Walter’s eighteen-year-old brother, Will, to join
Workers dig out
a train stuck
in the snow.
them. Will had always watched over his little
brother; he refused to stay behind.
The search party made it to the school, but
Walter was nowhere to be found. W. C. became
so distraught that his neighbors had to carry him
back to the sled. Somehow in the sadness and
confusion, they left without Will. And now both
Allen boys were lost in the storm.
Although Will saw the sleds pull away, he
remained focused on his search. He got down on
his hands and knees and crawled along the frozen
ground, feeling his way across every inch. He
could not see or hear, and the wind made it diffi-
cult to breathe. But he kept searching until he
bumped into a small heap covered with snow.
It was Walter. He was unconscious, but alive.
MORE PRECIOUS
During the hours that Will and Walter were
fighting for their lives, hundreds of other children
were caught in the grip of this killer storm.
Hundreds never made it. Even decades later, Will
Allen could not explain how he managed to carry
his unconscious brother through the blowing
snow, or how he managed to find his way home.
It was as though the storm’s fury had entered
Will’s veins, giving him the strength to walk
against the wind, to rise up when he fell, to hold
his little brother tight in his arms.
They arrived home to the jubilation of their
parents. Over the next few hours, Walter drifted in
and out of consciousness as his family hovered over
him. They warmed him slowly. They quieted his
shivers. At first his body was so numb that he didn’t
feel the tiny cuts on his leg from the shards of glass
sticking out of his pocket. It wasn’t until later that
night that Walter realized his beloved perfume
bottle had broken during the storm after all.
Of course by then it didn’t matter. Walter
understood that something infinitely more precious
had survived the blizzard, something that could
never be replaced: Walter himself.
THE
BLIZZARD
FILES
This article on the Children’s Blizzard
was one of my favorites to research and
write. I learned so much about life on the
prairie — and other amazing facts. Turn
the page to learn more about the Children’s
Blizzard, other snow disasters, and facts
that I just had to share.
Picture millions
of these in
your yard. Ack!
One of my
favorite
books ever!
Where I discovered
the story of Walter
There were two
terrible blizzards
in 1888!
IF YOU LIVED DURING
THE CHILDREN’S
BLIZZARD. . .
Many settlers lived in
one-room sod houses,
which were made from
bricks of hard-packed
dirt and grass. Cold in
the winter, hot in the
summer, and filled with snakes and insects in
the spring, these houses were anything but cozy.
The school was often
just one room where
kids of all ages were
taught by a single
teacher.
A one-room schoolhouse
Your home may
have looked
like this.
Your walk to school
could have taken
over an hour!
A family in front of their sod
house in Nebraska
Your teacher might
be very young — as
young as sixteen or
seventeen. She (most
teachers were female)
would have lived with
a family in town or
in a boardinghouse.
Kids on the plains woke up early
to milk cows, get water, make a
fire, feed the animals, or do
other chores before school even
started. Girls helped in the
kitchen. Doing laundry might
take an entire day.
Other areas
MAP
FACT
There were 38
states in 1888.
were called
territories.
Your teacher
might have
lived with you.
Your chores
would start hours
before school.
States and Territories
of the United States
of America,
May 17, 1884, to
November 2, 1889
A LAND OF EXTREMES
There is no place on earth with more
extreme weather conditions than America’s
northern plains.
But if that isn’t bad enough, get ready
for grasshoppers, also known as locusts.
Swarms containing
billions of the insects
would sweep down
from the sky and
devour everything in
their path. Many
farms were destroyed
by locusts, which often
struck just before a
harvest. In a matter of
hours, an entire year’s
work would
be gone.
A grasshopper,
aka a locust
Blizzards, Droughts, Tornadoes, Prairie
Fires, Hailstorms . . . and Grasshoppers!
PRAIRIE
is the French
word for
“grassland.”
