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Closer to home, the deadly Spring Blizzard of 1920 hit North Dakota.
And on this day, that storm resulted in the tragic death of Hazel Miner
The death of the 15 year old was tragic in every sense. It came as part of an effort to send children home early from school. She and her siblings traveled to and from school in winter by sleigh, but a sleigh driven by her father. Her father in fact was at the school and asked Hazel to hold the horse that was tacked up to the sleigh in check as he went back to the barn. She wasn't strong enough and the horse bolted into the blizzard with her father out of sight.
The blizzard was so intense that the slight couldn't be found. It wrecked, getting her wet, and she kept her to younger sisters war as she slowly succomend to hypothermia.
On the same day Herman, Soren, Ernest and Adolph Wohlk all died from hypothermia trying to return to their family farm. The school boys, ages 14 through 9, nearly made it before their sleigh became stuck. The oldest died attempting to walk to the farm for help. Two of the others lived long enough for their father to find them in the sleigh, but they died shortly thereafter.
They weren't alone, a total of 34 North Dakotans died in the storm. Miner was lauded as a folk hero for her actions for years thereafter.
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