The horses in bands were scattered and lost, dying as they floundered in the deep snows.

Even the hunters were cut off from one another, the hunters' families were driven hither and thither, and in many cases separated on the wide snowy plains.

Sheriff Ross, who was a visitor from the Settlement to Pembina in the dreary winter there, describes the scene of horror.

"Families here and families there despairing of life, huddled themselves together for warmth, and in too many cases, their shelter proved their grave.

At first, the heat of their bodies melted the snow; they became wet, and being without food or fuel, the cold soon penetrated, and in several instances froze the whole into a body of solid ice.