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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1950)
I SECTION - 8 PAGES North-Nebraska s Fastest-Growing Newspaper VOLUME 69—NUMBER 45_O'NEILL. NEBR.. THURSDAY. MARCH 16. 1S50 ~ PRICE:7COrT» % Cattle Losses Are Heavy • -- Holt People Digging Out from Under Snow of Hurricane Blizzard Death toll of livestock as a result of the Hurricane Blizzard of March 7 continues to mount in the O’Neill region as the digging out process enters its second week. Heavy losses, percentagewise, have been absorbed by many operators, but the overall loss in the livestock industry as a whole will be lower than initially be * lieved. Now, a week and a day after the devastating storm, the pic ture of livestock losses is becoming clearer. Heaviest losses were in herds that strayed from sheltering places. Many of them were driven into fences where they were marooned. Many cattle y smothered, others wandered into ponds, lakes and streams. Not infrequently tails were frozen and have dropped off. Losses were heavy among calves and yearlings. Even yet cattle are to be found carrying many pounds of ice and snow—sometimes a heavy chunk of ice on the end of the tail. L. D. Putnam, of O'Neill, Wednesday said Holt's losses would "run about 5 per cent." Putnam said the "losses were heavy, in many instances, but could have been a lot worse." Putnam is one of Holt county’s extensive stock growers. He predicted that the stock casualties have not all been counted. ‘‘Day after the storm I found 500 or 600 head down in the snow on one of my places. These animals needed help. If the storm had lasted longer the loss would have been terrible. As it was we’ve lost 80.” Scores of farmers and ranchers have reported losses, ranging from a lone calf to about 275 head. Charley Petersen, of Atkinson, > probably Holt’s biggest stock operator, was reported to have lost 275. This report, however, has not been confirmed. ,*N In the aftermath of the his toric storm stories have been rampant about losses. From a percentage standpoint, a number of operators in a belt extending from Amelia eastward to Chambers and Ewing have absorbed costly losses. Highway and rail traffic has been flowing normally on all principal routes since Sunday. However, a fresh snow Friday and early Saturday added fur thur grief for snow - removal people. Consumers Public Power dis trict and Northwestern Bell Tel * ephone company maintenance people were traveling by truck, weasel and snowshoes to, reach break in their lines. Phone ser vice was restored to Lynch on Saturday. All other points had full service restored many hours before. Among the heaviest losses were: Lloyd Taylor, who lives 1 mile east and 4 miles south of Cham bers, who reported 24 dead cat tle out of a herd of 60; Lloyd Gleed, also of Chambers, said he counted 27 dead out of three hundred. At the B. W. Waldo ranch, 8 miles west of Cham bers, early count was 13 lost, later the dead list was revised to 20, final count is 21 out of 400. Henry Webber, also in the Chambers locality, reported 15 dead out of 180. William (“Bill”) Whelan, liv ing 14 miles southeast of Cham bers, originally missed over 70 head out of about 140. But Pilot Lloyd Durre helped locate mis sing cattle and the loss was nar rowed to about 35. Raymond Garwood, living south of Swan lake, was said to have absorbed "a terrific loss.” Passersby counted 60 dead along one fence line. Some of Ghrwood's cattle wan dered into Dimmick lake. O’Neill business firms with blown-out plate glass windows are being patched up this week. Only the sturdiest windmills survived the test of the 100 mile-per-hour gale. Toppled and damaged windmills are dotted over the countryside. The snow has settled rapidly this week, particularly during Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s thawing. With the settling have gone down many fence lines. One southwest Holt rancher told The Frontier that already fence damage has exceeded last year’s. Many Holt rural people still are snowbound. Tractor- and horse-drawn wagons and sleds were getting through, but enor mous drifts still choke many rural roads. When the run-off comes many of the roads will be bottomless mud holes. Stock Losses Above Year Ago— By MBS. E. R. CARPENTER Special Correspondent CHAMBERS — The beautiful Chambers valley was blasted Tuesday, March 7, by one of the most ferocious blizzards of its history. Remembering the terrible blizzards and heavy snows one after another which paralyzed traffic and caused so much hard ship and suffering last winter, everyone prepared early for whatever might happen this year. Corn was cribbed early, hay was hauled in and food and fuel supplies were stored away. The mild weather continued, however, week-after-week until well into March, when people became careless, thinking