The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-04-29
The Great Storm.

The great storm that swept over the
Mississippi valley, recently, was more
destructive and widespread than at first
reported. 1t seemed to be more of tor
nado than a whirlwind. 1t was unac-
companied by rain or electric phenome.
ma. The tops of timber in its course
were twisted off: Dead horses,
COWS, hogs and dogs are found all along
the path Of the storm, and fowl are kill
ed. Some of the bodies of lighter an
finals were blown great distance.
Young trees are barked completely,
either by the force of the wind or the con-
tact Of the debris that filled the air. The
path Of the tornado averaged about
quarter ola mile in width. 1t was an i'm
mense cloud of conical shape, looking
much like the smoke from burning oil.
1t was dense]y black in the centre, but
lighter on the edge. 1trolled along with
roaring noise, aud by its centrifugal
force scattered the debris of the wreck it
was creating on either side. The air
was fairly filed with billions Of pieces
OF plank. One man who saw it said that
it was in shape like the little funnel
whirlwinds which are frequent in March,
carving little pieces OF paper and wood
round and round. The rolling motion
of the cloud is shown by the
trees, the tops of which are not
: The loss of life by the terrible tor.
field, Mo-, is greater than was at first sup
about 100, and nearly all the remainder
vicinity were more or less Injured. Of
the 200 buildings in the town, only
twenty remain. A dispatch of the 22nd
inst, says the loss of property aggregates
about $3.50, 900. The tornado made terri
BILE work in the counties of Christian,
and Moniteau, demolishing houses,
barns, fences, trees and everything in its
course. Great destruction is also
reported near Jefferson City
and other parts Of the state.
In addition to the nearly complete
humiliation of Marshtield il was very
destructive elsewhere, it nearly des-
troyed Fayetteville IN northern Arkansas
Coming from the southwest it struck and
destroyed the residences Of Mr.. Kitton,
DR.. Paddock, Mrs. Croch. J. E. Vaughn;
the masonic hall, the fremont house.
three story brick hotel, killing Mrs.
Gloss, wife of the proprietor; the Demo-
crat office is badly damaged. DR.. Balls
and Brown Bros. store, the cast end OF
the Mountain Home, and jennings
stable, and Coffey's two-story brick
house are an utter wreck. Eight or ten
frame dwellings cas-: of the town were lift
ed from their formations and torn to
atoms. Many houses are unroofed.
At Shawnee Mission, Kansas, a number
Of persons returning home from a funer
al, at 3 O'Clock in the afternoon, were
overtaken by the storm, and took refuge
in q shed adjoining a large brick store
of MIR. Routh. Shortly after the party
had taken shelter, part of the store was
blown down upon the shed, burying
dozen or more persons in the ruins, and
very seriously injuring D. G. Campbell,
II. Wilson, Mollie Brown and Title
Strong, and more or less injuring the re-
mainder Of the party. In the village of
Panther Valley, Mo-, seven persons were
killed outright and many wounded.
Numerous deaths are also reported from
Green county and from Henderson. The
town of Locking was entirely destroyed,
excepting three houses. Three hundred
persons are homeless, one life lost and
seventeen persons wounded-flve of them
seriously. Fifty thousand dollars DAM
age to all kinds of property in the coun:
~. II is reported that great damage and
loss of life occurred at Russelville thirty
five miles southwest OF Jefferson City.
and in Morgan county, but nothing def
mite has been received from there.
A report from Texas county says the
town of Licking was very badly torn up
one,half of the place being destroyed