1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from house 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast 3 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,119 Speaker 1: I'm Crazy and I'm Holly frying Doday, we have a 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: listener request. It's one of those listener requests that came 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: in immediately after I had already ordered the book from 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: the library, and I feel really guilty that I did 7 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: not write down the name of the person I was 8 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: having a conversation about or a conversation with about it, 9 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: because it was on Facebook and those are impossible to 10 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: find weeks later on our Facebook. But if you remember 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,199 Speaker 1: the sad story that I said I was going to 12 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: put off until after the New year a few weeks ago, 13 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: when we talked about the Sodder children, when I said, 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: this sounds sad, but just wait, there's something way sadder. Welcome. Yeah, welcome. 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: So the way sadder episode it is the Schoolhouse Blizzard, 16 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: also known as the Children's Blizzard. It was a storm 17 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: in in which many, many children and also many adults 18 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: froze to death in the snow, sometimes literally right outside 19 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: of the safety of shelter. This was a tragedy that 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: grew from a confluence of factors, and one of them 21 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: was our ability to forecast the weather. A recurring theme 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: in our episodes on the Western frontier days of the 23 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: United States is that weather could cause enormous problems, and 24 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: it wasn't just because the weather itself in this part 25 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: of the North American continent can be unpredictable and prone 26 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: to extremes. The colonists and homesteaders living there were often 27 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,119 Speaker 1: newcomers to a region that just didn't have a lot 28 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: of resources to deal with unexpected extremes. This Western migration 29 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: of newcomers into an unfamiliar area was absolutely deliberate. The 30 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: United States specifically wanted to populate land that had previously 31 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: been inhabited by North Americans indigenous people's with its own citizens, 32 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: among other things. In eighteen sixty two, President Abraham Lincoln 33 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: had signed the Homestead Act into law, and this provided 34 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: people with a hundred and sixty acres of land and 35 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: exchange for a fault a small fee, plus five years 36 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: of continuous residents on that land. Soldiers who had served 37 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: in the Union Army had a year remove for each 38 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: year that they had served during the Civil War. Homesteaders 39 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: and other newcomers didn't necessarily know how to deal with 40 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: the region's weather or even how to run a homestead, 41 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: But they were often desperate to hang on to that 42 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty acres for the required number of years. 43 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: People wrote out storms and other events that might otherwise 44 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: have prompted them to flee, if not for the fact 45 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: that if they did, they would have lost all their 46 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: land and all of the work they had already put 47 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: into it. The relative newness of this western expansion also 48 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: meant that the region just didn't have the infrastructure it 49 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,119 Speaker 1: needed to deal with these types of problems. For example, 50 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: in the long winter of eighteen a to one, so 51 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: just a few years before we're talking about today, Uh, 52 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: that would have been a lot easier to deal with. Um. 53 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 1: It was an extremely long and snowy season that we've 54 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: talked about in a prior episode. And if communities had 55 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: had a few more years of experience under their belts, 56 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: more time to build roads and improve their homes and businesses, 57 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,519 Speaker 1: and more seasons to try to lay aside extra food 58 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:24,799 Speaker 1: and other resources in case of that kind of event, 59 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: it would have been a lot easier to deal with. 60 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: This was certainly the case here. Many of the homesteaders 61 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: living in the American Midwest at this point, we're still 62 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: living in the sod huts that they directed upon first 63 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: arriving at their land claim, and homesteaders who weren't quite 64 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: as new to the area had also been through a 65 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: series of setbacks in recent years, including plagues of the 66 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: now extinct Rocky Mountain locusts, prairie fires, floods, and of 67 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: course other blizzards and uncommonly snowy winters. Much of this 68 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: we've covered in our podcast on Laura Ingles Wilder, who 69 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: grew up in this area during this period of time. 70 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: So it may come as a surprise to people that 71 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: what the nation actually did have at this point was 72 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: a formal, although imperfect system for trying to predict the 73 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: weather and notify people of oncoming storms. Basic meteorological equipment 74 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:18,600 Speaker 1: like thermometers, barometers, and anemometers had of course existed for centuries, 75 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: but the invention of the telegraph was what had made 76 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: it possible for people to spread the word when dangerous 77 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,160 Speaker 1: weather was approaching. It also made it possible for people 78 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: who observed and recorded the weather to talk to each 79 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: other quickly and compile lots of data in order to 80 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: use that data to make predictions. The first weather network. 