Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1873-06-07
THE 10 VA TORNADO.


which swept through two counties in
Iowa, on Thursday last, has already
been given in our columns in very
graphic detail, by our correspondent on
the spot. Incredible as some of these
details may appear, they are neverthe
less true. NO words can exnggcrate the
destructive power of one of these cy-
clones, when it gathers full force and
sets out upon its errand of disaster and
death. In level country nothing can
withstand their shock. The firmly
rooted mountains offer the only barrier
to their progress, and even upon II
monntain-sidc they will destroy trees,
shrubs and vegetation, and hurl rocks
about like playthings, before they are
finally dissipatcd. The recent tornado
i'll its various features, recalls that which
destroyed the towns of Camanche and
New Albany, in the same State, some
years ago, with the exception that the
Cnmanche tornado travelled much faster
than the Washington one, and passed
over much wider and longer extent of
country, not having expended its force
entirely until it reached some point in
Eastern Wisconsin. In their methods
of destruction, however, the two were
precisely similar. In each of these dis
asters the same popularity of total de-
struction was visible. 1t is not remark
able that large and prominent objects
like houses, churches, barns, or even
trees, should be rent to pieces when
struck by this terrible whirling wind,
but its capabilities for destroying, tear
ing as,,ndcr, splitting and literally pick
ing to pieces the smallest and most min
ute objects even, almost stagger belief.
The eccentricities and freaks of these
tornadoes in causing destruction have no
parallel i'll any other of the natura
forces. The Camanche tornado, like
that at Washington, plucKed the feath-
crs from fowls, literally hayed cattle,
disemboweled sheep, cleaned corn-cobs
of every kernel, tore grass up by the
roots, wrenched the leaves out of books,
tore the leaves off from shrubs, and de-
nudcd trees which were not torn up of
their bank. There was, in fact, nothing
so small or insignificant as to escape
their visitation. They were thoroughly
impartial in the bestowal of their favors,
although the results of their rough
handling of things were not always the
same. For instance, in the Camanche
tornado, one piano was whirled through
the air for at least an eighth of mile,
and when it came down alighted like
cat, feet first, into the soft mud on the
river bank, none the worse for it's aerial
journey, except that after such a shak-
ing up it needed tuning. All the rest of
the pianos in Camanche, however, were
torn into splinters. In the Washington
tornado, some of the cattle which took
the same journey as the rest escaped un-
harmed, while others had their hides
taken off, horns and all, or were driven
head first into the ground.
1t is evident from the operations of
these tornadoes that science can sug-
gest no precautions against them. Their
origin is as mysterious as their result is
disastrous. They give no warning of
their coming by any unusual agitation
of nature. They leave no time for the
escape of anything within their course.
1t has thus far almost always happened
that their visitations have been attended
by a hot, sultry atmosphere, still, dead
air, and a peculiar yellowish light but
these are conditions which often occur
i'll the warm season, and may happen
many times in summer without causing
any natural phenomenon or disturbance
of any sort whatever. Science may pre-
diet the coming rain and snow and i'm
mediate changes in temperature. 1t
may even indicate with certainty the
approach of heavy gales, but it can no
more indicate with certainty the vista
tion of Il cyclone than it can the erup-
ton of volcano or the outbreak of an
earthquake. Thirty or forty years ago,
little whirl of dust in a village street
in Western Massachusetts, such as may
be seen almost any summer day, de-
veloped into a tornado, which swept for
miles with terrific fury, until it was
broken by the Berkshire hills, with
which it came in contact. Usually,
however, there is not even this much
notice given. The huge monster whirls
through the air with the speed of rifle
ball, and swoops down upon a village so
suddenly that very few people in it's
course have time to escape to their eel
lars or other underground excavations,
which are the only places of safety. In
an entirely open country, where the view
is mobstructed, the approach of the
tornado may be seen for some distance,
if the sky happens to be clear, but even
then its speed is so rapid that it strikes
village almost as soon as it is dis
covered. 1t affords no data, however,
for scientific research it leaves no traces
behind except those of destruction. 1t
is one of those vast, appalling, and
gigantic forces of nature whose mystery
science has never been able to pierce.
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