Father looks at muskrats building a stronger home and suspects that it will be a long, cold Dakota winter. All other animals seem to have fled away. A local Indian says this is a once in 21 year winter. The first storm comes in October. It is cold. People move from shanties to town. Things get colder and worse. The trains cannot get there, despite valiant efforts by the train men. As soon as they get some track cleared, they get stuck elsewhere. Christmas occurs, but it is in a subdued form. People are resourceful with what they have, but it is not easy. It is extremely difficult to travel in the snow. At one point they see a heard of animals, but one man fires too early, scaring them off. Eventually some boys make a long trip away to try to bargain with a man that supposedly has wheat. This ends up being enough to make it through the last bit before the trains come.
People in this time were becoming less fully independent and relying more on an integrated economy. How much worse would it be if a bad series of storms separated out a community today for an entire winter?
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