81 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: To put this idea into play in the United States 82 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: started in the eighteen forties thanks to the Smithsonian Institution. 83 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: The Smithsonian gave meteorological tools to volunteers who recorded their 84 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: observations and telegraphed them back to the Smithsonian to be 85 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: compiled into maps and then studied. The Smithsonian's work went 86 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: on until it was disrupted by the Civil War. Once 87 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 1: the war was over, though, the United States government recognized 88 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: that understanding the weather and being able to predict it 89 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: was a matter of national importance, particularly in the Western frontier, 90 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,239 Speaker 1: where as we just mentioned, the government was actively trying 91 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: to encourage migration and the weather tended to be erratic. Eventually, 92 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 1: on February nine, eight seventy, Ulysses S. Grant signed a 93 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: resolution to quote provide for taking meteorological observations at the 94 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: military stations in the interior of the continent and at 95 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: other points in the states and territories, and forgiving notice 96 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: on the northern Great Lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic, 97 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: telegraph and marine signals of the approach and force of storms, 98 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: and he signed that into law. This put the observation 99 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: in recording of weather under the auspices of the Secretary 100 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: of War under the assumption that military discipline and precision 101 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: would be conducive to making accurate and timely weather observations 102 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,840 Speaker 1: and predictions. These recordings and predictions fell to the Signal 103 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: Service Corps. A school of Meteorology was established and which 104 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: enlist it men and later officers learned basic meteorology, telegraphy, 105 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 1: how to install and maintain telegraph wires and the other 106 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: signaling equipment, and signaling itself. The Signal Service Cores started 107 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,799 Speaker 1: off recording and issuing observations and predictions that were relatively 108 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: general and applied to large chunks of the continent, but 109 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: it gradually covered smaller areas with greater frequency and for 110 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: farther in advance. So in eighteen seventy three the Core 111 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: was mapping the weather data it received, making predictions, and 112 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: distributing these predictions as quote farmers bulletins to be displayed 113 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: at post offices. In eight one, signal flags replaced or 114 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: supplemented these paper bulletins. The Signal Service cores weather predictions 115 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: definitely were not perfect. They relied a lot more on 116 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: predicting where existing patterns would move than on the conditions 117 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: that would lead to new patterns emerging, and they also 118 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: tended to rely on whether folklore rather than actual science. 119 00:06:57,560 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: There was also a huge gap in whether not only 120 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: that the forecasters at the time didn't even know that 121 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: they didn't know that was the idea of the weather front. 122 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: We take the idea of a cold front or a 123 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: warm front or whatever for granted today, but that concept 124 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: did not even arise until nineteen nine, and it wasn't 125 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: a common part of weather maps until the nineteen forties. 126 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: So they're basically doing all of this mapping and predicting 127 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: unaware of the fact that these weather systems were organized 128 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: into fronts. Well, we figured it out eventually. Unfortunately, the 129 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: Signal Service itself was also hit with repeated accusations of 130 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: mismanagement and embezzlement, along with a lot of internal strife. 