Stuck in a Blizzard

February 25, 1930  I was in Winnipeg and bought a passport for $8.08.  The trip to Winnipeg cost me $1.15 and the return was also $1.15.  In the morning I went along with Jacob R. Klassen to Silver Plains.  Peter J. Loewen went along also.  It was snowing with wind in the morning.  At 7:00 p.m. my boys Jacob and Corney came to get me.  It was dark already when they came, and it quite a blizzard.  We lost our way in the deep snow.  We traveled four hours, which was not pleasant.

This is the first entry in Cornelius’ first surviving diary, and in it he records preparation for a life-changing trip that he was about to make.  In the morning, when it was already snowing and blowing, he and two friends went from Rosenort, where they lived, to Silver Plains so that he could catch the train to Winnipeg.  Jacob R. Klassen was his maternal cousin and seems to have been a close friend because they visited frequently.  And Peter J. Loewen was a close friend and second cousin who lived just across the Morris (or Scratching) River from the Siemens.

Cornelius went to Winnipeg to buy a passport for his trip to the United States.  He caught the train to Winnipeg on the Canadian National Railway line that ran from the US border up through Morris to Winnipeg.  Notice that he records every penny that he spent.  The Siemens were poor, and he no doubt thought carefully about every cent that he spent.  Mary probably packed him a lunch to take along to save money.

By evening when he returned, it was a raging blizzard.  Jake and Corney came to pick him up at the train station, and it was already dark when they came.  They had to travel the 9 miles/14 km back to their farm in darkness and blowing snow.  We do not know for sure, but very likely they were riding in an open wagon.  (On March 3, Cornelius recorded that he took guests somewhere in the wagon, and he would have used a buggy if they had one.  Quite a few people had cars by this point and almost everyone had a buggy, but the Siemens seem to have had neither because they were very poor.)  Due to the blowing snow and darkness, they got stuck in deep snow.  This must have been a terrifying moment because people froze to death if they got lost or stuck on the open prairie.  Blowing snow and darkness is extremely disorienting, so it is easy to get off the road or even worse to turn gradually and unconsciously so that the wind is at your back and to drift off into the prairie.  But somehow the three of them (Jake was 16 and Corney 14), got the wagon out of the deep snow and back on the road.  After four freezing hours, when it would have been 11:00 p.m., they arrived safely home thanks to God’s protection.  Mary (18) and John (12) were no doubt relieved that their father and brothers had returned.

Map of southeastern Manitoba, showing where the Siemens farm and Silver Plains were located in relation to Winnipeg.