OUR FIRST WINTER IN WASHINGTON

WE were poorly prepared for winter. We had no horse, but for milk we milked one of my uncle's cows. We had been told that there was very little snow, but that first winter our family lived in Klickitat County, there was four feet of snow on the level.
father was to care for Uncle Doc's cattle. When the deep snow came, there was no way to get the feed to the cattle, and the snow was so deep the cattle couldn't wade through to the feed. So Father, who had come West for his health, dug a path through the four foot snow, a mile to where the feed was, and drove the cattle to it.

Indian ponies had been accustomed to pawing the snow from the bunch grass to eat, but the snow this year didn't allow them to get to the feed. They ate each other's manes and tails that winter. Many of them died.

Our wood had to be cut up on the hill from the house, and Father would tie it into bundles with rope and carry it to the house on his back. But it was rich in pitch, which was new to us, and the fuel grew on our own place. In spite of the snow, we were warm and comfortable.

Mr. and Mrs. William Tate

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