to a family that might make less than $5k per year, it is a luxury. Not sure it would have helped. One time I was working at the store about 1/4 mile from my motherinlaw's house late about 9pm. A whiteout came thru and it took me 1.5 hrs to get home. You would aim for a barely visible glow over the drifts, get there. Try to figure out whose house it was and look for another landmark. Another time I was leaving the larger store with my brother in law after work in whiteout conditions. About 1/2 mile accross an open area. I have a brain condition that is GPS like. I have been confused once or twice but never lost. We were going acrross the slough on a snogo when I banged him on the shoulder and said he was missing the house. He had lived there all his life of 40 yrs at the time. He insisted he was going the correct way. I got off the sled because I knew he was wrong. He followed me to ensure I didnt get lost and we ended up home. It scared him because the way he was going was open water in the bering sea very quickly. dead reckoning on a flat landscape wih no landmarks or visibility with a compass is chancy as hell.
thanx,
bill