidden by the snow 

 that had drifted upon their dead bodies; around this heap the other 

 inules were gathered, to sereen them from the storm, and the 

 -*^ laryettoes" of the living were entangled about the dead. It is 

 ^more than probable that all of them would have met with the same 

 fate, had the storm endured twelve hours longer; our mules were 

 flow driven to a spot a.bout one mile below us covered with wil- 

 iows and swamp grass. 



We built out fires on the southern bank of the river, in the bed 

 of a dry creek, the banks of which afforded shelter from the wind; 

 the night was clear and excessively cold; we were all obliged to 

 sleep without tents, as the ground was frozen so hard that tent pinS 



f 



i 



