The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-05-06
The April Cyclones.

WHEN the actual extent OF the area
traversed by the fearful tornado of April
1s is asccrtained by the SignatService Blu
reau, and the complete records of its disas-
ter are made up, it will unquestionably prove
to have been one of the most widesweeping
storms that have ever devastated this country,
in the length and breadth Of its course as well
of life it entatcd-nOt even excepting the fu-
riOuS cyclone which some years ago destroyed
Camanchc and New Albany, in Iowa.
>, 1t is as yet too early to determine the actual
but It's general course is apparent. 1t was
preceded on the 18th by smaller cyclone.
which whiried through Southern OHIO and
West Virginia, but was not accompanied by
any serious loss. The great tornado two days
later, seems to have gathc ed its first Roadway
in Ozark COUNTY, Arkansas, or it was at that
point that 1t first de cendcd to the earth.
From there it Travelled in moth casterly direc-
tioA, doing its worst damage in the northern
part Of the State, where the Towns of Ell Paso
nellie partially des rOyed, ten people being
killed. AS it entered Missouri. up the Valley
course and sweeping everything before it.
Licking, Barrettsvilc and Marshfeli were
DESTROYED, and Findi,y, tineyile Cassville,
partially so. Its full fury was ex-
pended upon Marshfield, where one hundred
and eighty buildings were levcled to the
lost. So far IS known, one hundred and TWEEN
ty-one people were killed in Missouri, and the
list OF injured runs up into the hundreds.
Within is area the destruction was complete.
Houses. barns, fences, trees, shrubbery, every
thing was swept away. The destruction was
as complete as II a fire had swept over the
country. After leaving Missouri the monster
began to lose some Of his power. The eastern
edges of Iowa and Kansas were touched lightly
at Dubuque, Wyandotte and Lawrence. Cross
ing the Mississippi, it seemed to gtther little
more force and its effects were falt at Rock.
ton. La Sale, Ottawa, Ashland and OF her points
north Of the Illinois River. AS it entered
Wisconsin its area grew narrower, for we only
hear OF it in Rock County, where ten o. eleven
killed. It seems to have died away at Man;to-
voc. on the western shore of Lake Michigan,
where so many Other sto ms Of this descrip-
,ion have spent their force. Following in the
through Adams County. in this State, on the
I'D, and MacOupin County on the 9th. doin !.
considerable damage, but insignificant us COM
scription of the cyclone exactly tallies with
that of the other great ones which have started
IN the distant Southwest. carrying ruin and
sipating their force on Lake Michigan
lined with white inside, whfrIing with
innconceivable rapidity. accompanied with
points with sheets Of rain, roaring like
some huge animal, dipping down to the earth
and bounding from 1t again like q balloon that
it's vortex and whirling it out again over the
edges of its funnel over the country It was
passing. In some places showers of sand were
thrown from it, and in others stones, branches
OF trees, fragments of houses, and all kinds of
debris: When the complete history Of the
tornado OF April IL Is made up it wi / unqnes-
tionabiy prove tn have been the most extern.
the nississippi Valley Chicago srs0csan,