131 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: During these years. It was loaded down with inter departmental conflicts, bureaucracy, pettiness, 132 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: and infighting. In a lot of ways, the whole organization 133 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: was just dysfunctional. All that said, though, the Signal Service 134 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: Corps work made a huge difference in the basic quality 135 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: of life and weather preparedness, especially of people living on 136 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: the front. Here, these predictions although they were definitely flawed, 137 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: were also definitely better than nothing, and that was a 138 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: state of things. In eight We will get to the 139 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: details of the blizzard that we're talking about today and 140 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: how these forecasts failed to warn people about it, after 141 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: a brief word from one of our sponsors. On the 142 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: American Prairie, the winter of eight seven was brutal. It 143 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: had been particularly cold and particularly snowy for weeks. Conditions 144 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: on Native American reservations were particularly dire, with many reporting 145 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: a severe lack of food and other provisions throughout that 146 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: entire winter. The inches of snow that had fallen in 147 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: December we're still there at the beginning of January when 148 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,959 Speaker 1: the weather turned again, this time dropping a thick layer 149 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: of sleet on top of that snow that made what 150 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: had been merely treacherous and difficult almost totally impassable. Temperatures 151 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: in early January were frequently in the double digits below 152 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,079 Speaker 1: zero all across the Midwest. People had been sticking close 153 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: to home for weeks. This sounds utterly miserable, Uh, it was, 154 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: since I have winter rage disorder and get really crabby. 155 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,680 Speaker 1: The second like the thermometer drops below forty, I cannot 156 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: imagine surviving something like this. Um. This meant that the 157 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: morning of January twelve came as a huge relief. It 158 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: was warmer than it had been in what seemed like ages. 159 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: The sun actually came out and the temperature gradually rose 160 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: to close to forty degrees fahrenheit that's four degrees celsius. 161 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 1: While a few people were suspicious about this abrupt break 162 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: in the weather, for the most part, this sudden appearance 163 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: of comparatively sunny warmth was a really welcome change. Almost 164 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: everyone jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house. 165 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: Children who hadn't been able to go to school in weeks, 166 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: sometimes the schools had even been closed completely rushed out 167 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: in comparatively light clothing. Adults tracked out from their homes 168 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:52,680 Speaker 1: to more outlying areas of their farms and homesteads to 169 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 1: take care of chores that desperately needed doing that they 170 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 1: hadn't been able to do in a really long time. 171 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: People who needed to go to town to pick up 172 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: provisions did. Animals that had been cooped up in barns 173 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 1: and stables were let out to stretch their legs. Now, 174 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: I'm gonna just I grew up in the South. I 175 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: know that some of you forty degrees does not sound 176 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: like tim to party. But when it's been that cold 177 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: for that long and you've been cooped inside for that long, 178 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: even forty degrees feels like a luxury. I know this 179 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,080 Speaker 1: now from personal experience, having lived in Massachusetts last winter 180 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: when we got a hundred and ten inches of snow. 181 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: I will walk outside in forty degree weather without my 182 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: coat on. So do not fault these small children for 183 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: rushing out without their scarves and gloves on this joyously 184 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: warm forty degree day. Yeah, it's all relative and what 185 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: you're used to. I always laugh when we're, for example, 186 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: like in Florida visiting disney World or something, and it 187 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,199 Speaker 1: drops below sixty and you see people in hats and scarves. 188 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: It's all relative. Yeah. On the other hand, you will 189 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: walk down the street it's twenty degrees in Massachusett. Some 190 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: people are in short yeah. Yeah. However, back to this 191 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:08,719 Speaker 1: particular blizzard. Unfortunately, these folks who were out frolicking in 192 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,559 Speaker 1: these sudden warm weather were mostly ignorant of a weather 193 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: pattern that the Signal Service Corps had actually spotted on 194 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: the eleventh, that was the day before this beautiful day. 195 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: Lieutenant Thomas Mayhew Woodriff of the U. S. Army was 196 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: the one compiling the forecast in the Signal office in St. Paul, Minnesota, 197 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: where he had been stationed since the previous October. At first, 198 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,400 Speaker 1: Lieutenant Woodriff and his assistant Sergeant Alexander mccaddy had thought 199 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:36,439 Speaker 1: that this unusually low pressure reading at one of the 200 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: more remote northern Signal Signal Corps asked outposts on the 201 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: morning of the eleventh was just an anomally. It kind 202 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: of wrote it off as maybe a shoddy reading or 203 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,560 Speaker 1: a fault and some equipment. But as the day wore 204 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:52,080 Speaker 1: on and the scheduled observations rolled in from all the 205 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,559 Speaker 1: other Signal Service Corps stations, it became clear that an 206 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: area of low pressure was moving down from Alberta, Canada 207 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 1: and then traveling southeast through the Great Plains. This was 208 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: a pretty typical pattern that Woodrift had observed many times before. 