The blizzard that blew away the Old West

Dawson School, Dawson, Minnesota, 1888.

Monday was the 136th anniversary of the Big Die-Up, a snowstorm that starved cattle who could not forage for food. Many cattlemen went broke. Those who didn’t leave put up fences and grew grain to feed their herds.

The worse was yet to come. A year later, the Children’s Blizzard killed 500 people, many of whom were schoolchildren trying to make their way home in blinding snow and sub-zero temperatures. Its 135th anniversary is Thursday.