River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1907-08-22
A Terrifying Thunder Storm.

Last Sunday night this city was
visited by the most terrifying thun-
der storm in its history. The clouds
had been banking up in the south
west, west and northwest all the
afternoon and before sunset the
whole heavens were overcast with
the ebon pail, the inky clouds rest
ing very near the ground. A fierce
wind had been blowing from the
southeast all day. 1t was dark at
sunset.
Lightning was flashing along the
western horizon from four O'Clock,
but the electric storm did not en-
velop the city until about 9 o'clock.
From that hour until past one the
city was wrapped in the iercest
thunder storm we ever knew. The
lightning was almost incessant with
| flashes that made the heavens as
bright as day, with short intervals
of impenetrable darkness. The
crashing thunder was startling and
often deafening. The intervals be-
| tween the conclusions was so brief
that before ones addition recovered
from the shock of one crash another
struck the ear drum with painful
impact. The clouds were so near
the ground that no reverberation
was noticeable. The wind and
downpour Of rain, in connection
with the thunder and lightning made
this long storm, nearly four hours
in duration, one of the most terrify-
ing the people of this city eyer knew.
The electric wires in part of the
CITY were torn from their attach
ments to the poles by the broken
limbs of trees and the firemen were
called out by the fire alarm about
10 O'Clock by the announcement that
a house on second street was on fire.
The fire however was caused by a
live electric wire which had fallen
into an oak tree near Jas. Browns
on Second and Maple streets,
The wind developed into tornado
in the center of town, causing con-
siderable damage to property. The
steeple of the Ezekiel Lutheran
church was blown down and patches
of shingles torn from the roof of
the building. The Methodist church
suffered the worst in point of dam
age as number of the costly stain
ed-glass windows were destroyed.
The windows in the loft Of the
east front disappeared with no YES
tige Of broken glass any where in
evidence, and two sections af a big
window of the auditorium were car
ried away. Another window in the
east front has a pane broken. A
patch of the roof was left devoid OF
shingles and the rain driving into
the building occasioned some dam
age. 1t is estimated that 1t will
cost in the neighborhood of $1,000
to place the building in as good con-
dition as before the storm. On Main
street the fronts of several stores on
the east side were blown in. The
hardware store of c. T. Ritchey had
the west end blown off and out down
to the tops of the windows and one
of the big windows destroyed. The
Hamilton grocery store was dam
aged, one window being blown out.
One of the saloons on the east side
of Main street also had a window
broken in and other buildings suf-
fered damage. The streets and
lawns on the residence streets were
strown with the broken branches OF
trees, in many cases limbs six inches
and more being broken off. One OF
the big windows in the postoffice
was also blown out and destroyed.
For SALE. -Houses, Farms, Acres
and Lots, all in Wisconsin. Peter
Hastert, River Falls, Wis.