The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1888-06-09

Rotary Storms That sweep Western
Plains and Do Strange Things.
"A curious phenomenon" said
Prot. F. E Clark to a reporter, lis
sometimes observed on wide plains,
where the atmosphere is hot and dry.
1t is the forming Of miniature cyclones,
or rotary storms, which, when occur-
ring on a r., and scale, as they 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
we're especially frequent in Lodge Pole
Creek valley. through which tho rail.
way. leaving the Platte river, runs
northerly to near the base of the Bl ack
Hills. This valley is quite narrow,
averaging about a mile in width, and
is bounded IN either side by q range
OF low, uneven hills.
The first indication of the ap.
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 inconsiderate
trifles. sometimes waltzing into camp
and flirting with the canvas tents. or
scattering the embers and ashes 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 seer adj
vancing u funnel-shaped cloud, like
that seen over waterspouts forming at
sea.
From the under surface of this
low-lying cloud n swaying tongue Of
lead-colored vapor would prolong it.
self toward the earth, from which, to
meet it. would rise q cloud o 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 vapol
and the brown mass from below would
unite above, and the completed,
swiftly-whirling column commence
movingslowly down from above Oh its
way across the valley.
while its forward progress was
unusually SLOW, its rotary EMOTION
about its vertical axis would be very
rapid, and so dense would be the
mass of sand gathered up by it thai
when the column touched the earth /
would scoop out q shallow channel Xix
the dry bed of a small stream. Hence
its name of sand auger.
1.-THE diameter of the augers seldom
exceed fifteen or twenty feet at the
ground. but their bulk Increase witt
their height until they were merged
into the broad surface of the thick,
murky vapor from the cloud above,
from which electric flashes frequent.
played. When this occurred largC
hailstones would be formed, whicl
would be thrown, by centrifugal force
apparently out from the revolvin!
storm. They would be found to be
almost in variably, in the shape Of fla
disks, sometimes tlirvU inches in diam
eter and an inch thick. and made u
of layers of ice and sand.
'One such sand auger' passed nea
an engineers camp where l was II
work and carried off II tent or two. |
then grazed the edge Of q corral nca
by. cutting away one angle of al
adobe wall, and sweeping by tn
house itself, left every pane of glass il
the one window as neatly ground as
done by a sand.blast machine.
Pass ing on, the tents the 'augcl
was carrying off became entangled i
the telegraph wires running througI
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 cmpt
. tins, part of a bale of hay and q dog
t cared pack of carls. The latter wer
carefully gathered up by their owner
a genius called Slim Jim. who Away
l deplored the fact that the recovere
pack was imperfect, there being bu
t four aces left in it by the sand anger.
.-San Francisco LTaminer.