Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-07-30
HAIL STORM.
A Serious Mail Storm Crosses Clay and
UuiOu Couatics.

A Serious Mail Storm Crosses Clay and
Uaion couatics.
Without much warming black clouds
appeared from the north on Sunday
afternoon, ana within an hours time
many thousands Of dollars worth OF
crops we're destroyed. The heavily
laden clouds seemed to have Il penchant
for hail, and in a strip three miles
wide and thirty miles long many Of the
fields of corn were driven almost intu
the soil The stalks we're stripped
Of leaves, while the ear were horne
usually To the ground. 1t was 5:l5
when the storm struck Elk Point, and
while it was not characterized with the
severity of the strip which suffered, il
was evident that a violent storm pre-.
vailed somewhere. In a short time
word was received from Akron TO the
effect that every window glass facing
the west had been broken, aud that in
the school house 1856 panes were broken,
while several plate glass fronts were
destroyed.
The hail began falling at Gayville in
YankIon county. 1t crossed Clay
county, and for a strip three miles wide
injured the corn severely. Passing
oyer into Union the hail fell in Sphinx,
the north edge o. Brule, then into the
southern part OF Sioux Valley, finally
taking in Akron. There is nc method
Of estimating the loss, but it certainly
is severe. Andrew Martin was attend
ing services in the Swedish church
during the storm. He was In town or
Monday. The hail pierced the leather
cover to his buggy making rs many as
twenty-five or thirty holes in the
leather. He stated that some Of the
corn fields in Sphinx were utterly ruin.
ed, while some were not q bad As
others, What wheat remained un
harvested was damaged fully one-hali
he thought.
Later news would indicate that the
storm was OF larger extent than at first
supposed. The hail was first observed
in Jerauld county, west and north o.
Mitchell. 1t took a sOutheasterly
course, coming on with increasing vi
olence finally landing at Baskerville,
northwest Of YanktOn, taking a strip
clear across the county, then jumping
into Clay with unusual severity, and
finally reaching Union.
Messrs. Freeman and Gilmore or
Monday paid a visit to the injured Sec
ton in Sphinx and Brule. The storm
seems to have followed the line be
tween these two townships. The hal
appears to have often missed a corr
field, and the damage is in spots
than anything. The storm seems Il
have struck first in the county In the
neighborhOod OF the O'Connor settle
ment. 1t covered an area in some
places four miles wide. Generally al
the wheat was in the shock, but nearly
every farmer had q small patch uncut
The corn is in bad shape, many OF the
fields being a total loss. Sioux Valley
was the next to catch it, and it is sai(
that considerable damage was done il
the MARBLE neighborhood. Among
those whom we have heard had crop
severely injured by the hail are
Messrs. Volstad, Fickbohm, Hazen
Andrew Martin, and others in thu
same neighborhood. Another streal
| OF hail was experienced south OF tow
| beginning at Otto BANDS and going I,
| M. Connelly's. Altogether the loss il
quite considerable, but we hear fire.
quently the prophesy that the actua
loss to o in the injured sections vii
not average over 20 per cent.