209 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 1: Areas of low pressure often moved into the nation from 210 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: Alberta and then traveled southeast, and so, also based on 211 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: past experience, he expected temperatures to rise in advance of 212 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: this low pressure area and then fall in its wake. 213 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: So based on all of these observations and his past experiences. 214 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,480 Speaker 1: Forecast for January twelfth that he filed just after midnight 215 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: read quote indications for twenty four hours commencing at seven 216 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: a m. Today for St. Paul, Minneapolis and Vicinity, warmer 217 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,319 Speaker 1: weather with snow fresh, subtly winds becoming variable. For Minnesota, 218 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: warmer with snow fresh too high, subtly winds becoming variable. 219 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: For Dakota snow warmer, followed in the western portion by 220 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: colder weather, fresh to high winds generally becoming northerly. The 221 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: snow will drift heavily in Minnesota and Dakota during the 222 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: day and night. The winds will generally shift to high 223 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: colder orderly during the afternoon and night. Even though he 224 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: expected falling temperatures after the low pressure area moved through, 225 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,559 Speaker 1: Lieutenant Woodruff didn't think he needed to issue a cold 226 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: wave warning. He was already seeing above freezing temperatures reported, 227 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 1: so a cold wave warning just didn't seem warranted. So 228 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: at the night of the eleventh last morning of the twelfth, 229 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 1: people had gotten the weather forecast telling them to expect 230 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,439 Speaker 1: that it would be cold, could warmer but then colder, 231 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: but not anything really alarming. However, on the morning of 232 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: the twelfth, when Woodruff got back to work, he once 233 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 1: again mapped out all the new weather observations that had 234 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: come in from the other Signal Core field offices over 235 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: overnight and in the morning. The weather system was still 236 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 1: moving along the path that he had predicted, and as 237 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 1: he had expected, temperatures in advance of it were warm 238 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 1: and behind it were cold. But it was a lot 239 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: warmer ahead of the low pressure area and a lot 240 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,360 Speaker 1: colder behind it than he had expected. So at ten 241 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: thirty am on January twelve, would re issued a cold 242 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: wave warning for Dakota Territory, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Doing 243 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: so meant sending extra telegrams out to the Associated Press 244 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,680 Speaker 1: and other wire services, as well as other Signal Service 245 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: stations in the area. At post offices and stations, black 246 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 1: and white cold wave warning flags would be flown from 247 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: the time they got the notification until Woodriff issued a 248 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: takedown order. This is sort of the areas equivalent of 249 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: the National Weather Service warnings that we get today when 250 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: there is sudden bad weather that could be an emergency expected. Unfortunately, though, 251 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: this warning just came too late. Because of backlogs at 252 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: Western Union offices and various problems along the line, the 253 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: message to raise the flags did not arrive at many 254 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: of the outposts that had them until afternoon. By that point, 255 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 1: the storm was eminent, and most of the people who 256 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: were going to leave home that day already had completely 257 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: unprepared for the shift in the weather that they did 258 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: not know was coming. Starting in the early afternoon of 259 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: January twelve, the weather turned so suddenly that survivors of 260 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: this whole event said they had never seen anything like it. 261 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: The day was fine, and then it wasn't. People reported 262 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: being able to see while standing outside in forty degree 263 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: weather a blizzard moving in like a gray wall. Temperatures 264 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: plummeted back below freezing and continued to fall. Winds gusted 265 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: to forty miles an hour and beyond. In the words 266 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: of a Signal Service observer and here on Dakota Territory 267 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: quote at twelve forty two pm, the air was perfectly 268 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: calm for about one minute. The next minute, the sky 269 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: was completely overcast by heavy black clouds, which, for a 270 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: few minutes previous had hung along the western and northwestern horizon, 271 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: and the wind veered to the west and blew with 272 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 1: such violence as to render the position of the observer 273 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: on the roof unsafe. The air was immediately filled with 274 00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: snow as fine as sifted flour. This extremely fine, icy snow, 275 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: it was incredibly treacherous. People's eyelashes froze together. The resulting 276 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:11,120 Speaker 