Hazel Miner
Encyclopedia
Hazel Dulcie Miner the daughter of a North Dakota
farmer
and a student at a one-room school
, died saving her 10-year-old brother, Emmet, and 8-year-old sister, Myrdith, during a spring blizzard
in Center
, Oliver County, North Dakota
.
After her death, she became a national heroine. Her actions have been celebrated in a folk ballad
and in newspaper and magazine articles for nearly 90 years.
in Bismarck, North Dakota
that fall.
On March 15, 1920, the first day of the blizzard, the Miner children's one-room school
let out early to enable the students to reach their homes before the storm hit. Many of the country school students, like the Miner children, were used to driving back and forth to school with a horse and buggy, but the school teacher had a rule that no child was permitted to drive home in bad weather without permission from a parent. William Miner, who was worried about the blizzard conditions, rode the two miles to the school on a saddle horse to escort his children home. At about one o'clock he hitched their horse, "Old Maude," up to their light sleigh and told Hazel to wait while he went back to the school's barn to get his horse. Hazel wasn't strong enough to keep the horse from heading out into the blizzard before her father came back from the barn. William Miner searched for his children, but soon realized they must have gotten lost and went home to mount a search party. All throughout the countryside, farm families manned phone lines, summoning men to join a search party to look for the missing Miner children. Even though she was familiar with the road, Hazel quickly became disoriented by the blinding white snow that made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of her. A warm coat, hat, gloves and sturdy, one-buckle overshoes couldn't keep her hands and feet from becoming numb in the freezing temperatures. When the sled hit a coulee, Hazel slid from the sled into waist-deep, mushy snow. She said, "Oh, my! I am wet clear to the waist and my shoes are full of water," her brother recalled later. The harness
had slipped and she had to readjust it. Soaking wet, freezing, and exhausted, Hazel led the horse forward into the swirling white snow, only to discover she had lost sight of the road. There were few landmarks on the prairie
to guide them.
The children continued on, growing more tired and cold. Then the sled again hit an obstruction and tipped over, throwing Hazel over the dashboard into the snow. Hazel, Emmet, and Myrdith tried to push the sled upright, but weren't strong enough, even with all three of them pushing. Using the overturned sled as a shelter, Hazel spread two blankets, told Emmet and Myrdith to lie down, and placed a third blanket atop them. The children tried to keep moving to stay warm. Hazel huddled beside her brother and sister, warming them with her body heat, and told them stories to keep them awake. They sang all four verses of "America the Beautiful
," a song they had sung during opening exercises at the country school that morning, and said the Lord's Prayer
. Hazel told her siblings again and again, "Remember, you mustn't go to sleep—even if I do. Promise me you won't, no matter how sleepy you get. Keep each other awake! Promise?" Her brother and sister promised. All night long the children could hear a dog barking, but no one came. As the night wore on, Hazel talked less and less, until she finally became silent.
Her brother Emmet later recalled the blizzard for an article in the March 15, 1963 Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune:
A search party of more than thirty men looked desperately for the children throughout the afternoon and evening. They had to give up when it grew dark, but set out again the next morning. When they finally found the children it was two o'clock on March 16, twenty-five hours since the children had first set out from the school house. The overturned sled, with the horse still hitched up to it, was resting in a coulee
two miles south of the school. "With breathless haste we harried to the rig and will never forget the sight that met our eyes," said one of the men. The searchers found the rigid Hazel lying over her siblings, covering them with her body. Her coat, which she had unbuttoned, was spread over the bodies of the two younger children and her arms were stretched out over them. Beneath her, still alive, were Emmet and Myrdith. "Maude," the gentle horse, was standing patiently beside the overturned sled, also still alive. If the horse had moved, the three children would have been tipped into the snow.