spring had come. Monday, March 6, was a love ly, warm day. The last of the snow which had fallen on Feb ruary 11, had vanished, leaving ponds of water here and there on the meadows. • Returning from a trip to At kinson in the late afternoon, we noticed several herds of cat tle far from the ranch building. One herd was being hayed in (Continued on page 8) 60 Head Counted Along Roadside— AMELIA — The Tuesday, March 7, snow and wind com bined to make the worst bliz zard ever experienced in this vicinity. Livestock losses have been high and there is considerable property damage. The large windcharger at the Blake Ott place was blown over and across the REA lines, causing the Otts to be without light. Pat Kennedy’s wind charger was also blown down. The chimney was torn off of the Catholic church. Snow was blown into the attics of houses, including Edgar Peterson's, Lloyd Cle mens's, and Frank Backhaus's. Some damage was done to ceilings. Cattle losses were heavier than in last winter’s storm. Twenty head were reported lost at the B. W. Waldo ranch. M. B. Kennedy, Hank Whitcomb, Clinton Doolittle, Asa Shermer, Raymond Garwood also report ed losses. However, no loss of human life was reported in the im mediate community. Blaine Garwood, wiho lives west of Amelia, was said to have lost 21 head out of a herd of about a hundred. Sixty head of Raymond Gar wood’s dead critters were coun ted. by passerbys along the high-, way. The cattle were attempt ing to get through a fence. Ap parently, they were so weak from facing the wind and snow and from lack of food they froze fo death at the fence line. Raymond Bly, who said he escaped without livestock los ses, said the mail route road past his place was snow-clog ged to a degree as great as a year ago. for a mne tne snow must be 6-to 10-feet deep,” he said. 1 Bernard Kennedy lost 2 cows and a yearling. REA, Phone Lines Stand Test— CELIA — Monday, March 6, vas a lovely day. It was warm, there was no snow on the round. That night it rained and ben the rain turned to snow. \Text morning residents awak ned to the worst blizzard that .hev had ever seen. One could -ee but a very few feet ahead. The wind was terrific and took one’s breath when they stepped outside. The force of the wind made snow penetrate where ordinar ily it wouldn’t. In a home snow got into an attic and ruined 2 ceilings. One was new just a year ago. Snow is packed so tightly around cars in several garages that it will be a big task to get the car out of the garage. Win dows were completely covered over with snow—even those under porches. They stayed that way all day and until late fore noon Wednesday morning, Mar. 8. farmers worried about ineir livestock. Several lost a few but the livestock loss in this com munity was relatively light. A new haystacker belonging to Lee Terwilliger was wreck ed. The fury of the storm contin ued the entire day. When Wed nesday morning dawned the storm had abated. The sun shone brightly and there were drifts higher than all last win ter’s snow' had piled up. There | were lots of places where the snow wasn’t deep. This could be noted w'here there was nothing to hold it. Farmers were kept busy “digging out” so livestock could be found, fed and water ed. Quite a lot of cattle will lose their tails as they were badly frozen. In the Celia locality REA and telephone lines continued to (Continued on page 8) ALL STATE ROADS ARE NOW OPEN But County Highways Are Choked and Impassable; Fresh Snow Falls As if the snow borne by the Hurricane Blizzard of March 7, didn’t create enough of a pro blem for state highway snow plow crews, a fresh 5-inch snow fall Friday added to the task. Snow-removal men and mach ines have been working contin uously since the big storm to keep traffic flowing The state department’s 18-man force here has been forking on a 24-hour basis since the storm in an effort to keep snow and ice free from state roads. The additional 5-in. snow that fell on top of the 18 inches al ready on the ground was ac companied by light winds and drifted snow back onto roads and railroad right-of-ways. John D. Osenbaugh, resident engineer for the state highway department, said continual po lice of the state roads have kept them open to traffic with one exception. A stretch of highway 11 north of Atkinson 8 miles was blocked again by the new snow Friday night. The road was re opened early Sunday morning, Osenbaugh said. The condition of the high ways in the O'Neill region Wednesday were generally good. Osenbaugh said. High- i way 275 in this region is "clean and dry." There are some spots of highway 20 be tween O'Neill and Emmet and east of O'Neill that are icy. