Chapter 2 • The Terrible Snowstorm
One day in school a terrible snowstorm came up. The teacher would not let us walk home, so Mr. Gettman came with the team and sleigh to get us. We waited at their place till my Dad came with his homemade jumper to get us. There was only room for three of us, so Rudy skied on home in the storm. It was dark and storming like mad. Dad had blankets to keep us warm, but he could not tell where to go as the road was full of snow and he could not see anything. It was a mile home from Gettmans, so he gave the lines to Kate and Dan and let them take us home, which they did, and they stopped right by the barn door, so we were home safe and sound. God bless that team of horses and Rudy's safety. Rudy skied home in the storm. I don't know how he did it, but came through safe. Maybe could see some ski tracks onto the high places. That was one bad storm on the prairie I will never forget. We were not very old at this time.
Nels P. Peterson, taken in Detroit Minnesota February 4 1893
On a Christmas day when I was six years old and Frank was five and the others were babies, my folks were invited to George and Mary Cormells for Christmas dinner in Richwood. In the afternoon it got dark early so they lit the Christmas tree candles and she gave us little gifts. She gave me a toothpick holder, clear glass with red scallops on top and I still have it.
We played with their children, Flossie and Curtis, and had many visits with Mr. and Mrs. Connell when we were children. It was a clear cold day and Dad had jingle bells on his horses to brighten our sleigh ride.
When we started home it was getting dark and all the big evergreen trees in town were laden with snow that sparkled, and the lamps light gleamed over the snow from windows all through the village. I don't think I ever saw such a beautiful little village with such beauty as Richwood was that night.
On a Christmas vacation my uncle Louie and his son Edward came for Christmas from Bismarck, North Dakota. It was a cold day, Annie and Rudy, Moodys and Fredericksons young folks were out sliding and skiing on the big hill west of the barn. I was about seven years old. I asked my mother to dress me so I could go to the hill too. I started out for the hill. Behind the barn was a big snow drift about five feet deep, so kid fashion I walked on top of the snow bank and fell in up to my head and I tried to climb out but just couldn't make it. So I called and called to Annie and Rudy but they never heard me. I must have been in there quite a while as my hands and feet were getting very cold. Then they decided to come home and when they got to where was, I called to them and they pulled me out and carried me to the house. When I got in and started to warm up, my hands and feet hurt. I screamed and cried, they put skunk oil on my hands and feet to stop the pain. Uncle Louie and Ed and everybody were very concerned about me. I was lucky there was somebody that came at this time to help me out, or I would have frozen to death.
Later on Frank, Lawrence and I slid down this hill many times on a big sled my Dad made. We all could pile on it. What fun we had, the snow blowing in our faces.
Frank and Lawrence hauled big loads of wood into the house on this sleigh. They pulled it right into the kitchen and unloaded it into the wood box, snow all over mom's floor, and it would get real cold in the home when they pulled this load of cold wood and snow into the kitchen.
In 1912, on a summer Sunday, we saw this thing coming down the cart road toward the farm, it came right into our yard, and here it was uncle Chris Peterson from Mahnomen, Minnesota. He had bought a new International car, and it had big wheels like a buggy, it was abut forty miles from Mahnomen to the farm. Every time he came, he always had a big bag of chocolate cream candy for us. We sure got all excited about this buggy without horses pulling it. He usually made a couple of trips in the summer time. Before the car came he drove a pair of lively horses as he had the livery stable in Mahnomen.