They took the three children to the home of William Starck, a neighbor, and cared for them "tenderly". Starck's daughter, Anna Starck Benjamin, who was 4½ at the time, remembered "the sound of Hazel's outstretched arms as they brushed against the furniture as they brought her into the house, and took her into my parents' bedroom. The crackling sound as that of frozen laundry brought in off the clothes line in winter. Then I remember the crying
, so much crying." They worked over Hazel for hours, trying to revive her, but there was no hope. Hazel's mother, Blanche, was brought to the Starck house when they found the children and sat in a chair, rocking and rocking, while they tended to the three children. Throughout the long night when the children were missing, she had been kept company by neighbors. At one point she drifted off, and said later that her daughter had come to her in a dream. In the dream, Hazel said, "I was cold, Mama, but I'm not anymore."
At Hazel's funeral, the minister
preached a sermon from John 15:13
: "Greater love hath no man that he lay down his life for his friend," and said, "Here and there are occasionally people who by their acts and lives endeavor to imitate Him."
Hazel was one of 34 people who died during the blizzard, which lasted three days.
Hazel became a posthumous heroine after her story became known. On January 15, 1921, an article in The North Dakota Children's Home Finder appeared about how "this guardian angel
of the prairies, covered with a thick sheet of ice, gave up her own life to save her brother and sister." The North Dakota Children's Home Society wanted to use publicity about Hazel's story to raise money to build an orphanage for children in the state. A memorial
committee was established in Center and talked of naming a new hospital in Hazel's honor, but some months later her parents said they wanted a memorial statue erected instead. Children across the state collected money to pay for a memorial.
Emmet and Myrdith were interviewed by various North Dakota newspapers numerous times in the years following the blizzard and many news articles have been written about Hazel. The story eventually attracted national attention. In 1952 the Ford Motor Company
commissioned two paintings of scenes from the story by North Dakota artist Elmer Halvorson. The paintings and an article about Hazel Miner were published in the February 1953 edition of the Ford Times.
In recent years, a folk ballad
entitled The Story of Hazel Miner was written by folk artist Chuck Suchy
of Mandan, North Dakota
. The song was recorded on Suchy's Much to Share (1986) cassette and on his Dancing Dakota (1989) cassette. In the song, recalling Hazel's outstretched arms, Suchy sings of "wings on the snow, a fate not chose, morning finds a dove
so froze." But "in warmth below, her love survived."
The May 30, 2002 centennial issue of the Center (N.D.) Republican featured a story about "Hazel Miner, Angel of the Prairies." The story was also recounted in Joe Wheeler's 2002 anthology Everyday Heroes: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Made a Difference (Forged in the Fire).
A Gothic
-style granite monument
honoring Hazel's memory was erected in front of the Oliver County Courthouse in 1936, sixteen years after her death, by former North Dakota governor L. B. Hanna
. The stone reads "In memory of Hazel Miner. To the dead a tribute, to the living a memory, to posterity an inspiration." Hazel's grave can be found in the Center Community Cemetery in Oliver County.
Today the story of Hazel and her actions during the 1920 blizzard are also studied by some students in North Dakota as part of a North Dakota history class.
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
and a student at a one-room school
One-room school
One-room schools were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room...
, died saving her 10-year-old brother, Emmet, and 8-year-old sister, Myrdith, during a spring blizzard
1920 North Dakota blizzard
The 1920 North Dakota blizzard was a severe blizzard that killed 34 people from March 15 – March 18, 1920 in the state of North Dakota. High winds and an eight-inch snowfall stopped rail service in Bismarck, North Dakota and only one telephone line functioned between Fargo, North Dakota. and...
in Center
Center, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 678 people, 279 households, and 196 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,743.8 people per square mile . There were 310 housing units at an average density of 797.3 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 93.81% White, 0.44%...
, Oliver County, North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
.
After her death, she became a national heroine. Her actions have been celebrated in a folk ballad
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and in newspaper and magazine articles for nearly 90 years.
