Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-02-04
THUNDER STORM
And BLIZZARD
SWEEPS OVER THE COUNTRY
Nothing Like II for Many Years-..The
Railroads BlOckaded, Telegraph and
Telephone Wires Down-..Many
Cattle Frozen to Death

You remember the blizzard of 1909?
Yes, indeed; will never forget that.
| was at Audubon, Iowa, at that time.
/ remember distinctly what nice wealth
err we had for several days before.
The roads we're quite muddy but the
! weather was warm, and on Thursday
there was a little rain. Along about
O'Clock it rained hard and we had
thunderstorm that would do credit to
July or August. Peal after peal of
thunder rent the sky for at least
dozen times, and the rain poured down
and RIM the streets in torrents. When
l got home, pretty we'll soaked by the
rain, | remarked that such weather in
the winter was entirely ont of order
and / was opposed to it. That a bliz-
card would be all right and proper at
that time of the year.
little expected the weather bureau
| would hear or pay any attention to
my remarks, but before nine O'Clock
it commenced to snow. 1t came down
in flakes large enough for a small pan
cake, and it wasn't long till the wind
commenced to blow. For awhile it blew
and blew, and then 1t howled and
| shrieked and rocked the houses and
broke the limbs, and piled the snow
against the doors and windows and in
| the streets and filled every crack and
crevice. In the morning it was simply
fierce The only mitigating circum.
stance connected with it the fact that
the mercury was only down about zero
instead of being 20 or 30 below, as Is
sometimes the case in a blizzard. The
wet snow, which melted quickly when
it struck the face, made up largely for
the lack of extreme low temperature.
| [ didn't 60 to the Office that forenoon,
1 though l could have done so had it
been necessary.
The thunderstorm of such vehemence
was Unique ia the dead of winter. 1t
struck the flag pole on the Russell
block, and crept into the light plant
where it knocked John Freeman and
, Mr.. Cerenek to the floor and did lot
of damage to the dynamos. Mrs. ID,
N. Kelsey, living just west OF the
creek was knocked unconscious as
she stood in the doorway. So far as
| I heard. no person was killed or seri-
] ously injured. There was, however, a
/ big loss of live stock in the county.
NOTES ABOUT THE STORM
Supervisor Geo. M. Ross. who was
in town Tuesday, said: eyes we had
the storm out at our place in Gamer
on all right. We had Is head of
horses and IS head of cattle out around
the stacks In the pasture. They hadn't
been in the barn all winter. Friday
afternoon the boys and went out and
found them all alive, but covered with
snow and ice. When we got them
| into the barn we had to thaw the ice
of the mouths and tails of some with
hot waterA We saved all of them, but
il they had remained out another
night many would have persisted.
w. II. Bolton, of Viola, was down
Tuesday and in referring to the storm
said he had suffered no loss, but 9th
/ ers had lost stock and many farmers
found their windmills on the ground,
One end of j. G. Bonwell's big barn
was blown in, although it was protect
ed by good grove.
Nels P. Hoegh said he had IA head
of cattle in the bottom pasture most of
tire winter, but fortunately had them
under cover at the time OF the storm.
He has q windmill OF wooden frame
that has been standing for rs years,
and it went through again, except that
the top was moved about six inches.
| While this was true, many of the
modern kind went down before the
high wind. -
Mr.. Charles Bagley said he opened
his Office here in 1882 and that Friday,
January 20, 1908, was the first day he
remained at home on account of the
weather. The afternoon was milder,
and Saturday was fairly good day.
There was no train from the north
until Saturday evening when the snow
pillow arrived, having opened the road
for the Sunday train. The train from
the south did not reach here until
Sunday forenoon, and came up again
in the afternoon bringing 30 sacks OF
mail.
The Somers Bros. losts some 30 head
Mr.. o. Kennels, 6 head, Will Meier
an 30 sheep. Many others suffered
4 loss, but we have no accurate informa.
tion as TO number.
l