1: irritation led to tears, but those froze too. But even 277 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: if people could get their eyes open, the fine, icy 278 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: precipitation was so heavy and wind blown that they literally 279 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: couldn't see more than a foot in any direction. People 280 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: became completely disoriented, basically hemmed in by a wall of gray, 281 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 1: white blizzard. There are so many first person accounts surviving 282 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: from the time that people said they literally could not 283 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: see their hand in front of their face was not 284 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 1: an exaggeration. These flakes of snow and the pellets of 285 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: ice were also so fine that they pelted all the 286 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 1: way through people's clothing directly to their skin, lowering their 287 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: body temperatures precipitously, and then as all that snow melted, 288 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: soaking their clothing and refreezing it. The reason that this 289 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: is nicknamed the schoolhouse Blizzard is that the weather turned 290 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: while school was about to let out. Or it just 291 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: had let out. Teachers, many of whom were early older 292 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: than their students, were faced with the decision of whether 293 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: it was safer to send the children home or to 294 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: keep them in the schoolhouse, and in some cases this 295 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: depended on what warning, if any, they got blizzards coming, 296 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: get everyone home, or blizzards coming keep everyone in. Many 297 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,199 Speaker 1: May Freeman, a teacher in Nebraska, made the call to 298 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,520 Speaker 1: evacuate her students from their one room side school. They 299 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,679 Speaker 1: had nailed the front door in place after the storm 300 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: blew it off two times, and it was only after 301 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:32,399 Speaker 1: part of the roof was then blown away that she 302 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:34,920 Speaker 1: made the decision that the risk was greater to stay 303 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: put than to try to go out in the storm. 304 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: She did manage to keep all of her students together, 305 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 1: and they made it half a mile to the home 306 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,320 Speaker 1: where she boarded, where they took refuge and survived the storm. 307 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:47,919 Speaker 1: In Groton, Nebraska, men showed up with a team of 308 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: horses and carts to take children home from school, and 309 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: they took all but one. He had turned back to 310 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,240 Speaker 1: get a perfume bottle that he had forgotten in the schoolhouse, 311 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: and then when he emerged again, he immediately got lost lost, 312 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 1: and he was unconscious by the time his brother found him, 313 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: but his brother did indeed behind him. Rescues like this 314 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: were extremely rare in this storm. More often than not, 315 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:12,199 Speaker 1: people who went after missing loved ones froze to death themselves. 316 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,159 Speaker 1: Many of the other stories of school teachers trying to 317 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: look after their students have a much more tragic end. 318 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: Children and teachers got lost in the snow trying to 319 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:24,920 Speaker 1: find their way to safety and died, and the same 320 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: was true of adults who were out and about on 321 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: their business. A train was stranded near Garvin, Minnesota, and 322 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: people from the town tried unsuccessfully to rescue them. Survivors 323 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,200 Speaker 1: were actually trapped in that train for three days at 324 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: a static. A teacher who had gotten to collect her 325 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: pay hadn't even made it to the gate yet when 326 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: the storm blew in. The family she was boarding with 327 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: shouted at her from the door until their voices literally 328 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: gave out, but they couldn't be heard over the gale. 329 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 1: Many of those whether they ventured out into the storm 330 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: or stayed indoors and ran out of fuel but ultimately 331 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: survived the night, lost fingers and toes and even limbs 332 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: to frostbite. Many many animals died in the storm as well. 333 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:11,639 Speaker 1: Livestock and other farm animals suffocated and were smothered by 334 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,160 Speaker 1: the icy precipitation that froze over their notes and their 335 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 1: noses and mouths, or they simply froze to death. I 336 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 1: was not able to get my hands on a book. 337 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,199 Speaker 1: There is a book of firsthand accounts of all this 338 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: called In All Its Fury that was written by people 339 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:27,359 Speaker 1: who survived it in the nineteen forties. It's out of 340 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: print now, which is why I wasn't able to get 341 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,120 Speaker 1: a copy of it to do the research. But it's 342 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,680 Speaker 1: quoted a lot and a lot of them to realize 343 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: did use for research. A lot of stories are heartbreaking, 344 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:38,080 Speaker 1: which is why we're going to take a pause from 345 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: them here and have referred from sponsor where we talk 346 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: about the aftermath of all of this. Ultimately, the Children's 347 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,679 Speaker 1: Blizzard was part of a massive weather system that pushed 348 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: tremendously cold air as far south as Mexico. Pretty Much 349 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: the entire central part of the United States was affected, 350 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,959 Speaker 1: with the timing of the blizzard being the most deadly 351 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: and damaging. Dakota Territory, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas just 352 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: because it happened to strike in the early afternoon. The 353 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,359 Speaker 1: cold wave that followed the blizzard, with temperatures well well 354 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: below zero all across across the Midwest, persisted until January. 