After a brutal cold period, the morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually pleasant. It was warm enough for Dakota Territory homesteaders to go outside once more, and their kids could go back to school without their bulky jackets, leaving them unprepared for when calamity struck. A terrible, rapidly approaching blizzard rolled in without prior notice at the time when the majority of prairie schools were finishing up for the day. Teachers as young as sixteen were suddenly forced to make life or death decisions: Send the kids home in the hopes that they won't get lost in the storm, or keep them inside at the danger of freezing to death when the fuel runs out?