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad agent here re ported to The Frontier Wednes day that freight train 96, held here from Monday, March 6, be cause of the March 7 storm, re sumed its run late Thursday evening, March 9. There was some slight re drifting of the snow Friday and Saturday, on the CB&Q’s right of-way in Holt county, but no trains were held up. Spokesmen for the O’Neill bus terminal said 4 busses did not make their usual scheduled run late Friday and early Saturday, because of highway conditions. The two incoming busses from Norfolk at 5 p. m., and midnight Friday did not arrive. The Nor folk - bound Rapid Transit bus was not dispatched at 8:30 a. m. Saturday. A Sioux City-bound bus was forced to return to O’ Neill after it started on its sched uled run at 8:25. Most busses re sumed the regular running schedule later Saturday. In O’Neill, Mayor H. E. Coyne said late Wednesday that all of the city’s streets now are opened. The finishing touches on the opening of the streets in outlying parts of the city was completed Wednesday. The tractor scoop used in re moving the snow from the bus iness district streets in O’Neill broke down Tuesday. The snow removal is temporarily held up pending the arrival of repair parts from Omaha. Upon re ceipt of the parts, snow remov al will begin at the Golden ho tel and then work east. Frontier's Paid Circulation 2.815— The Frontier’s paid circulation for the March 9 issue reached an all-time high of 2,815. And more copies of the same issue— Blizzard Edition—are still be ing sold. The circulation department has been swamped with requests for extra copies. These have been mailed to several foreign countries and to most of the 48 states. Extra copies above The Fron tier’s normal distribution, which is over 2,100, were printed in anticipation of the demand. The screaming 100-mile-an-hour hurricane storm handed the O'Neill Livestock Market a setback. Workmen were nicely underway on the new pavilion when the March 7 storm struck. Despite the reversal, work is progress ing rapidly and sales will be resumed a week from today—Thursday, March 23.—The Fron tier Photo by John H. McCarrille. Elkhorn River Quiet in Holt Worried about the Elkhorn river flooding? Well, there’s no immediate danger of the Elkhorn river sweeping out of its banks, ac cording to Glea Wade, county disaster chairman of the Amer ican Red Cross. In addition to the “no imme diate danger’’ sign the county disaster chairman said Wednes day he does not believe the river will out-do itself as com pared to last year’s rampages. Although Wade does not have any statistics available on last year’s water heights, he was confident flooding would not be as extensive as a year ago. Although the Elkhorn is causing some speculation in the Norfolk area with respect to flooding there is no cause for alarm in Holt county, Wade ex plained. The river reached its highest point in 25 years during April, 1949, when the mountains of snow left by the recurring bliz zards began to melt and run off. Neverthless, Wade added, the flat country in Holt county gives the river plenty of room to spread out and consequently there would not be much depth when the river does get out of its banks. Stuart Legion Auxilary To Hold Initation— STUART — Members of the Norton - Carlisle American Le gion post 115 auxiliary Friday night, March 17, wil] hold an initiation for new' members, ac cording to Legion spokesmen City to Be Host To Homemakers The fourth annual rural home makers’ county recognition lun cheon will be held in O’Neill on April 16, sponsored by the O’ Neill Chambers of Commerce. Recognition will be given to presidents of home extension clubs, county chairmen, officers and directors of the council of home extension clubs from Keya Paha, Boyd, Brown, Rock, Holt, Loup, Garfield, Wheeler, Cher ry, Grant, Hooper, Thomas and Blaine counties. 4-H Family Fun Slated At O'Neill Legion Holt county’s annual 4-H fam ily fun night celebration will be held Saturday, March 18, at the American Legion auditorium, beginning at 8 p.m. The pro gram will be under the direc tion of Holt County Agent A. Neil Dawes and there will be many awards and “good” local entertainment on the agenda. STORM STORIES Mrs. H. O. Russ and her daughter, Mrs. T. G. Hufcton, of Page, were caught in the storm in Omaha. They saw blown to pieces a plate glass window of the barber shop at the Conant hotel, where they were staying. They saw ambulances at work helping the injured. It required 1 men to open the hotel door to let people in during the fury. People didn’t dare cross streets in the open; instead they hug ged buildings and doorways. Be cause of the over-taxed dial ohones, many people were un tble to contact their families in Omaha. Mrs. Russ and Mrs. Hutton returned home last Thursday by train. The conduc tor, after reading about the O’ Neill area, said, “I wouldn’t stop at that town if I were you.” # • * Sylvester Zakrzewski tried tc get to his farm 3 miles from Op