355 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: By Saturday, newspapers across the nation were reporting on the blizzard, 356 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: first with stories of the deaths and the tragedies, and 357 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: then those of miraculous survivals and heroic efforts on the 358 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: parts of teachers to rescue their students. The Sunday after 359 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: the blizzard, at the Salem Mennonite Church in Dakota Territory, 360 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,159 Speaker 1: the minister made an announcement that a farmer had found 361 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 1: five bodies in a firebreak on his property. They were 362 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: the children of several different families who were part of 363 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,199 Speaker 1: that congregation, who had wandered miles off course in the 364 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: storm after being separated from their teacher and other classmates. 365 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:55,160 Speaker 1: That school teacher, teacher at a shattuck that we mentioned earlier, 366 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: was found in the haystack where she had taken refuge, 367 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: having miraculously survived more than three days buried inside it. However, 368 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,920 Speaker 1: she died after a series of amputations due to gang 369 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:11,360 Speaker 1: green following severe frostbite. Other survivors of the initial blizzard 370 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: had similar fates, dying later on due to complications in 371 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: the late effects of their prolonged exposure. It's nearly impossible 372 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: to calculate an exact death toll from the Schoolhouse blizzard. 373 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: The areas that were most affected were also the most remote, 374 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 1: so the records are really spotty, and in some cases 375 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 1: people's bodies weren't found for weeks or months after the event. 376 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: The estimate, though, is often around two hundred or three 377 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: hundred people killed. This tragedy did prompt many communities to 378 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: reinforce their schoolhouses, replacing sod structures with frame and making 379 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: frame structures sturdier and more weather tight. Chief Signal Officer 380 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:54,199 Speaker 1: Adolphus Washington Greeley really downplayed the severity and impact of 381 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,159 Speaker 1: this storm and completely dismissed the idea that the Signal 382 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,320 Speaker 1: Corps could or should have have foreseen it and the 383 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 1: monthly weather review. He called the scale of it an exaggeration, 384 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 1: and he placed the blame squarely on the fact that 385 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: much of the territory involved was newly settled. Lieutenant Thomas 386 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 1: Mayhew Woodriff was eventually made to give a report of 387 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: why the order to fly the cold wave flags had 388 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: come so late, but this seems to have been more 389 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: because of an ongoing dispute he had with another meteorologist 390 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,119 Speaker 1: than over any actual concern about his performance. He was 391 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: ultimately offered another position in the army and left the 392 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 1: Signal Corps. He died of yellow fever during the Spanish 393 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,320 Speaker 1: American War. Unlike some of our other episodes in which 394 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: a terrible tragedy led to reforms that prevent prevented such 395 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: occurrences in the future, this wasn't quite the case. In 396 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:47,160 Speaker 1: that March, another massive storm struck, this time in northeastern 397 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: North America. It was so severe and profound that it 398 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: was nicknamed the Great White Hurricane that killed at least 399 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: four hundred people. Similarly, warnings about this storm came quite late, 400 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: in part because the Signal core station was closed from 401 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 1: midnight Saturday until five pm Sunday, which was a critical 402 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,399 Speaker 1: forecasting window for this particular storm. Port cities along the 403 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: northeastern coast consequently got absolutely no warning that the storm 404 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,719 Speaker 1: was coming, leading to thousands of people being stranded and 405 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:21,159 Speaker 1: numerous ships at anchor being damaged or completely destroyed. The 406 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: storm basically blew in from the sea and shoved ships 407 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: at anchor into their moorings and into the shore and 408 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: just tore them to pieces. In eight nine, in part 409 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: because this March failure in forecasting had become such a 410 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: huge national embarrassment, I mean, the death toll was larger 411 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: and a lot more people were stranded. These were like 412 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: the bigger cities to be frank, people cared about more 413 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,560 Speaker 1: than they necessarily cared about the frontier. Uh. The President, 414 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: Benjamin Harrison recommended that the task of forecasting the weather 415 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: be taken to be taken out of the hands of 416 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,360 Speaker 1: the Department of War and given instead to the Department 417 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:06,399 Speaker 1: of Agriculture by all civilian United States Weather Bureau was 418 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:10,120 Speaker 1: in place, and that did eventually become the National Weather Service. 