Coping with the Environment
Post Office Fayette, ND
Homesteaders who settled the open prairie were close to nature.
Being able to deal with extremes in weather and a multitude of natural disasters was a matter of life or death. In the summer there could be extreme heat or high winds. Drought, hail, or prairie fires could wipe out a promising crop and deal a major blow to the survival of the farm.
Wintertime could prove to be particularly dangerous.
“I think freezing is an easy death. I think a person would just fall asleep.”
Adolph Jablonsky - History of a Storm
History of a Storm
Adapted from an account by Adolph Jablonsky
Adolph Jablonsky (age 13) his brother Louie (age 11) and father (age 51) were visiting their married sister when the storm started. Adolph’s father decided to head for home, about 7 miles away. He decided to risk the storm because a farmer with livestock needed to be home to take care of the cattle; care of livestock was key to the survival of a farm.
They hitched up their horses to the sleigh and started for home. The temperature was dropping, and in a short time, it was snowing and blowing so hard they couldn’t see anything. They were traveling across open prairie with no roads or fences to serve as guides, and were soon lost in the storm.
They drove all night and all the next day, not being able to find any shelter or farm. The temperature by now was 35 degrees below zero. Finally, they came across a farmhouse but no one was home. They could see in the window and there was a stove and coal. The boys urged their dad to break a window so they could start a fire and warm up. Their father wouldn’t let them break the window, so they spent the night under one quilt on the porch.
In the morning it was clear, with little wind, and they got their bearings and headed for their brother’s place just a mile away. The brother was not home, but the neighbors were home and they took them in and gave them a warm meal.
When the boys took off their shoes the socks were white with frost and their feet were badly frostbit. One of their father’s feet was frozen solid. They were able to have a doctor come out to see them but soon none of them could walk and the father’s foot had turned black. The father went to the hospital. The foot could not be saved, and 6 inches of his foot had to be amputated.
All three recovered, but the boys were unable to walk for almost two months. Later that year, their father got blood poisoning in the stump of the foot that had been amputated. With his father so sick, Adolph stayed with him all night and at 6 in the morning the father woke and asked Adolph to wake up the family. With the family gathered, he told them he was going to die and he passed away later that morning.
Adolph Jablonsky reflected, “So it was a bad time. I think freezing is an easy death. I think a person would just fall asleep. That was a sad life, but God took care of us. Thanks, God.”
Coping with the Environment
