New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-06-24
Terribly DestructiveStorm Sweeps
Across State From Gary
to Winona.
Hundreds of Farms Devastated.
Crop Loss Figured in the
Millions.
Rain Falls in Torrents and Hail in
Sheets to the Depth of Four
to Six Inches.
Path of Tornado Varies in Width
From Four to Twelve
Miles.
Near New Ulm the Towns of Mil
ford, West Newton and Lafa-
yette Suffer Most
Severely.
City Property Loss Light Except
in Sleepy Eye and
Austin.
: Sc cond Storm Strikes Same Area
! Monday Morning and Third
Follows Monday Night.
Total Rainfall Since Saturday
Noon in Excess of Four
Inches.
City Property Loss Light Except
in Sleepy Eye and
Austin.
Sc cond Storm Strikes Same Area
Monday Morning and Third
Follows Monday Night.
Total Rainfall Since Saturday
Noon in Excess of Four
Inches.

An electrical storm carrying rain,
hail, wind and destruction it it's path,
swept over this vicinity early Satur-
day afternoon.
New Ulm caught only the edge of
the disturbance and suffered no
material damage, but out in the coun-
try, where the full force of the storm
was felt, oldtimers of forty years say
=, it was without exception the worst in
their recollection.
Corn and rye were literally pounded
into the ground, trees we're stripped of
their leaves and bark, fields of grass
were trimmed as if with lawn-mower,
windows we're smashed and windmills
and small buildings were scattered
about like heaps of rubbish.
It was not cyclone, but SO fierce
was the wind and so frightful the
downpour of hail and rain tn at devas-
tation was bound to follow wherever
growing crops or vegetation came
within it's path.
In the city the sight was one of awe
grandeur. Rain fell in tor
ents and hail came down in sheets.
VA man standing on one side of the
street, afraid for his own life and
property, could not tell what was
happening to his neighbor across the
way. Fortunately there was little
wind, and aside from the breaking of
several hundred panes of glass at
Books greenhouses and the setback
given to garden stuff, there was little
damage worthy the name. But the
hail piled up In heaps, the ground
was covered as if with snow, and in
June it made a magnificent sight to
|, look upon.
~ West of here and east Of here it was
different.
At Sleepy Eye the havoc wrought
by the hail was terrific, and at Austin
it is thought that the damage done
to city property will aggregate a total
of 100000. Nearly all Of the win
dows in Sleepy Eyes magnificent
school house were blown in, as were
also those in the mill and many of the
expensive ones in the Catholic church.
In fact every small window light on
the side of the main business street
facing the wind was smashed to smith
Greens and even the large plate glass
windows in the First National Bank
"a building were made to feel the butting
in' propensities of the storm. At
Golden and Evan, too, window panes
went at Knock-down prices.
The storm, it is believed, started in
the neighborhood of Gary, near the
western border of the state. From
there it swept eastward in path from
four to twelve miles wide, across por-
tions of Lyon, Lincoln, Yellow Medi-
cine and Redwood counties. spreading
disaster as it went.
In Redwood county it followed the
river and dispatch from Vesta says
that thousands of acres of growing
/ grain were destroyed and hundreds of
dollars of damage wreaked upon small
buildings, windmills and unprotected
stock.
Skirting the southern edge of Rem
vile and entering Brown county in
the vicinity of Evan the storm began
to show itself in all its fury. Golden
became centre of crop destruction
and from that point east there was no
let-up until the wind had partially
wasted its energies on the waters of
Swan Lake.
Leaving Sleepy Eye the path of the
tornado was through the northern part
of Milford and as it left the township
it skirted the north end of New Ulm
and crossed the river into Ridgely
and West Newton.