The Portland daily press., 1869-10-12
Moro About The Great September Gale.

Mprc About The Great September Gale.
Mn ED1roR,-The gale of September Sth
was so extraordinary that 1T is to be hoped that
every observer will communicate to the pub
lie any facs within his knowledge, which may
throw light On its character or origin. have
seen no statement of the barometric readings
during the storm. but trust some one in the
city noted them.
am satisfied that shere were numerous lit
| tie tornadoes of terrific severity running in
parallel lines along the Lath OF the main storm,
aud that great and sudden exhaustion of at
mospherIc pressure, as well as violence of wind
marked their passage. ed
In proof of this am informed by Samuel
Small Esq, cashier of the Cumbeeland Bank
in this city, that his barn on Free street, was
securely fastened and every door and window
closed, and yet the great doors were isrced
outward with such violence as to draw stout
staple and throw it ten feet. How can this
phenomenon be explained except upon the
theory of the late Prof Espy, that the exhaus-
ton ofair outside was so great and sudden as
to explode the doors of the barn, by the instan-
taneous escape of part of the comparatively
condensed air within? Prof. Espy, records
the unroofing of house by a western tornado
without disturbing any article of furniture ex-
cept the bursting off of the top of writing
desk, and the splitting out of the bottom of a
drawer.
Great Chebeague exhibits unmistakable
proofs of several of these small tornadoes.
The neighborhood of Mr. William Little
field on the southeast side of the Island, OPP
posite Crow Island, a little below the Great
Cow, and nearly ten miles from this city, is
worthy visit. Between the shore aud the
nearest meeting house, distance of less than
half mile, the path of three or four separate
hurricanes is distinctly traceable through the
woods by the uproot,d and broken trees. In
each instance, the fallen trees all lie due north,
and the track of the hurricane is precisely in
tie same direction; not one of the trees which
have been snapped off or uprooted bears the
mark of any twist, and there is no indication
of anything like whirlwind.
The severest of these tornadoes passed quite
near the line about 100 feet east of Mr.. Little
fields buildings, which are unframed, and
striking the edge of his wood lot took off a
strip about Is feet wide, for O distance of
some 100 yards, until it reached a point where
the woods make right angle to the east
For this 100 yards, every tree is taken from
the eastern edge on a line due North, but evil
IDENTIFY three fourths of the force of the bur-
ricane was spent on the open land adjoin-
ing; for, reaching the angle above named,
you find a straight track of at least 100 feet in
width cleared through the woods for some 100
yards in the same direction. For this entire
width and length every tree of any size was
either uprooted or snapped off.
How far this particular tornado had travers-
ed the surface of the earth cannot be ascertain
ed, but it seems to have risen into the upper
regions very suddenly at the end of the second
hundred yards, for the end of the clearing is
almost as even an East and West line as a sur
veyor could have run, and the last row OF trees
lies at an angle of 45o inclination, leaning
against those just North of them, which last
stand upright, while little farther North one
or two very tall frees seem to have caught the
lower rim of the ascending hurricane, and are
uprooted. think any one would say that il
the neighboring house, barn and outbuildings
of MIR. Lttlefeld had been subjected to half
the force which cleared that path through his
woods, they must have been destroyed, or at
least seriously damaged, for they are entirely
unprotected.
Another singular circumstance is that the
wooden buildings built by the U. S. Govern
ment on Halfway Rock, off JEWELS Island this
spring, withstood the great gale of September
9Th, but disappeared during the night of Octo-
Der 4th.
As it is conceded that tho wind last Monday
was moderate in Casco Bay compared to that
OF September 9th, it would seem probable that
the buildings on Halfway Rock may have been
swept off by great tidal wave, which as was
predicted several weeks since by scientific men,
under the peculiar attraction of the sun and
moon on that night, rose SO many feet above
all former precedent in these waters, aud
sweeping along the coast, did SO much damage
at the Isle of Shoals and other points. G..