The year 1886 opened with extremely cold weather and snowstorms even worse than the winter of 1880-1881. A series of cold spells and heavy snowfalls culminated in the first week of January, when a massive snowstorm accompanied by strong winds hit the Central Plains. Drifts of six feet or more were common and the temperature fell to 30 degrees below zero in some places. Many prairie homes had been built quickly and cheaply, leaving settlers ill-prepared to protect themselves from such cold. The snow and wind were so violent that people got lost just meters from their homes. Nearly 100 Kansans froze to death during the storm. The settlers were also not prepared to protect their livestock. Cattle would turn their tails into the wind and “drift” for miles across open pastures until they collapsed from hunger or exhaustion. Losses were high, as much as 75 percent in some areas, and as a result some large cattle companies in western Kansas were put out of business. Commercial and rail traffic was paralyzed for weeks. The force of eleven Union Pacific locomotives failed to "sneak through" and cut through the snow near ...