Death in a blizzard
Hazel was the daughter of William Miner, a farmer, and his wife Blanche. "Kind of a quiet girl she was," recalled the county registrar of deeds, whose daughter had played with Hazel. "Sort of motherly, for one so young." Her father considered her highly dependable. Her obituary described her as "quiet and loving," with a "sunny, cheerful nature" and having a liking for children. She was an eighth-grader at the one-room school and had planned to start high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census, while its metropolitan population was 108,779...
that fall.
On March 15, 1920, the first day of the blizzard, the Miner children's one-room school
One-room school
One-room schools were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room...
let out early to enable the students to reach their homes before the storm hit. Many of the country school students, like the Miner children, were used to driving back and forth to school with a horse and buggy, but the school teacher had a rule that no child was permitted to drive home in bad weather without permission from a parent. William Miner, who was worried about the blizzard conditions, rode the two miles to the school on a saddle horse to escort his children home. At about one o'clock he hitched their horse, "Old Maude," up to their light sleigh and told Hazel to wait while he went back to the school's barn to get his horse. Hazel wasn't strong enough to keep the horse from heading out into the blizzard before her father came back from the barn. William Miner searched for his children, but soon realized they must have gotten lost and went home to mount a search party. All throughout the countryside, farm families manned phone lines, summoning men to join a search party to look for the missing Miner children. Even though she was familiar with the road, Hazel quickly became disoriented by the blinding white snow that made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of her. A warm coat, hat, gloves and sturdy, one-buckle overshoes couldn't keep her hands and feet from becoming numb in the freezing temperatures. When the sled hit a coulee, Hazel slid from the sled into waist-deep, mushy snow. She said, "Oh, my! I am wet clear to the waist and my shoes are full of water," her brother recalled later. The harness
Horse tack
Tack is a term used to describe any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates are all forms of horse tack...
had slipped and she had to readjust it. Soaking wet, freezing, and exhausted, Hazel led the horse forward into the swirling white snow, only to discover she had lost sight of the road. There were few landmarks on the prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
to guide them.
The children continued on, growing more tired and cold. Then the sled again hit an obstruction and tipped over, throwing Hazel over the dashboard into the snow. Hazel, Emmet, and Myrdith tried to push the sled upright, but weren't strong enough, even with all three of them pushing. Using the overturned sled as a shelter, Hazel spread two blankets, told Emmet and Myrdith to lie down, and placed a third blanket atop them. The children tried to keep moving to stay warm. Hazel huddled beside her brother and sister, warming them with her body heat, and told them stories to keep them awake. They sang all four verses of "America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
," a song they had sung during opening exercises at the country school that morning, and said the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
. Hazel told her siblings again and again, "Remember, you mustn't go to sleep—even if I do. Promise me you won't, no matter how sleepy you get. Keep each other awake! Promise?" Her brother and sister promised. All night long the children could hear a dog barking, but no one came. As the night wore on, Hazel talked less and less, until she finally became silent.
Her brother Emmet later recalled the blizzard for an article in the March 15, 1963 Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune:
A search party of more than thirty men looked desperately for the children throughout the afternoon and evening. They had to give up when it grew dark, but set out again the next morning. When they finally found the children it was two o'clock on March 16, twenty-five hours since the children had first set out from the school house. The overturned sled, with the horse still hitched up to it, was resting in a coulee
Coulee
Coulee is applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone.The word coulee comes from the Canadian French coulée, from French word couler meaning "to flow"....
two miles south of the school. "With breathless haste we harried to the rig and will never forget the sight that met our eyes," said one of the men. The searchers found the rigid Hazel lying over her siblings, covering them with her body. Her coat, which she had unbuttoned, was spread over the bodies of the two younger children and her arms were stretched out over them. Beneath her, still alive, were Emmet and Myrdith. "Maude," the gentle horse, was standing patiently beside the overturned sled, also still alive. If the horse had moved, the three children would have been tipped into the snow.