oortunity last Thursday. He went around on the Spencer ruad, but was unable to get all the way through. He took a olane the rest of the way. He took the same journey Sunday >nd remained for a few days. Paul Zakrzewski, his son, re ports no stock losses. He walked 1 miles to a telephone to tell his parents he was safe in the blizzard. • • • John and Bernard Janzing came down Monday from the farm to see their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Janzing. This was the first word the Janzings had from their sons as they have no phone at the farm. The boys reported their loss as very small—one guinea. * « * Three strom - stricken men walked into Sylvester Zakrzew ski’s home Tuesdav, March 7. TH»V were from Kansas, Nor folk and Lynch. Thev had met in the storm and stuck together. After eating, they remained overnight. • • • Dr. and Mrs. Harry D. Gilder sleeve received a picture of O’ Neill in the bizzard from a Los Angeles, Calif , paper. The clip ping was sent bv friends. The Gildersleeves lived in Califor nia before coming to O’Neill. • • • L. D Putnam last fall pur chased a bam from the Sisters of St. Mary’s and moved the bam to a ranch 9 miles south of O’Neill. The hurricane slid it 40- to 50-feet and caused it to partially collapse. • • • Mrs. William Griffin sent a clipping and picture to friends in O’Neill from a Minneapolis, Minn, paper. She sent one of Mrs. Wallace O’Connell and ba by to the O’Connell family. * « » Mrs. Rex Brown, of Cleveland, O., formerly of O’Neill, sent a newspaper clipping to friends here from a Cleveland paper of the O’Neill blizzard. (Continued on page 8) A CREIGH rON .. . Lady Asks: ‘ What Was It We Had?’ An irritated Creighton worn-* an who signed her name as “Mrs. M. H.” aired her feelings in Wednesday morning’s edition of the Omaha World-Herald. Editor of ‘The Public Pulse" column posted her letter con spicuously at the top of the col umn. She wrote: “I am not writing to seem pugnacious, have refrained from writing before about all the pub licity that O’Neill, Neb., seems to merit in all the papers when ever a storm moves in. How ever, when relatives write about ‘poor O’Neill’ I cannot restrain myself. “We, here in Creighton, re ceived a scant few inches less snow, although pictures of O’ Neill’s main street looked no ^worse than ours. The wind howl-' ed as fiercely here (Creighton). We were without power for 36 hours. All the weasels were cen tered at O’Neill and our men in their trucks could not look for breaks in wires. “We were isolated but per haps we aren’t as quick to com plain. “O’Neill certainly has the right procedure in obtaining publicity. It has been featured in the World Herald, the Sioux City and Norfolk papers. “The rest of apparently didn’t have a storm. I wonder what it was we did have, MRS. M. W.” The Creighton woman’s letter stirred considerable comment throughout O’Neill. But The •Frontier’s printer’s devil, an ■ighth grader, summed up the Creighton situation nicely: “Why did they keep their storm a secret?” he quipped. MINISTER 54 YEARS DIES SPENCER — Jones funeral horn'1 here was in charge of bur ia1 ites Wednesday afternoon, M-1 h 15, for Rev. O. W. Beng sto" 38, of Randall Valley, S. D. TT was a Swedish Lutheran ter for 54 years. Survivors in'-' 1e: Widow; I daughter; 2 ON GRAND JURY r. Chace, of Atkinson, left c / for Omaha to serve on t' nd jury. Monday, he was ;ed foreman of the grand I i 1 Livestock Pavilion Work Progresses i Physical reconstruction of the [ O’Neill Livestock Market sales pavilion this week moved into advanced stages as workmen completed putting on the west and north wall siding of the new frame structure. In addi tion, some of the seats around the sale ring have been install ed. The original pavilion was des troyed by fire the night of Feb ruary 18. The rebuilding crew was handed a 7-day setback by the hurricane winds and snow that lashed the O’Neill region Tues day, March 7. The Reynoldsons, Verne and Leigh, comanagers of the mar ket, said the storm inflicted damage to the partially recon structed building. The main r6of supports and the wall studdings were severly bent by the 65-to 100-mile-per-hour winds that shrieked across the countryside. Workmen were obliged to start almost from scratch the day following the storm. "We plan to hold the first sale in new pavilion Thurs day, March 23." Verne Rey noldson said Tuesday. "By that time the major portion of the new structure will be completed." Prior to the storm, workmen completed laying the cement j footings, putting up the stud- j dings, rebuilding some of the i north pens of the yard. Funeral Held for Storm Victim - j ATKINSON — Funeral ser vices were held Saturday at 2:30 p.m. from the Methodist church here for Robert L. Ge siriech, 24, w’ho froze to death during the historic wind and snow storm of Tuesday, March 