Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-04-24
CYCLONES.

In fact science and cyclones m yet
comparative strangers. Cyclones do not
wait to be investigated ; nor do investi-
gators seek the trodden paths of the
cyclone. In the early and u%ndeveloped
history of the balloon, the friends and
relatives of the man who was to make
the ascension begun to prepare for the
funeral before the air ship sailed the
most ordinary scientist now looks upon
a balloon ascension as a sort Of picnic.
Let us hope that the cyclone may come
to be regarded with as little interest as
the balloon, and that the scientist of
the near future will learn to take advan.
tage of the oork.screw gale as a means
of propulsion enabling him to study the
air.currens that he may teach the
~less-learned mortals OF earth the secrets
Of avoiding the dangers with which the
average cyclone seems doubly charged
The late calamity in Minnesota fur.
nishes numerous repasts for the spien-
tifc mind. There is Stood for thought"
scattered all over the field of disaster
and death.
A furniture store at Sank Rapids had
the first story torn completely away,
while the second floor and roof dropped
down to the ground uninjured. Here
the force seems to have been parallel
with the earth instead of perpendicular
from sky to earth.
A heavy iron shafting, about fifteen
feet long and three inches in diameter
was found at least a mile and a half from
the Sank Rapids -four mill.
little white dress, matted with
blood, was found twenty two miles
northwest Of Sank Rapids.
Dead chickens and other evidences Of
the cyclone have been found in the
city of Brainerd, a distance ofsixty miles
from Sank Rapids.
Two men who were working OF the
river dam soy that the cyclone lifted the
water completely out of its bed, leaving
the rocky bottom clearly exposed.
One of the strangest features of the
cyclone was in the discovery that dust
and sand had been ground deep into the
skin and flesh of the dead and wounded
victims, reminding the physicians o.
gun-powder burns. A force that will
drive dust into ones flesh seems almost
beyond realization.
Not content with twisting the cal
axles into knots and bows and wrench
ing the wheels apart, it has. says the
Minneapolis Tribune correspondent
taken n car. ripped the wheels of, de-
posted the car on its bottom and Their
packed two pair Of wheels inside of it
They may be the wheels of another cal
or of the same one, but there they are
inside of it. Men have come in from
points 9 a the. route of the cyclone
after leaving here, and more than one
testifies to having seen whole trees anG
roofs Of houses whirling in it as it passed
them many miles from where either {
tree or a house roof could have beer
picked up. But the Sank Rapids ruins
themselves give, in every yard of them
sufficient evidence of the strength o
the storm. Search and SEQ if you car
find anything unbroken. The largel
things of course are all broken up. TIL,
lumber is in sp%linters. The bricks ant
plaster in small cakes and fragments
No more than one leg of chair is eve
found at a time. But it is not only tn,
larger things that are broken. Their,
are knives and forks and spoons in plen
ty lying about. But the forks all hav'
a tine or two wrenched off and tn
spoons are bent double. You will fine
every door key snapped in two and irol
bolts bent like hairpins. lfyou do fin,
any article whole it is as likely as not t
be arsurdly frail. d.