The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1889-05-25
HUGE SAND AuGERS.
Description of a Curious Wind Phenomensn
of the Plans.


~ curious phenomenon, said Prof. +. f.
Clarke, to a San Francisco Examiner re-
porter, - is sometimes observed on wide
plains whore the atmosphere is hot and dry.
II is the forming Of miniature cyclones, or
rotary storms, which, when occurring on a
grand scale, as they do in the Western
States, are known as tornadoes.
When the Union Pacific railway was
being constructed the workmen had fre-
quent opportunities of witnessing the for
NATION and progress of such whirwinds.
which, on account Of the peculiar action
they bad on dry soil, were called sand
augers.' They were especially frequent III
Lodge Pole Greek Valley, through which
the railway, leaving the Platte river, runs
northerly to near the base of the Black
Hills. This valley is quite narrow-aver-
aging about mile in width. and is bounded
on either side by a range of low, unevea
hills
1.-The first indication of the approach of
one of these sand augers would De the
formation, here and there in the valley, of
little whirhgigs OF dusty wind, picking up
bits of straw, paper ana other unconsidered
trifies, sometimes Waiting into camp and
flirting with the canvas tents or scattering
the embers and ashes Of outdoor cooking
places
These baby cyclones would increase in
number quite rapidly, and then be whisked
away by strong currents Of air, coming
from no one knew where, but all drawing
across the valley towards the eastern range
of hills, over which would then be seen ad-
vancing a funnel-shaped cloud, like that
seen over water-spouts forming at sea.
a. From the under surface of this low
lying cloud swaying tongue Of lead-col-
ored vapor wonid prolong itself toward the
earth, from which, to meet H. would rise a
cloud of dirt and sand. This earth-cloud
would rise higher and higher, with whirl-
ing 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 whirllng
columns commence slowly down from the
hills on its way across the valley
= While its forward progress was usually
slow, the rotary motion about its vertical
axis would be very rapid, and so dense
would be the mass of sand gathered up by
il that, when the column touched the earth,
it would scoop out shallow channel like
the dry bed of small stream. Hence, its
name Of sand auger.
The diameter of these augers seldom ex-
ceeded 10 or 20 feet at the ground, but their
bulk increased with their height, until they
were merged into the broad surface of the
thick, murlkey vapor from the cloud above,
from which electric flashes frequently played.
When this occurred large hallstones would
be formed. which would be thrown, by cen
trifugal force, apparently, out from the re-
volving storm. They would be found to be-
almost invariably in the shape of fat discs
sometimes three inches in diameter and an
inch thick, and made up of layers of ice
and sand
"One such 'sand-auger' passed near an
engineers camp where | was at work, and
carried off a tent or two. Itthen grazed the
edge Of a corral near by cutting away one
angle of an adobe wall, and, sweeping by
the house itself, left every pane of glass in
the one window as neatly ground as if done
by saud-blast machine.
"Passng on, the tents the 'auger' was
carrying of became entangled in the tele-
graph wires running through the valley, and
after dragging down two poles the cyclone
collapsed, leaving beneath, when it broke
up, n mound made up of sand, bits of adobe,
some old boots, sprinkling Of empty tins,
part of bale of hay and u dog-carod poker
deck of cards Tho latter were afterward
carefully gathered up by their owner, a
genius called Slim Jim, who always de-
plored the fact that the recovered pack was
imperfect, there being but four aces left in
it by the sand-augern