So I read this book during the height of our midwest blizzard. Since I was sitting in a warm comfy environment: heat, lights, food as I read I realized I have nothing to complain about compared to those poor immigrant pioneers. They suffered so much just to have a better life for their children. They believed all that some schmuck newspaper reporter told them. And to top everything off, while we find weather reporting a rather ordinary thing and hardly political these days, back then weather reporting functioned much like the rest of government does today: filled with red tape and useless delays. Everything changes. Nothing changes.