“Two Companions”

The Dakota winter of 1937 stretched out too long for farm boys Charles Almos and Clayton Week. They lived with their parents on the Coteau des Prairies eight and ten miles west of Sisseton. During their high school years, the boys shared room and board in town.

For over a month, snowdrifts the height of telephone poles blocked Highway 10 west of town leaving little hope for the boys to get home for a weekend with their families. One Friday, the invincible, yet lonesome, lads started out on foot towards home. After four miles of breaking through drifts they were cold and exhausted. All they could think of was lying down to rest. By now they had reached the coteau where winds racing along the hillsides whip the snow into unexpected blizzards. Sensing the danger of losing their way in the storm, the boys prodded each other along through the stinging snow. Good fortune led them to the homestead of Tobias and Bertha Herigstad where they received food and warm beds unitl they could be picked up by their parents. With grateful hearts the boys grew to manhood, ever acknowledging the hospitality of the Herigstad’s which saved their lives.

Roberts County, 6 miles west of Sisseton on Hwy 10