7. Rev. W. C. Birmingham offi ciated and burial was in Wood lawn cemetery. Gesiriech’s body was found a mile east of O’Neill’s city lim its lying along side of highway 20 and 275 about 8 a.m. Wednes day morning, March 8. the day following the storm. The body was discovered by a state high way department snowplow crew. Gesiriech was one of 5 Nebras ka fatalities directly attributed to the violent storm. Born on May 2, 1925, at Stu art, Robert Leroy Gesiriech was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Florien Gesiriech. When a small boy the family moved to Newport. Married and a veteran of World War II, Gesiriech served a year in the Army Medical corps. He was separated from the service at Ft. Warren, Wyo., on April 20, 1947. Survivors include: widow, the former Darlene Steskal; par ents—Mr. and Mrs. Florien Ge siriech, of Atkinson; sisters — Mrs. Lloyd Thurlow, of Stuart; Mrs. Edward Bausch, of Atkin son; Mrs. Claude Callen, of Los Angeles, Calif.; Mrs. Norton Thurlow, of Atkinson; brothers —Edward, of Lincoln; Florien, jr., of Los Angeles and Eugene, of Atkinson. _—. ■ Plaster Falls In Rural Schools— Rural teachers this week re ported to the Holt county su perintendent, Elja McCullough, that the high winds of the his toric storm on March 7 is tak ing its toll of ceiling plaster. Many rural teachers said the wind drove the snow through roof cracks then melted. oil the plaster which fell. No injuries were reported CECIL MALLORY DIES SUDDENLY Son of Wealthy Sioux City Wholesaler a Heart Victim Cecil Mallory, 62, a Holt coun ty resident who for several years has been living alone on his ranch east of the Spencer dam, was found dead about 5 p. m. Tuesday, March 14, by neigh t r4> was a son of the late w. Mallory, prominent Sioux v1iy^Wh°Jf“ler °ne °f Elmer K.raft s children discovered the body. Mr. Malloy was last seen by triends on Thursday, March 9. ui a visit to Spencer. A Spen cer physician estimated that he died later that day. I Lemuel Cecil Mallory was i Sioux City on August 16, 1887. His father, Lemuel, sr., was founder of the Hess-Mallory wholesale dry goods company, founder of the Pratt - Mallory wholesale grocery firm, a part ner in the M & L Baking Co., and the Artificial Ice Co., of St Louis, Mo. The elder Mr. Mallory died in 1931. Mrs. Mallory died in Sioux City in 1936 L.emuei, jr., grew to manhood in Sioux City. He was coheir with his brother, Julius, now deceased, to the large estate of his father, but had sold his in terests to other members of the firm and so took no part in the operation of the Hess-Mallory company. He was married twice: first, to Frances McKercher, in Sioux City, and later to Lila Donavan, also of Sioux City. Both are de ceased. Survivors include: Sons — Stewart, of Phoenix, Aria.; Ward, of California; daugh ters—Mrs. Robert (Joan) Pu celik. of Spencer, and Mary, who is married and resides in California. There are several grandchildren. The body was taken to the Jonas funeral home in Spencer pending funeral arangements, which were incomplete until 7 pm. Wednesday night. Bur ial will be on the ranch, 8 miles south of Spencer. ARC Solicitation in Rural Areas Begins The weather this week is hampering the Holt county Red Cross drive, too. Mrs. Guy Cole, of Emmet, county chairman, said that door to-door solicitation in the Holt county towns will begin as soon, as the slush and snow is out from underfoot. However, mail solicitation to the rural residents of the county is underway. Prior to the day of the historic storm over 1,800 solicitation letters were sent to rural residents. Mrs. Cole said responses to these letters have been “fair” thus far. The membership drive began March 1. Chairmen in Holt county communities are: Atkinson — Mrs. Harvey Shaw; O’Neill — Mrs. Thomas Greene; Chambers — Mrs. J. W. Walter; Ewing — Miss Fran ces Rotherham and Mrs. James Pruden; Stuart — Mrs. Stanley Cobb; Page — Mrs. Elsie Ball antyne; Inman — George Cole man; Emmet — Mrs. P. W. Mc Ginnis. ‘Voice' Covers Class *B' Meet The “Voice of The Fron tier’s” special events staff was on hand at the champ ionship game of the class “B” basketball tournament Satur day night when Neligh down ed a heavily favored Ord team, 44-41. A tape recording of parts of the final quarter was made and played-back on the regu lar morning program at 9:45. With the special basketball tape recording, Monday’s “Voice of The Frontier” was extended 10 minutes. Chuck Apgar, regular “Voice of The Frontier” announcer, did the descriptive and Joe Ryan, sports editor of the Ne ligh News, assisted. _ t Rural School Song Practice Postponed— The rural school song prac tice which was scheduled to be held at the Atkinson public schools Friday, March 17, has been indefinitely postponed, according to Elja McCullough, Holt county superintendent of public instruction.