419 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: And that is a schoolhouse blizzard. It's so extremely sad. 420 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: Along with a basic introduction on on how weather forecasting 421 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: developed in the United States, UM, there was a There 422 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,960 Speaker 1: are so many stories Number one in all its theory. 423 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: If you're able to get your hands on a copy 424 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 1: of that book, I'm imagining it's fascinating because it's all 425 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,160 Speaker 1: these first person accounts that were written down by people 426 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: who were alive, uh in, And it was reprinted about 427 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: a hundred years after the storm camp but it's out 428 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: of print now. Um. My only option to read it 429 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 1: would have been to purchase a copy, which I couldn't 430 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 1: do with this particular time. But uh, but if you're 431 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,120 Speaker 1: able to get your hands on it, maybe your library 432 00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: has it. I'm imagining it has to be fascinating and heartbreaking. Um. 433 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: And then The Children's Bizzard by David Laskin was another 434 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: book that I read leading up to this, which does 435 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: make a lot of use of that existing firsthand material. 436 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: And so one of the things that I had thought 437 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,439 Speaker 1: about putting into the episode that I did not was 438 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:20,240 Speaker 1: from a letter from like a Norwegian homesteader who basically 439 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 1: came home and wrote this very matter of fact letter 440 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,880 Speaker 1: about how he found his beloved wife rose to death 441 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,879 Speaker 1: and then they found their child rose to death, and 442 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 1: the only one left alive was the baby who had 443 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: been like bundled up in a crib. The whole thing 444 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 1: enormously sad, in my opinion, sadder than the Sodder Children, 445 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: which took its place in my research schedule. Uh, I'm 446 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:54,199 Speaker 1: home that you have less dour listener mail, my listener 447 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: mail is not particularly dour, and it's kind of interesting. 448 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 1: This is Uh. We've gotten several notes about our our 449 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: unearth and episode where we talk about one of the 450 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,640 Speaker 1: discoveries from Egypt, in which you will find vastly different 451 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,879 Speaker 1: spellings of the names of the people involved. And some 452 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: of them makes sense, but some of them feel like 453 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,960 Speaker 1: somebody put all the syllables in a bag and shook 454 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: it up and then pulled them back out again to 455 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: make a new name. Um. So we've gotten several letters 456 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,080 Speaker 1: and they all say basically the same thing. Uh. And 457 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna read from one of them, and 458 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:27,640 Speaker 1: this from Libby, and Libby says, Hi, guys, I love 459 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:30,159 Speaker 1: on Earth Show. I thought I might be able to 460 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: clear up some confusion with the many spellings of that 461 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: fourth dynasty Faris name. I'm not an Egyptologist, but I 462 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: am a historical novelist who specializes in ancient Egyptian fiction. 463 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 1: As such, I've done a tone of reading through Egyptology 464 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,360 Speaker 1: texts and papers, and I'm fairly familiar with ancient Egyptian 465 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: naming conventions. The variation in his name and in virtually 466 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: all other ancient Egyptian names. You'll encounter, if you read 467 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: around enough, comes from two different quirks of the Egyptian 468 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 1: written language they called their language and culture kimp too, 469 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,960 Speaker 1: by the way. I think that's camp it too, by 470 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:06,200 Speaker 1: the way, which you'll find spelled in several different ways, 471 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: so maybe one of those is the way I pronounced 472 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: it the first time. Camas recorded very few vowel sounds. 