Person:Evaline Thomas (2)

Graduated from Haviland (KS) Academy June 14, 1901. Marriage date per announcement in SFT file. Terrible Blizzard of 1886 Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day! That should have been the song on little Eva's lips that wonderful morning of Jan. 6, 1886. Of course it couldn't have been that song but at least one of that type. That day was of such rare beauty old timers still recall how calm and balmy it was. Today, Eva is Mrs. Frank E. Dowell of south of Wellsford living alone on a farm which has been her home 53 years. She is near 85, but remembers vididly Jan. 6, 1886 and the day following, for that was the day of the Terrible Blizzard remembered by all who endured the storm. But in 1886, Eva was the seven-year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Thomas, who had come to Kansas Oct. 1, 1884 and taken a claim in what is now southwest Pratt County. January 6, was such an unusually beautiful day that her mother had chosen to put out a huge wash. There were eight to wash for and they often took the large iron kettle and some home made lye soap and went down to Turkey Creek to wash. Turkey Creek was only half a mile away and the household water had to be hauled in a barrel from a near neighbor's well. He had a hand dug well and the Thomas family had no well. There was little wind and when night came the clothes were not really dry so Eva's mother decided to leave them on the line overnight, never dreaming it could storm. People had not yet learned that a beautiful day out of season in Kansas is often a weather breeder. Before the next day was over, the thermometer registered 27 degrees below zero, the wind was a hurricane with rain, sleet, wind and snow. The storm came up in the night, as Mrs. Dowell recalls. Eva's parents were up and at it at the first threat of the storm, as was everyone else, of course. The chickens and pigs were soon hustled into a small sod coop. But the good team of horses had no protection whatsoever. It was awful! Mr. Thomas couldn't leave them out to freeze to death. Mr. Boggs had recently built a shanty on an adjacent claim but was now away from home so Eva's father led his team safely into the cabin and resolved to pay the consequences later. So their precious team was saved. But what of the family? They had some wood but not enough to last long. Mrs. Dowell declares, "Mother brought three feather beds to Kansas. It is possible we wouldn't have lived through otherwise." They went to bed, on the straw filled ticks, no springs of course, and put feather beds over them and covers on top and so weathered many hours of the storm. When the storm was over, the sun came out bright and the thermometer went even lower. Mr. Thomas found his horses in fine fettle, but the cabin that housed them badly damaged. That spring he sent his 13-year old son to Kingman which was then the end of the railroad to get lumber to replace the floor and so make amends. Mr. Boggs, the owner of the shanty, was fair-minded and the men remained friends. At that the Tomases were lucky for a neighbor Bertram Swank lost his entire herd of stock. All he could do was to salvage the hides. (Memory Lane by Lettie Little Pabst, Pratt (KS) Daily Tribune, November 30, 1963)