The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-07-21
AN UNsYrACKLED FURY.


S.-NR-.S -
AN UNSHEACKLED FURY.
vivid Description of a Wind Storm
ON the PraIrics.
We were camped ON the open prairie,
seventy miles from the nearest range Of
hills, with not tree or bush in sight as fai
as the eye could range. A few rods to the
east was dry ravine, perhaps six feet deep.
1t was one of those queer freaks of the
prairie, beginning nowhere, and not to be
seen until one rode into it. It crooked and
turned like the trail of serpent, but one
looking across the prairie saw nothing but
dead level.
Night shut down MS soft as a whisper and
the stars came out and looked cheerily
down on the faces of the men who rested
after hard days work. There was not
wind enough to turn feather There was
no sign in the heavens that danger menac
ed. At midnight the wakeful sentinel fell
agentle puff of wind lifting his long hair,
and from some distant point the bark of 6
coyote was waited TO his ears Ten minutes
liter the grass about him was bending to a
breeze, and the unsecured flaps of tho tent
began to whip. One of the sleepers was
aroused to make things secure and he was
none too soon. Away off to the west was
heard a mighty rushing rs the grass swish
cd in the wind, and dozens of dark forms
skurried past the tent in the direction of
the ravine. The animal life of the prairie
had become aroused.
Not in puffs, but with front like wall,
the wind came out of the west, increasing
in strength every moment An hour after
midnight the sentinel could no longer stand
against it, and the sleepers had been aroused
to hold the tent in place by main strength
Aquarter of an hour later 1t was picked up
as the human breath blows feather away.
Men shouted and screamed at each other,
but the wind took the words from their lips
and whirled them away unheard Blown
llong like so many puppets, the band fell
INTO the ravine for shelter, followed two
minutes later by oil the horses. The alarm
ID animals crowded up close to their human
friends, and they all lay down for further
security. The wagons were heard rushing
away to tumble into the ravine further
down, and now and then saddle or blanket
or cooking utensil flew over the ravine or
fell among the fugitiyes.
Altar up the mighty mountains vial of
wrath had been uncorked. Through the
gloomy canyons-down the awful precipices
over the pine-clad slopes rushed hurri.
cane in search of victims. 1t leaped dowr
from mountain to foothills for the level
prairie bent ON terrible destruction. Acrost
seventy miles of level it dashed at us with
he fury of tidal wave. II grew with its
Jury, and at two o'clock no living thing
could have faced it. At three the Storm
swept prairie kept up continuous trem-
bling, as if volcano was about to break
forth near us. At four, when daylight
broke, the mir was choked with grass torn
up by the roots, and the roar was appalling.
Men chung to each other and to the grass,
and now and then, as the roaring died out
for few seconds, the frightened horses
neighcd their terror When the wind blows
sixty miles an hour it is a hurricane. It was
blowing harder than that to tear up the
strong prairie grass out of the soil. When
he wind blows seventy miles an hour great
,rees are uprooted and barns are blown
down. 1t was blowing harder than that to
swoop and carry off our heavy picks and
axes. More than seventy-more than eighty
more than ninety aye that mighty
wrath was dashing over the prairie at the
rate of 100 miles an hour. We were deaf.
ened by tho continuous roaring. We were
e1hauste by the desperate struggle to pre-
vent bein scooped up bodily and carried
out of the ravine. If it was SO with u.s.
sheltered from the fury rs il were, how
must it have been with those exposed to its
full force A great wolf, from whom the life
was beaten out, rolled down among us. The
bodies of dozen of coyot,s and rabbits, in
which every bone seemed broken, dropped
into the ravine. Thu wagons were caught
up at daylight, whir.ed in the air for mo-
ment, and then disappeared forever. Even
the iron axles were not to be found Two
or three objects, which no one could make
out, tumbled over the bank below the
horses. Some hours later we found them
to be mauled and pounded and bone broken
bodies of buifaloes t ~
At five o'clock the climax was reached.
IL appeared as if the earth rose and fell
under us. One of the horses struggled to
his feet, and the next instant he vanished to
the east. The force Of the wind bruised and
panied. rock weighing tons, blown, per.
haps, from the foothills, ploughed down
one bank and rushed up the other to con.
tnue plaything for the wrath. Our breath
came by gasps. The mir thickened until i
became twilight Half an hour later the
wind began to lull, the roaring to die away
and the sky to tighten up, and at seven
O'clock we were searching the prairie in
hopes of recovering some one article belong
ing to what had been well stocked camp.
On the prairie we found absolutely nothing.
In the ravine q couple of axes, two or three
saddles, an iron kettle and portions of har
ness. The mighty wrath had hungered for
our lives and, failing to get them, had venge
fully sought to rob us of our oil.