During the winter of 1855 and 1856, all the streams froze over and ice bridged the Kansas River. Visibility was nil, thanks to snow driven by sixty mile-an-hour north winds. Temperatures hovering at twenty degrees Fahrenheit below zero proved deadly.
During the winter of 1886, cattle froze in their tracks. Out in the wild, many birds, jack rabbits, prairie chickens, deer and antelope perished.
Homesteaders were stranded in their homes for days on end. When they ran out of coal or wood, they burned corn. When they exhausted that, they burned their furniture. Those who used up every source of heating fuel before the storm finally broke froze to death.
Deep drifting snow blocked all railroads. Cattle froze to death in the stockyards. Few stagecoaches ventured out and some that did lost their lives.
But the new Kansans learned to survive in their diverse land. And lived to tell about the devastating storms that ripped across the prairie.
source: More True Tales of Old-Time Kansas by David Dary, Peopling the Plains by James Shortridge
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