The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1885-06-20

Shortly before noon on the 7th, a
violent storm of wind and rain and
hail, coming from the Northwest,
struck the Southern Minnesota Rail
road at Ramsey, 100 miles west of La
miles, then southerly across Caledonia,
New Albin, Ia, to Victory, Vernon
County, Wis, and thence into the
state, gradually expending its force.
In the various towns on the Southern
Minnesota Road no great damage was
done by wind, but from the hail the
damage was very severe, the extent OF
which may be seen from the fact that
three carloads OF window glass were
ordered by telegraph hefollowing day.
Some fields of grain look as if they had
been newly narrowed, not green thing
being visible. In others the grain is
beaten to the ground, but will recover.
Nearly all the fruit in the narrow
belt of the storm is destroyed At
Spring Valley hail stone was picked
up weighing Is ounces and ) inches in
diameter. At Caledonia hail fell in
solid masses, breaking all the windows
exposed, beating down fruit trees, gar
dens and all growing crops, doing very
serious damage. At New Albin the
schoolhOuse, frame building, two
stories high, was demolished. 1t cost
81, 900. The elevator was piled in a
mass of wreckage upon the main track
OF the railroad. Seven residences were
totally wrecked, twenty unrOofed and
many others moved from their foun-
datIOns. -Four children were severely
!, h.,
ported. As showing the fury of the
storm, it is mentioned that boards
were driven by the wind completely
through the walls of buildings as
though fired from a cannon.
In Richland County wheat, oats,
corn and every growing vegetable were
literally pulverized and driven into
the ground. HaiI-stones fell that by
actual measurement We're SIX inches
in circumference. Many sheep, hogs
and calves were killed, and cattle and
hogs badly bruised by the falling hail
Roofs of buildings were splintered. and
shattered so that reshingling will be
necessary. In many instances the
hail-stOrm went clear through roofs.
Thousands of lights of glass on the
sides of the buildings exposed to the
storm were broken. The storm ragged
with great fury over an hour, and at
Its cessation the hail covered the
ground IN many places to the depth of
several inches. The wind also did
great damage by unroofing buildings,
uproOting trees and destroying TIM
Der. Lightning struck and burned a
house in the town of Rockbridge.
Of re
1t is impossible to estimate the dam
age dono throughout the county, but
it is great.
At Victory, Vernon County, a little
town on the Mississippi River, the
damage was most severe. The storm
reached that place at 1:35 p. NJ A
report from there says: Zone fierce
windstOrm came from the northeast
and another from the southwest, and
at once the town was enveloped in
thick darkness. Lurid flashes of
electricity, coming from all directions,
would for an instant swallow up the
gloom, and then the darkness was
made more terrible by the roaring of
the wind, and the crashing of falling
buildings would intervene. The storm
lasted only about thirty minutes, and
the return of sunlight revealed ter
rible state of affairs to the people who
emerged from their cellars, where
they had taken refuge. Their
eyes beheld fifty buildings in heap OF
ruins, dashed to pieces and tangled in
a mass of debris. Trees two feet in
diameter were torn up by the roots.
Not house wholly escaped damage,
and barges and boats along the river
bank were sunk like egg shells" The
principal losers are: G. c. Clark, gro
ceries and dry goods, roof torn off,
windows blown in and stock destroyed
by water or blown away, and house
wrecked and twisted so as to be worth
less. The big stone warehouse, belong
ing to Mrs. Cook, of Lyons, is badly
wrecked. A hotel was blown Gown
and the bedding scattered over the
country for a mile. There are some
100 families without shelter of their
own.
Considerable damage is reported
from other counties in the southern
and western parts OF the state.