The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-05-11
CYCLONES.
Their Frequency and Terrible Work in
n Mississippi Valley.
st. Louis Republican.

st. Louis Republican.
Usually the first accounts of disasters are
more or less exaggerated, but in the case of
the recent cyclone the latest developments are
the worst. The deaths at Marshfield-count-
ing those already dead, and those whose
injuries are likely to prove fatal-will hardly
fall short of 100; while other towns, with
isolated settlements, will probably add twenty
five or fifty more. The number of persons
permanently disabled cannot be estimated,
nor is il possible to calculate the loss of
property. Enough is known, however, to
Justify the statement that it IS the severest
calamity of the kline that ever visited this
country since the European occupation, and
no flood or fire in this country has ever caused
such loss of life. We must 20 to the tropical
regions to find a parallel for it, either in
meteorological peculiarities or in destructive
ness.
The Republican, in its notices of former
cyclones, has taken the ground that their fire.
quent occurrence indicates important changes
in what may be termed our atmospheric sur
r%oundings but the assumption That c~yclonic
visitations are more frequent is disputed by
some whose opinions are entitled to high re-
spect. 1t is claimed that the seeming fire.
quency is due to the more thickly settled
condition Of the rural districts, enabling lis
to hear Of every one that occurs, and that the
| occurrence of many unrepOrted ones is proved
by the "windrows,'' or areas of fallen timber,
| often discovered in the virgin forest. This
objection, we think, is deprived of much of its
force by the fact that the sections in Illinois,
Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas, where cyclones
have latterly been so disagreeably abundart,
have been at least tolerably thickly settled for
twenty five or thirty years. During that
period there have always been enough people
scattered through these localities to kno
what was going on and a cyclone, whether
near or remote in its point of attack, could
not be ovei looked or forgotten. Tradition. if
nothing else, would have transmitted the
story. But up to 1860, the stories are very
few and far between. Our files from 1908 to
1860 do not furnish a dozen; but since the
last mentioned year, when a cyclone struck
Alton. they have been numerous so that now
scarcely a season passes without two or three
disturbances of this ort-no all If them
serious in their consequences, but all having
! the same distinctive and unmistakable char
acteristicS. Previous to 1860, gales or hurri-
calles sufficiently strong to blow down fences
and unroof houses were not uilcoinmon ; but
the tunncl-shaped cloud with its vibrating
tail, whirling trees. stones, buildings, animals,
aud men into the air, and sweeping the earth
like Il demon OF wrath, was never seen Or
heard of in northern ialitudes.
Therefore we think there can be no reason
able doubt that our atmospheric surroundings
are changing, or have already changed-and
not for the better. Whether the scientific
investigation which the Malslifiell calamity
NAV provoke will throw much light upon all
obscure and all-important subject, is extremely
doubtful. But any light, however small and
feeble, is better than total darkness; and we
trust the investigators-who ought to have
the aid and encouragement of the federal
government-will do their work as thoroughly
as possible.