10 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN after that they choked in the dust and prayed for rain. An Oregon emigrant of 1851 tells of a terrible storm of three days duration encountered at Fort Kearney, then closes with the remark, "After this rain, we had no more rain until we got to Oregon! !" 45 The rains filled the streams which were ordinarily forded to overflowing, forcing the emigrants to resort to improvised bridges and ferries. 46 To those accustomed to life in the states the storms of the plains were remarkable in their severity. Such ac- counts as the following are common. "During the night we were visited by a tremendous tempest, such as no person in our company had ever seen previously. The storm raged with unceasing fury from ten at night until four in the morning—six long hours. The heavens seemed on fire, so continuous was the lightning's blaze. Crashes of thunder followed each other in quick succession, shak- ing the earth and rolling in terriffic grandeur over the boundless plain. The elements were all in arms, and seemed waging a war of unsparing vengeance against all who were exposed to their attack. Both rain and hail fell in frightful quantities. A mixture of icy pebbles and water, at one time covered the ground to a depth of six inches. The winds blew a perfect hurricane, and every tent was blown down." The men were forced to take to the covered wagons when the tents blew down. Through it all the sentinels' guard on the stock singing out "two o'clock and all is wet !" 47 These storms often did more than merely beat down the tents and force their occupants to the wagons. They often caused the cattle and oxen to stampede and scatter over the prairie. On the night of May 29, 1849, a terrible storm broke upon the emigrants near the forks of the 45 Brooks, Quincy A., "Letter of Quincy Adams Brooks," Oregon His- torical Society Quarterly, Vol. XV, p. 213 .
- «Ibid., p. 211 .
47 Langworthy, op. cit., pp. 30-31 .
