Survival in the Cold Old West

A combination of history and legend tells us that near midnight, on the eve of Christmas day 1866, a man appeared on horseback outside the gently-lit windows of the officers’ quarters at Fort Laramie in Dakota Territory. Seemingly immune from the frigid, hostile land that surrounded the fort, a Christmas ball proceeded inside the warm, protected building. Outdoors, a 25-below-zero wind was blowing over a foot of newly fallen snow. The rider dismounted his horse and asked to see the commandi