WORST BLIZZARDS
IN US HISTORY
The Great Blizzard of
1888, March 11-14, 1888
AFFECTED AREAS: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
and Massachusetts
DEATHS:
400
Believe it or not, an even more deadly blizzard struck the
United States just two months after the Children’s
Blizzard. On March 11, 1888, a “white
hurricane” struck. The worst of the storm
lasted a day and a half, and buried some
areas in more than five feet of snow.
Winds howled. Trees fell. Houses were
buried. Because this storm hit big cities
and towns, it affected millions more people
than the Children’s Blizzard. In fact, historians call it the
Great Blizzard of 1888. And it is usually ranked as the worst in
US history.
1
Continued
>
These storms set records for snow,
wind, and the number of people killed.
1888:
THE YEAR
OF THE
BLIZZARDS
The Brooklyn Bridge after the storm
A
Brooklyn
neighborhood
AFFECTED AREAS: Great Lakes region
DEATHS: 250
4
The Great Lakes
Storm of 1913
AFFECTED AREAS: Mid-Atlantic states
DEATHS: 13
5
Snowmageddon Blizzard,
February 4-6, 2010
AFFECTED AREAS: Canada all the way down to Centra
l
America; twenty-two states and 40 percent of the US
population were affected.
DEATHS: 318
3
The Storm of the Century,
March 11-15, 1993
Blizzard or Snowstorm?
The difference between a snowstorm and a blizzard
is wind, not the amount of snow. Blizzards have
strong winds that blow snow, which makes it hard
to see. Otherwise it’s just a regular old snowstorm.
AFFECTED AREAS: Eastern United States
DEATHS: 353
2
The Great Appalachian
Storm, November 24-30, 1950
QUESTION:
Should
blizzards be
named, like
hurricanes
are?
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
shows the amount of snow in Printing-
House Square, New York City, during the
Great Blizzard of 1888.
My information came from several
sources, but here are some highlights!
THE SPARK
I first read the
Little House books
when I was already
grown up. The
Long Winter is my
favorite. It sparked
my interest in the
history of America’s
northern prairie.
MY RESEARCH
JOURNEY
FINDING
THE STORY
This is the most
important book on the
blizzard, packed with
stories and insights that
come from the author’s
incredible research. It
was in Mr. Laskin’s
book that I discovered
the story of Walter
Allen, just one of many
stories of survival that
the author uncovered
from that day.
TRACKING DOWN THE DETAILS
I filled in many details from books about prairie life
and with resources I discovered online, from the
Google Earth view of the Dakota
Territory (now North and South
Dakota) to newspapers published
in the days after the storm.
# 2
THE
TITANIC
DISASTER, 1912
In just a few hours, the Titanic would be at the
bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Some 1,500
people — men, women, and children — would
be dead.
Yet at 11:00 that night, April 14, 1912, there was
not the slightest hint of doom in the air. Jack
Thayer, seventeen, had come outside to admire
the brilliant sky before going to bed. The stars
were so sparkly they reminded Jack of diamonds.
The ocean was perfectly calm. All was quiet
except for the steady hum of the ship’s engines
and the whistle of a gentle breeze.
“It was the kind of night,” Jack would later
recall, “that made one glad to be alive.”
Indeed, this smart and curious boy from
Philadelphia had much to feel glad about. He and
his parents were returning from a two-month trip
to Europe. Everywhere Jack looked, he saw signs
of a fast-changing world — a world made brighter
by new electric lights, made faster by motorcars
and powerful steam engines, and made safer by
breakthroughs in science.
Workers stand under the
Titanic
’s massive
propellers.
The Titanic was a
symbol of all of these
changes —the biggest,
most elegant, most
technologically advanced
ship ever built. How
lucky Jack felt to be on
its first voyage across the
Atlantic.
Even the Thayers,
who lived in a mansion
and had traveled the world, were dazzled by the
grandeur of the ship. It was the most expensive
ship ever built. Eleven stories high and as long as
four city blocks, it was the world’s largest
man-made moving object.
