A Desperate Journey on Snowshoes
After being trapped by record snowfall, a local homesteader makes a harrowing trek to safety.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
J. W. Muphy was up on his claim in 20-8 when the heavy snow fall came. As it was near proving up time, Murphy had to get out and shovel his way to Blackwell's camp, a distance of two miles. He was two days and a night in reaching the camp, and after getting there had to make his way to Grand Forks, nine miles below, on snow shoes. Murphy arrived in town Monday with one foot frozen, and looking as though he had been struck by a Kansas cyclone in February.
“Murphy arrived in town Monday with one foot frozen, and looking as though he had been struck by a Kansas cyclone.”
The vulnerability of early settlers in Washington's backwoods during extreme weather events remains a part of the regional experience, though modern infrastructure has replaced the necessity of snowshoeing nine miles to reach civilization.
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