The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1938-07-14
Losses Heavy
lin Hail Area;
Grain Lodged
BELVIEW FARMS HARD
HIT BY WIND; CORN ;.
RECOVERING FAST :

lEOOV LxkI1Nu fAO1
No accurate estimate of
the extent of Redwood coun-
tvs crop loss as a result of
Saturday nights storm was
possible even by today as
farmers in some townships
turned stock in to salvage
what little remained of hail
battered stands, others began
cutting badly lodged grain
and still others hopefully
watched their crops recover
from the pounding by the
elements.
The damage was decidedly
spotted throughout the coun-
ty, losses ranging from prac-
tically complete where hail
accompanied the wind and
downpour to little in many more
fortunate sectors. Opinions as to
the loss of harvest for the county
as a whole ranged from 10 to 80
per cent although no one was
willing to go on record with more
than a guess.
"You can't make general
statement as to crop losses in the
county," a man usually qualified
to estimate said.
Swooping out of the north, the
scrafing gale moved down ma
turing grain, f1attened farm build
ings, uprooted trees and brought
with it hail which cut a two mile
wide swath in a section west OF
Redwood Falls.
Belview Sector Hit
Nature was hit and miss in
selecting farms on which to vent
her fury. The only points of con-
centrated attack In the communi-
ty were the region north of Bel
view where seven farms suffered
building losses in the wind and
the hail section near Redwood
Falls. Originating from the north
near the Earl Bliss farm, the icy
scourge travelled southwest, the
hail area extending as far south
as Sleepy Eye. Almost complete
losses were reported on farms in
the hail-path.
Barley and oats suffered the
most Of small grain crops in the
storm, barley having been fiat
tened once or twice before by
wind and rain. Fields of the two
crops are still down and whether
much of it will come up again is
matter of conjecture. The stiff
er strawed grains, wheat and rye
and fax, were not SO seriously
damaged and corn is making a
remarkable recovery in sections
where it was not stripped by hail.
A blight in wheat which prom
ises to cut the crop from 10 to Is
per cent will aid the storm in
cutting farmers profits, land
owners say.
In the bottomland section near
Belview, barns and other build
ings on the Gilbert Skogen, Thor
Hetle, William Hetle, O. 0. Enes-
tvedt, Norman Romness, Carl
Harried and Alfred Peterson
farms were wrecked.
Strips Sch00lhOuse
Shingles were stripped from
the roof of the district five school,
house in that community, the bell
and chimney were carried off and
windows blown out. Windows in
several other homes in the vici-
nifty, including that of Oscar
Crying, were also forced out.
The only freakish aspect of the
storm there was the fact that
poorly built granary on the Will
liam Hetle place was picked up
and set down more than 40 feet
away without a stick in it brok-
en-, while many well-constructed
buildings were smashed.
Reuben Terhell, living mile
west and mile north of Red
wood Falls in the hail district is
advertising binder, purchased
last Thursday for sale. He has
no use for it.
Terhell had cut about 20 acres
of barley which promised to rum
around IS bushels to the acre with
his new machine. Then the storm
came, completely hailing out 40
acres of barley, 20 acres of rye
and 80 of wheat. His sheep and
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