The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-08-01
Water In Chunks
Mixed With Wind
From Tuesdays Daily.

From tuesdays Daily. 81,
Rain and hail, accompanied by a
high wind, swept over almost the
entire portion of southern Mime.
sofa last night and stories of dam.
age done were coming in from all
parts of the territoy all day. The
storm extended along the Milwaukee
railway to the Iowa line and pretty
much along the Gilmore branch of
the Northwestern. The storm at
Mapleton came suddenly and with
little warning, but threw terror in
to the hearts of the people by its
fierceness and force. 1t swept down
trees, grain and buildings before it
as though they were nothing.
Among the towns where damage
was done, were Good Thunder, Yer
non Center, Amboy, Mapleton, Blue
Earth, Madelia, st. James, Eagle
Lake, Nicollet, Winnebago and Del
avian. The storm was at it's worst
in Napoleon and Good Thunder of
this county, and at Maaelia and
st. James in Watonwan county.
iHC dt mdptSkOn.
At Mapleton the storm struck at
about $3.50 p. m. There was a very
noticeable stiffness before the storm
hit the town, and in an instant
trees were being hurled across the
street, barns were being moved and
telephone poles were snapped off.
The storm came from the northwest
and lasted about twenty minutes.
Great hailstones fell, accompanied
by a sweeping rain and the wind
ragged. Then suddenly, the storm
abated as quickly as it came, leav.
ing in its wake dozens of splendid
shade trees torn out by the roots,
cattle killed and buildings moved
Otto Schwere's blacksmith shop in
the city was moved into the middle
of the street and the front torn out.
Several barns in Maplewood addi-
ton TO the village of Mapleton were
moved and badly damaged. Nearly
all the telephone wires in town were
down and telephone poles were
snapped off. The fruit trees were
stripped of their product.
Cattle Were Killed.
A barn on the farm owned by
Robert Yaeger was blown down and
ten cattle killed. It was reported
that a new house on the farm
owned by Otto Schwepe and occupied
by William Hawker, was badly
damaged. Some freakish things
were accomplished by the storm. A
rope was found wound several
times about a great tree, blown
there by the tornado. Chicken
coops were found all over the streets.
Boards were blown into the crotches
of the trees This morning teams
cannot pass down the streets be-
cause of the debris which was de-
posted there Windows all over
Mapleton were broken.
Near Vernon Center the crops
are all down and trees were blown
to pieces. Some hail fell there. The
corn particularly was badly damaged
in that section, being cut into shreds.
Fortunately two-thirds of the crops
there have been harvested. East of
the river, however the crops are a
little later, and more damage was
done Some damage was done in
the village of Vernon Center and a
west window of Editor Callers print
shop was blown in, so that rain
did considerable damage.
Wind Hit Wind Mill.
At Eagle Lake the wind mill
tower of the village water works
system was blown down, and dam
age to the extent of about 500 was
suffered The water system is bad
" crippled. The wires are down
there and two inches of water fell
There was very little hail, however
L. NJ Anderson's house, two miles
east of the village, was struck by
lightning, but no one was injured
In Nicollet county there was a
high wind but little hail. The storm
covered a radius of about eight
miles and lodged the grain badly
however it can probably be cut. Nc
trees were blown down in that sec
ton.
Amboy had some hail, many trees
were blown down and the wires
are down.
Along the Elmore line there was
rain south as far as Blue Earth
but there was no lightning and the
damage was not great. On the Mil
waukee the grain is fiat all The
way from Mankato to the Iowa line
No great damage was reported ex
cept to the grain, but the loss will
be great.
At Good Thunder the wires were
ali blown down, trees were torn out
by the roots and there was som,
damage done to the crops.
Fire at Winnebago.
Around Winnebago a number O
grain fields are fattened out, blu
no great damage will result. 1t il
predicted that the grain will pull il
self together and harvesting will
proceed In Winnebago the win,
played havoc with number o
trees, ripped and tore awnings, blu
there was no damage done by light
ming.
Two hours after the storm ha,
passed a fire destroyed the barr
owned by M. M. Haight The los
is $500; insurance, $500. An oil
Packard automobile that was store