The Portland daily press., 1896-06-10
TO BLOW T0RNADOES UP.
Prof. Hazen Has Scheme for De-
StrOying Funnel Clouds,

Ought to Have a Protecting Line of
Dynamite Stations-Another Plan is for
Barrier of Poles and Wires-EIec-
tricity Certainly the Destructive Agent
That Operates the yhirling Storm.
Correspondence of the Boston Trans-
cript.l
Washington, June 5.-"Fifty years
hence not 3 big town in the Southwest
viii be without tornado trap" said
Professor Fl. A. Hazen. of the Weather
Bureau, today. 1.-The time has arrived
when serious attention must be given to
finding means Of defence against these
whirling storms. AS the so-called oy-
clone belt becomes more thickly popu-
lated, disasters from this cause will grow
moro frequent. Already people in that
part of the country have begun to re gard
the question as having an important
relation to their future welfare. When
a menacing looking cloud is seen, they
are terrified, an ticipating catastrophe.
MY belief is that any town il that re-
gion would be rendered safe against tor
nadoes by series of lookout stations
extended il q line from north to south,
SO as to interpose a barrier on the danger
side, j. O.. the west side, from which the
revolving storm invariably comes. This
barrier would be made effective by means
of system OF dynamite bombs, connect
cd with the stations by wires. 1t would
not be necessary to keep guard all tho
time, but the men appointed for the pur-
pose would only go on duty when warn
ing was received from the Weather Blu
reau that conditions were favorable for
cyclones On seeing q funnel cloud ap-
proaching, the operator would simply
wait until it got near enough and then
touch off etho ca rtridges, which would
blow it to smithereens
What reason is there for doubling
that such method would be successful?
Do we not know that waterspouts at sea
are sometimes dissi pated and reduced to
harmlessness by the firing of guns from
threatened ships9 A watersp cut is moth
ing more nor less than marine tornado.
Occasionally they have been seen to run
upon the land and transform themselves
into cyclones. If the tornado were not
destroyed by the dynamite explosions, it
would be likely to be deprived of SO much
of It's enegy as to be rendered incapable
of doing harm. The cost Of maintaining
such systems of defence throughout the
cyclone belt would not amount in 1000
years to the s20 600, 600 which the recent
calamity is said to nave cost ST. Louis.
Money ought to be appropriated by
Congress for studying this strange and
little understood phenomenon. 1t is most
Important that we should learn about
the mechanism of the tornado-a meteo-
rologioal distur bance capable of destroy
ing $50, 900, 900 worth of property in ten
minutes. All we know at present is that
the energy of the cyclone must be cleo
trlcal. In no other way could the de-
truction caused by it be accounted for.
1t is always accompanied by severe
thunderstorm. The Weather Bureau rs-
port says that during the st. Louis tor,
nado the electric display was exceedingly |
brilliant. the whole west and northeast |
sky being an almost continual blaze of |
light. Intensely vivid flashes of forked |
lightning were outlined in green, blue |
and bright yellow against the duller,back-
ground Of never oeasing sheet lightning.
Evidently, t hen. 1t Is necessary that |
We should find some means of dissipating
the electricity with which the destructive
funnel cloud is charged. We must do for
the tornado what We do for the ordinary
thunder cloud. whose lightning we con-
duct away harmlessly by metal rods
Just here 1 want to call attention to a
very interesting fact. I have devoted a
great deal of attention to the Study of
cyclones, following the history of all
that have been recorded for great many
sars back, and have never known of a
Case where one of them struck a town
that had forest CT even a few acres in
ex5snG to tie southwest.
Tdrnadoes always travel from south
west to northeast. I am inclined to
think that forest of moderate extent to
the southwest Of town is most efficient
protection against storms of this kind.
Why? you ask. Simply boause the trees
draw off the electricity that gives to
the cyclone its energy. If this Is true it
follows that every town in the danger
belt ought to plant trees for a tornado
barrier, if it has not already this defence.
Such plan is much simpler and less
costly than the dynamite system which
l have already suggested. OF course, the
growing OF trees takes time. The towns
ougA net 80 remain undefended while
Waiting for trees to grow, and so would
propose that temporary makeshift
might be servioenble, consisting of q bar
ricr OF tall poles with network of wires
extended between them.
''Sone time ago l made q list of 1921
tornadoes that were recorded in the
United States between 1873 and 1888.
They caused an average loss OF one life
ana &14, SAG per Cyclone. New York State
had 100 of them, including one of the
f. order, costing total Of 81, 27o, GOO.
There were Ill in Pennsylvania, viii oh
destroyed 81, COS, 600 worth of property
Cne Of the worst occurred at Wallingford,