Jerauld County, SD History .....Chap 25; Mail Carriers 
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Chapter 25. 
THE MAIL CARRIERS.

   Thursday, the 12th day of January, 1888, was strenuous for the stage drivers 
of Jerauld county, all but two of whom were in the employ of G. N. Price. His 
drivers were A. G. Eberhart on the Woonsocket line; Rolla Cady on the Miller 
line; William Moss on the Belford line, and also on the Crow Lake line; Sam 
Wilson on the line from Crow Lake to White Lake with Jehial Barnum as special, 
or supply, but usually employed about the barn at Wessington Springs.

   The line from Wessington Springs to Waterbury was driven by T. J. Pressey, 
and the line from Waterbury to Kimball by Chas. Gingery, who was carrying the 
mail for A. J. Brown, the contractor.

   Mr. Pressey had been making the trips between Wessington Springs and 
Waterbury, during the week preceeding the 12th of January, by going but one way 
each day. On Wednesday he made the trip from Waterbury to Wessington Springs, 
and on Thursday morning started back. He was near the residence of I. S. 
Binford, when he encountered the storm, and was enabled to get in without 
misshap and remained there until it was over.

   The route driven by Charles Gingery took him from the village of Waterbury to 
Gann Valley, thence to Lyonville and from there to Kimball. He left Waterbury on 
Thursday morning about 7 o'clock accompanied by Miss Addie Quim as a passenger 
to Kimball on the way to her old home in Illinois. They had passed Gann Valley, 
in Buffalo county and were nearing Lyonville, Brule county, when the soft, balmy 
air in which they had been riding was "in the twinkling of an eye" changed to a 
mass of blinding snow. The horses became unmanageable and left the road. After a 
protracted effort to get on Gingery loosed the horses from the sled, a box-like 
concern, wrapped his passenger in the robes and bidding her sit down he tipped 
the vehicle over so as to protect her from the storm as much as possible and 
then getting in beside her waited for the end. The day and night were passed in 
that uncomfortable position. When daylight came Friday morning he saw a house 
about a mile away and though badly frozen, he made his way to it for help. They 
were both taken to Kimball, where the lady died from the effects of her 
exposure. Gingery, though a cripple for life lived until November, 1908, when he 
died in Ohio.

   Rolla Cady left Wessington Springs on the Miller line Wednesday morning, and 
reached the north end of the route that night. Thursday, at the usual hour, he 
started on the return trip and had driven five or six miles, when the blizzard 
came upon him. In telling the story afterwards he said he knew of no pleasanter 
place to stay during a severe storm than at Green's ranch where there were 
several most agreeable young ladies. That ranch was five miles ahead and he 
determined to try for it. He succeeded and stayed there until Saturday morning 
when he continued his journey home, arriving that evening in good condition.

   The mail line between Wessington Springs and Woonsockct was daily. Al 
Eberhart left Woonsocket Thursday morning and had reached the farm of Mr. Boje 
about three miles west of the county line when he was forced to seek shelter. He 
stayed with the farmer until Friday morning and then made the balance of the 
trip to Wessington Springs, arriving at noon.

   Sam Wilson, at Crow Lake, went to the barn as usual on Thursday morning and 
fed and cared for his team and then went to the post office and told the 
postmaster he would not go on the White Lake drive that day because there was 
going to be a bad storm. No amount of ridicule or urging would induce him to 
start. He remained at Crow Lake until the storm had passed.

   The Belford line was a semi-weekly, and supplied Sullivan, Parsons and 
Belford postoffices. The Sullivan office was at the residence of W. W. Goodwin 
on the NE of 32 in Wessington Springs township and Parsons was on the ____ of 
____ with a gentleman named Billings as postmaster. Will Moss had passed Parsons 
postoffice when he saw the storm coming. He whipped up the team in an effort to 
reach a farm house a short distance ahead. The family at the house saw him 
coming and witnessed the race until Moss became enveloped in the storm. Long 
after the blizzard struck the house members of the family stood by the door and 
called, but no response could they get. Out on the prairie Moss was struggling 
to get his team through the deep snow and the suffocating storm, but the effort 
was useless. He stopped and unhitched the ponies from the sled and wrapping 
himself in the robes and blankets, tipped it over him and there he remained 
until the next morning, not much the worse for his experience. He returned to 
Wessington Springs Monday, leaving one of the ponies frozen to death near where 
he had spent the night on the prairie.

   A singular experience befell Howard Pope, who, then a boy of but 14 years, 
was driving a mail line from Kimball, in Brule county to Castalia in Charles Mix 
county. While the event about to be related occurred outside of Jerauld county, 
yet I tell it because Mr. Pope has been so long identified with life in this 
community. Probably no man in the state has carried mails by stage as many miles 
as Howard Pope. All told he has driven mail stage in Jerauld and near-by 
counties 150,800 miles— enough to have encircled the globe over six times.

   On the morning of the 12th of January, 1888, Howard, wrapped in a long fur 
coat with a very high collar, and otherwise dressed for winter weather, left 
Kimball postoffice about 9 o'clock, and had driven about six miles. He was near 
the residence of a farmer named Patteen. When the storm began, the team left the 
beaten track and were soon floundering in a snow drift. Howard left the sleigh 
and went around the horses unhitching the tugs. In trying to get back to the 
sleigh he became separated from the team and after that could find neither the 
naimals nor the sled. He wandered about for some time until he came to a post in 
a wire fence. His long coat prevented his getting through the fence, so he 
attempted to crawl under it. While under the fence he was protected from the 
wind and pulling his coat collar up about his head he lay still to rest and get 
his breath. He was so warm and comfortable down there in the snow, wrapped in 
his great coat, which covered him completely, from head to foot, that he stayed 
longer than was his intention when he stopped. His next sensation was of a 
pressure pressing upon him. He struggled and finally threw off the weight. He 
rose to his feet. The wind had stopped blowing but the air was intensely cold. 
He saw his sleigh near by and close to it the horses, one of them frozen to 
death. By the position of the sun he knew it was early morning, and that he had 
lain about eighteen hours asleep under that wire fence. He went to Mr. Patteen's 
house and told his story. The farmer would not believe it possible until he had 
been to the fence and examined the hole in the snow. Howard was not even 
chilled.

   Such is the story of the blizzard, the one great storm of thirty years.

   Efforts were made in different parts of the county to assist in a financial 
way, both Addie Knieriem and Mr. Chas. Gingery. Blank & Blank, then publishers 
of the Wessington Springs Herald, inaugurated a move to provide a fund for Miss 
Knieriem. A benefit social was announced to be held at the court house in 
Wessington Springs on the 22nd of March. A committee was appointed in each 
township to sell tickets. The result was $200, besides an annuity of $600 a year 
donated by a philantrophist of Brooklyn, N. Y., through the influence of Dr. A. 
M. Mathias. Other entertainments of like character were held in various parts of 
the county; one at C. R. Nelson's in Anina township raising $11.

   For Chas. Gingery a social in Harmony township netted $15 and one at 
Scofields, in Marlar township $30. At the residence of B. G. Cummings, in Media 
$37.50 was raised, $7.50 of which was sent by people of Franklin township.

   In the forepart of March Mr. Cady resigned his position as driver on the 
Miller route and J. W. Barnum took his place.



Additional Comments:
From "A History of Jerauld County; From the Earliest Settlement to January 15,
1909" by N. J. Dunham

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