Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-06-21
MOUNTAIN CYCLONES.
Rotary Storms That Sweep westers
Plains and DO Strange Things.

Rotary Storm, That sweep Western
Plains and DO Strange Things.
"A curious phenomenon, said
Prof. +. T. Clark to reporter. ais
sometimes observed on wide plains,
where tho atmosphere is hot and dry.
1t Is the forming of miniature cyclones.
or rotary storms. which. when occur
ring on g;a and scale. as th,y do in
the Western States. are known as tor
nadoes
"When the Union Pacific railroad
was being constructed, the workmen
had frequent opportunities OF witness
ing the formation and progress Of
such whirlwinds, which, on account OF
the peculiar action they had on dry
soil. were called sand augers.' They
were especially frequent in Lodge Pole
Creek valley. through which the rail-
way leaving the Pate river runs
northerly to near the base of the Bl ack
Hills. This valley is quite narrow,
averaging about mile in width, and
is bounded on either side by range
of low. uneven hills.
Tho first Indication of tho APP
proach Of one of these sand augers'
would be the formation. here and
there in the valley. of little whirligigs
OF dusty winds, picking up bits Of
straw. paper and other inconsideratc
trifles, sometimes waltzing into camp
and flirting with the canvas tents. or
scattering the embers and ashe, of
outdoor cooking places.
''These baby cyclones would in
crease in number quite rapidly, and
then be whisked away by strong cur
rents of air, coming from no one knew
where, but all drawing across the val
ley toward the eastern range of hills.
over which would then DO seen adj
vancing funnel-shaped cloud. like
that seen over watcrspouts forming at
sea-
From the under surface of this
low-lying cloud swaying tongue of
lead-colored vapor would prolong it.
self toward the earth, from which, to
meet it would rise u cloud of dirt and
sand. The earth column would rise
higher and higher, with a whirling
motion, becoming more compact all
the WHILE until the blue-black vapor
and the brown mass from below would
unite above. and the completed,
swiftly whirling column commence
moving slowly down from above on Its
way across the valley.
while its forward progress was
unusually slow, its rotary motion
about its vertical axis would be very
rapid. and so dense would be the
mass of sand gathered up by it that
when the column touched the earth il
would scoop out shallow channel like
the dry bed of small stream. Hence
its name of sand auger.
"The diameter of the augers seldom
exceed fifteen or twenty feet at the
ground. but their bulk increased with
their height until they were merged
into the broad surface of the thick,
murky vapor from the cloud above,
from which electric flashes frequently
PLAYED. When this occurred large
hailstones would be formed, which
would be thrown, by centrifugal force
apparently out from the revolvin.
storm. They would be found 10 be
almost invariably, in the shape of fla
disks. sometimes three inches in diam
oter and an inch thick, and made vi
of layers of ice and sand.
'Onc such sand auger' passed nea
an engineers camp where / was n
work and carried off TINT or two.
then grazed the edge of corral nea
by, cutting away one angle of Al
adobe wall. and sweeping by tn
house itself. left every pane of glass i
the one window as neatly ground as
done by a sand-blast machine.
Passing on, the tents tho 'auger
was carrying off became entanglcd i
the telegraph wires running throug
the valley, and after dragging dow
two poles the cyclone collapsed, leay
, ing beneath, when it broke up,
mound made up of sand. bits of adobe
some old boots, sprinkling of empt
tins. part of bale of hay and dog
cared pack of cards. The latter wer
carefully gathered up by their owner
genius called Slim Jim. who Away,
deplored the fact that the recovere
pack was imperfect there being bu
four aces left in it by the sand anger.