Arizona republican., 1910-08-04
STACKS BLOWN DOWN
Some Damage Reported
From Indian School. The
Wind Saved Work in the
Hotel Adams Ruin-Par-
tial Prostration of Wires

With scarcely more than a mo-
mentary warning, u storm carrying
with it an enveloping cloud of sand
and dust. broke over Phoenix and the
Salt river valley shortly before 3
o'clock yesterday afternoon. While
the wind at no time exceeded thirty
riiles an hour, the steadiness with
which it continued for a space of near
~ half an hour resulted in serious
interruption of telephone and telegraph
service, felled many trees along the
city thoroushfares and for a time
brought general business to a stand
still.
The storm swept over the city from
general ncrthwesterly direction and
passing 10 the southeast died away i'll
more peaceful and beneficial bank
of rain clouds which came from over
the salt River mountains as the even
ing advanced and deposited scarcely
enough rain over the city to effective
ly lay the dust in the streets.
During the progress of the wind
storm the great chimney which stood
in the center of the ruins of the Hotel
Adams crumbled and fell without dam
age to any surrounding property, tele-
phone and telegraph wires We're strewn
along some of the residential streets
while trees and limbs of trees blocked
sidewalks and impeded traffic gencr-
ally all over the city. Despite the eff
feet of the wind upon things mani
mate. not a single instance of injury
to any person was reported.
Throughout the entire day the sky
had been cloudy and the weather
bureau had been flying a flag fore
casting local showers. At AIS O'Clock
the weather bureau Thermometer stood
at 1O4 degrees. with the humidity at
40 degrees and a steadily falling ba-
rometer There was that "closeness"
or suffocating sultriness which usually
portends an approaching wind or rain
storm.
Suddenly to the northwest appeared
a sullen bank of flying sand which
swept on and soon enveloped the en-
tire city Inside of ten minutes the
wind velocity increased from eight
miles an hour. the figure recorded at
4:51 o'clock. to 26 miles an hour, which
velocity was maintained for. perhaps
half an hour. During this time the
velocity rose to so miles an hour. a
speed which was maintained for but
comparatively short time. Between
4:30 o'clock and o'clock the ther-
, mometer fell Is degrees, that instru-
ment at the latter hour registering IS
degrees as COT trasted with the maxi
mum reached at AIS o'clock and main
tanned for fifteen minutes.
Somehow with the coming of the
high wind, the thoughts of large
number of those people who were
down town turned to the ruins of the
Hotel Adams and it was but a few
minutes before a large crowd had
formed upon the streets in the vicinity
of the site of the famous hostlery. The
men who were engaged in clearing the
ruins were warned away from their
work and the employees of the Ceilings
Harness & Vehicle company adopted
the safe course Of abandoning the
building during the high wind.
As the great chimney Swayed and
rocked under the terrific onslaught of
the wind a brick or two was lOosened
from time to time from the base until
finally the chimney in swaying back
into the teeth of the gale found no
secure support and buckled, falling into
the surroundings ruins. with a dull
roar which was followed by a cloud
of dust and flying mortar. And when
it was seen that not an iota of dam
age had been done the crowd breathed
sigh of relief and broke for shell
ter
Out at the Indian school occurred
the greatest damage reported last
night. Two great smokestacks stand
ing at the power plant. one of which
I-had never been used, were unable TO
Withstand the heavy wind and toppied
over, a torn and twisted mass oL
sheet iron By the veriest good for
tune the stacks fell JGsS alongside the
power house, without doing any ma
terial damage to the building, al
though the accident will cause no
small amount of Inconvenience 10 the
pumping and ice plants and will put
the steam cooking plant entirely out
of commission temporarily.
The taller of the two stacks meas
ured 135 feet from the bass and was