Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-07-17
SWEPT By A HURRICANE.
AN UNsHACKLED FURRY LET
LOOSE UPON THE PRAIRIE.
Vivid Description of Wind Storm
Upon the Western Plains-A
Mighty Bosom of Destruction.

we were encampeu on lne open pIdlIle,
seventy miles from the nearest range OF
hills, with not tree or bush in sight as
far 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,
ending nowhere, and not to be seen until
one rt de into it. 1t crooked and turned
like the trail of serpent, but one look
ing across the prairie saw nothing but E
dead level
Night shut down as soft as whisper,
and the stars came out and looked
cheerily down on the faces of the men
who rested after a hard days work.
There was not wind enough to turn Il
feather. There was no sign in the
heavens that danger menaced. At mid
night the wakeful sentinel felt a gentle
puff of wind lifting his long halr, and
from some distant point the bark OF a
coyote was waited to his ears. Ten min
utes later the grass about him was bead
ing to breeze, and the unsecured flaps
of the tent began to whip. One OF the
sleepers was aroused to make things Sc
cure, and he was none too soon. Away
off to the west was heard a mighty rush
ing as the grass swished 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 a
wall the wind came out of the west, IN
creasing in strength every moment. An
hour after midnight the sentinel could
no longer stand against it, and the sleep
ers had been aroused to hold the tent In
place by main strength. A quarter of an
hour later it was picked up as the human
breath blows a feather away. Men
shouted and screamed at each other, but
the wind took the words from their lips
and whirled them away unheard. Blown
along like so many puppets the band fell
into the ravine for shelter, followed two
minutes later by all the horses. The
alarmed ANIMALS crowded up close to
their human friends, and then 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
fugitives.
Afar up the mighty mountains vial
of wrath had been uncorked. Through
the gloomy canyons-down the awful
precipices-over the pine-clad slopes
rushed hurricane in search of victims.
1t leaped down from mountain to foot
hills with the roar of an angry sea, and
it left the foothills for the level prairie
bent on terrible destruction. Across
seventy miles of level it dashed at us
with the fury of tidal wave. 1t grew
with its fury, and at 2 o'clock no living
thing could have faced it. At the
storm swept prairie kept up continuous
| trembling, as if volcano was about to
break forth near us. At 4, when day
| light broke, the air was choked with
grass torn up by the roots, and the
roar was appalling. Men clung to each
other and to the grass, and now and
then, as the roaring died out fol
a few seconds, the frightened horses
neighed their terror. When the wind
blows sixty miles an hour it is hurricane.
1t was blowing harder than that to teal
up the strong prairie grass out OF the
| sol. When the wind blows seventy
miles an hour great trees are uprooted
and barns are blown down. 1t was blow,
ing harder than that to swoop up and
carry off our heavy picks and axes. More
than seventy-more than eighty-mort
than ninety-aye! that mighty wrath wa:
dashing over the prairie at the rate OF
hundred miles an hour. We felt suffo'
Gated for the want of air. We vert
deafened by the continuous roaring. W.
we're exhausted by the desperate struggle
to prevent being scooped up bodily and
! carried out of the ravine. If it vert
so with us, sheltered from the fury az
we we're, how must it have been will
those exposed to its full force! A
great wolf, from whom the lif'
was beaten out, rolled down among us
The bodies of dozens of coyotes and rab-
bits. in which every bone seemed broken,
dropped into the ravine. The wagon:
were caught up at daylight, whirled IL
the air Tor a moment, and then disap
peared forever. Even the iron axles vert
i not to be found. Two or three objects
which no one could make out tumbled
overth bank below the horses. Some hour'
later we found them to be mauled and
pounded and bone-broken bodies ol
buffalocs.
At 5 o'clock the climax was reached
1t appeared as if the earth rose and fel
under us. One of the horses struggled
to his feet, and the next instant he van
ished in the east. The force of the wind
bruised and panied A rock weighing
tons, blown, perhaps, from the foot-hills'
plowed down one bank and rushed NJ
the ether to continue plaything for the
wrath. Our breath came by gasps. The all
thickened tillit became twilight Half an
hour later the wind began to lull, the
roaring to die away and the sky to Tighten
up, and at z O'Clock we were searching
the prairie in hopes Of recovering some
one article belonging to what had been a
well-stocked camp. On the prairie we
found absolutely nothing. In the ravine
couple of axes, two or three saddles,
an iron kettle and portions of harness.
The mighty wrath had hungered for
our lives. and, failing to get them, had
vengefully sought to rob us of our all.
Fire had not swept the prairie-an
army had not marched over TIA flood
had not been let loose. 1t had encoun-
tered a worse enemy. A bowling, roar