They took the three children to the home of William Starck, a neighbor, and cared for them "tenderly". Starck's daughter, Anna Starck Benjamin, who was 4½ at the time, remembered "the sound of Hazel's outstretched arms as they brushed against the furniture as they brought her into the house, and took her into my parents' bedroom. The crackling sound as that of frozen laundry brought in off the clothes line in winter. Then I remember the crying
Crying
Crying is shedding tears as a response to an emotional state in humans. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secretomotor phenomenon characterized by the shedding of tears from the lacrimal apparatus, without any irritation of the ocular structures"...
, so much crying." They worked over Hazel for hours, trying to revive her, but there was no hope. Hazel's mother, Blanche, was brought to the Starck house when they found the children and sat in a chair, rocking and rocking, while they tended to the three children. Throughout the long night when the children were missing, she had been kept company by neighbors. At one point she drifted off, and said later that her daughter had come to her in a dream. In the dream, Hazel said, "I was cold, Mama, but I'm not anymore."
At Hazel's funeral, the minister
Minister of religion
In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...
preached a sermon from John 15:13
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
: "Greater love hath no man that he lay down his life for his friend," and said, "Here and there are occasionally people who by their acts and lives endeavor to imitate Him."
Hazel was one of 34 people who died during the blizzard, which lasted three days.
Legacy
Guardian angel
A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity...
of the prairies, covered with a thick sheet of ice, gave up her own life to save her brother and sister." The North Dakota Children's Home Society wanted to use publicity about Hazel's story to raise money to build an orphanage for children in the state. A memorial
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
committee was established in Center and talked of naming a new hospital in Hazel's honor, but some months later her parents said they wanted a memorial statue erected instead. Children across the state collected money to pay for a memorial.
Emmet and Myrdith were interviewed by various North Dakota newspapers numerous times in the years following the blizzard and many news articles have been written about Hazel. The story eventually attracted national attention. In 1952 the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
commissioned two paintings of scenes from the story by North Dakota artist Elmer Halvorson. The paintings and an article about Hazel Miner were published in the February 1953 edition of the Ford Times.
In recent years, a folk ballad
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
entitled The Story of Hazel Miner was written by folk artist Chuck Suchy
Chuck Suchy
Chuck Suchy is a folk musician, songwriter, and working farmer from Mandan, North Dakota. Among his albums are Much to Share , Dancing Dakota , Dakota Breezes , Same Road Home , Different Line of Time , Evening in Paris , and Unraveling Heart .One of his folk ballads, featured on his Much to Share,...
of Mandan, North Dakota
Mandan, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,718 people, 6,647 households, and 4,553 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,642.8 per square mile . There were 6,958 housing units at an average density of 683.7 per square mile...
. The song was recorded on Suchy's Much to Share (1986) cassette and on his Dancing Dakota (1989) cassette. In the song, recalling Hazel's outstretched arms, Suchy sings of "wings on the snow, a fate not chose, morning finds a dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
so froze." But "in warmth below, her love survived."
The May 30, 2002 centennial issue of the Center (N.D.) Republican featured a story about "Hazel Miner, Angel of the Prairies." The story was also recounted in Joe Wheeler's 2002 anthology Everyday Heroes: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Made a Difference (Forged in the Fire).
A Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
-style granite monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
honoring Hazel's memory was erected in front of the Oliver County Courthouse in 1936, sixteen years after her death, by former North Dakota governor L. B. Hanna
L. B. Hanna
Louis Benjamin Hanna was the eleventh Governor of the state of North Dakota.-Background:Louis Benjamin Hanna was born in New Brighton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. His parents, Jason R. and Margaret Hanna died when he was a small boy, leaving him to be raised by his aunts. Louis Hanna grew up and...
. The stone reads "In memory of Hazel Miner. To the dead a tribute, to the living a memory, to posterity an inspiration." Hazel's grave can be found in the Center Community Cemetery in Oliver County.
Today the story of Hazel and her actions during the 1920 blizzard are also studied by some students in North Dakota as part of a North Dakota history class.