473 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,680 Speaker 1: Most of their writing shows only consonant sounds, so ranaferre 474 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:21,919 Speaker 1: flash nef refras name would have been written, and this 475 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,400 Speaker 1: is written as a series of rs ends and f's 476 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 1: in a couple of different orders depending on who wrote 477 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,360 Speaker 1: it down and where may have actually been pronounced ray 478 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: nef ear oof or reneof or if or any combination 479 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: of vowel sounds. You can imagine Egyptologists have made educated 480 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: guesses about pronunciations based on vowel consonant combinations used in Coptic, 481 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: which is the closest living language to kem it to 482 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,159 Speaker 1: you that is still spoken today. The lack of recorded 483 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: vowel sounds also explain explains why Kent Cass's name is 484 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,120 Speaker 1: spelled many different ways in these articles, and why I'm 485 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: spelling it a totally different way here in addition to 486 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: the lack of vowel sounds, Royals names recorded on official 487 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: monuments such as a tomb were written vertically and encircled 488 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: by a cartouche and oval shaped rope that denoted divine 489 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: status of the royal blood. Rarely you will find names 490 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 1: written bottoms top instead of top to bottom. Actually we 491 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,880 Speaker 1: don't know which direction was considered the standard and which 492 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: was the variation. I can tell you that earlier Egyptians 493 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,680 Speaker 1: names tended to stress the ray before the neffer, while 494 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: later names New Kingdom a couple of thousand years later 495 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,119 Speaker 1: tended to stress the neffer before the ray. So it 496 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,199 Speaker 1: could be that the Egyptologists who wrote his name uh 497 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: nefer Effy was was just more used to working with 498 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: the New Kingdom sites and assumed that was a correct 499 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: way to say his name. I hope this didn't confuse 500 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: you further. Thanks for a great show, Libby, Thank you Libby, 501 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 1: so cool. It's very cool. Uh And if you know, 502 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: and if if any Egyptologists wants to confirm or refute that, 503 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: we would be happy to hear from you. I found 504 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: it extremely interesting and it lines up with basically the 505 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: same thing that several different um enthusiast and hobby is 506 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: egypt aficionados wrote into us. I found it super interesting 507 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: and also kind of highlights why sometimes figuring out how 508 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: to pronounce things in ancient languages is an impossible to 509 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,200 Speaker 1: task for Holly and me well and even for scholars, 510 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:22,720 Speaker 1: because things shift and evolve there they So I wonder 511 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: if all those people that wrote us are excited that 512 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: the I think the next Assassin's Creed is going to 513 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,160 Speaker 1: be in Egypt, if I remember, if I saw the 514 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: correct kind line, So maybe it'll be fun for all 515 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 1: of us. I hope that we get a lot of 516 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: notes that variously referenced Assassin's Creed. That's why I thought 517 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: maybe our listeners would like that information that they do. 518 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: I know that people really liked it. When before the Holidays, 519 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: I went out to Boston Common to take pictures do 520 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: some periscope from the Christmas tree that that comes from 521 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 1: Halifax to Boston every year. After the um, after the 522 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: Boston and I'm after the Halifax explosion, suddenly it all 523 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: got twisted in my head. Um and I took a 524 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 1: picture of the frog pond in Boston Public Garden, which 525 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: is basically a place called Swans Pond and Fallout Floor 526 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,280 Speaker 1: and I put that on our Twitter and people got 527 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: really excited about that. So we definitely have some Fallout 528 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: four fans and the listeners including me. Super cool yep. 529 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,480 Speaker 1: So if you would like to write to us, we're 530 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: at History Podcasts at how stuff works dot com. We're 531 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: also on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash and it's 532 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: been history and on Twitter, I missed in History. Our 533 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: tumbler is missed in History dot tumbler dot com, or 534 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: on Pinterest at pinterest dot com slash missed in History. 535 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: He would like to learn more about what we talked 536 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,880 Speaker 1: about today, You can come to our parent company's website, 537 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,280 Speaker 1: which is houstaff works dot com. Put the word lizard 538 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: in the search of bar. You will find an article 539 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: called ten Biggest Snowstorms of All Time, which does talk 540 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: about that East Coast blizzard of the Great White Hurricane 541 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: that we just talked about. Um that shoved shoved ships 542 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: into the shore and caused people to be lost at 543 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,959 Speaker 1: sea and stranded and generally was awful. So you can 544 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: also come to our website, which is missed in History 545 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: dot com and find an entire archive of every episode 546 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: we've ever done, plus show notes For all the ones 547 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,080 Speaker 1: Holly and I have done. You can do all that 548 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: and a whole lot more at how stuff works dot 549 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: com or miss in history dot com for more on 550 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff 551 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: works dot com.