As three of Titanic ’s 324 first-class passengers,
the Thayers enjoyed a level of glittering luxury
never before offered at sea. They had their choice
of three restaurants, each offering a seemingly
endless selection of fine dishes. Dinner might
Jack Thayer
in 1912, age 17
be eleven different courses, beginning with a
velvety soup and ending with a selection of cakes
and puddings and pastries made by a famous
French chef.
After dinner, Jack and his parents could dance
to the music of an orchestra, or pass the evening
playing cards in the elegant library. There was a
swimming pool — the first ever built on a ship —
filled with warmed ocean water. And, of course,
there were the fine sleeping cabins and spacious
rooms furnished with beautiful antiques and
chandeliers. The Thayers, along with the other
first-class passengers, had paid more than four
thousand dollars each for a ticket. It surely was a
fortune — more than what most people in 1912
would pay for a house. But Jack’s family could
easily afford it. And it was well worth the cost for
this chance to be a part of history.
Most of the passengers were not rich like the
Thayers. In fact, the majority were crowded onto
the lower decks, in third class. Many of these
A first-class menu from
the
Titanic
Luxury ships like
the
Titanic
included
first-class amenities.
The
Titanic
gymnasium with
cycling racing machines
The first-class dining saloon on the
Olympic
,
Titanic
’s sister ship.
Titanic
’s dining saloon
was almost identical.
passengers were poor families, crossing the ocean
to start new lives in America. Cabins were cramped
and dark, with bunk beds and simple wooden
chests. In the third-class dining room, families
dined on simple foods — porridge for breakfast,
codfish cakes for dinner — at long wooden tables.
The air was stuffy, and it was filled with echoes of
crying babies and chattering in dozens of different
languages.
Third-class passengers were not permitted on
the elegant upper deck, where the Thayers mingled
with their fellow first-class passengers. Most of
the men were successful businessmen, like Jack’s
father, but there were other fascinating people
on board — doctors, artists and writers, even a
famous tennis player.
Jack especially enjoyed his conversations with
Thomas Andrews, the architect of the Titanic.
The Irishman could talk for hours about the
wonders of the ship, and Jack never tired of
listening. Andrews was modest. But he couldn’t
deny that the Titanic’s maiden voyage was a
magnificent success. In three days, the ship was
due to ar
rive in New York. Crowds of reporters
and photographers would be waiting, along with
hundreds of cheering spectators. Already Jack
could feel the excitement.
“UNSINKABLE”
It was almost eleven-thirty when Jack went back
to his cabin, which was next to his parents’ suite.
He called good night to his mother and father.
An advertisement for
the
Titanic
shows the
first-class deck.
Just as he was about to get into bed, he swayed
slightly. He realized the ship had veered to the
left — “as though she had been gently pushed,”
he would later say.
The engines stopped, and for a moment, there
was a quiet that was “startling and disturbing.”
Then Jack heard muffled voices and running
footsteps. He threw on his overcoat and slippers,
told his parents he was going to see what was
happening, and rushed outside. Soon a crowd of
first-class passengers, including his father, joined
him. Jack wasn’t worried. Actually there was a
mood of adventure, especially after news spread
that the ship had struck an iceberg. The men in
the crowd joked and puffed on cigars as they
craned their necks and squinted into the dark
night. They all wanted to see the object that had
dared interrupt the voyage of the great Titanic.
Chunks of ice had fallen onto the other decks.
Passengers played rowdy games of catch with
balls of ice, tossing them back and forth as they
laughed with delight.
“Nobody yet thought of any serious trouble,”
Jack would recall. “The ship was unsinkable.”
That’s certainly what most people believed:
that the Titanic’s state-of-the-art safety features —
sixteen watertight compartments to contain
flooding — would keep the ship afloat no matter
what. So it was with no sense of worry that Jack
and his father roamed the ship, trying to find out
when they would again be under way.
But then Jack and his father saw Mr. Andrews,
the ship’s designer, standing with several of the
ship’s officers. Andrews’s grave expression sent a
stab of fear through Jack’s heart. If anyone under-
I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters Page 2