THE GREAT TORNADO OF 1860.

By JAMES SHAW, of Mt. Carroll.

The great Tornado, of June 3d, 1860, which swept, like the besom of destruction, over the northern counties of our State, deserves more than the passing newspaper notices it received at the time of its occurrence. In magnitude it was the greatest in the history of storms. It originated far off on the prairies of the northwest; traveled in a southeasterly direction until it approached the Mississippi river; then gradually veered round towards the east in a crescent shaped pathway, until it assumed a northeastern course, on which it continued, passing over Lake Michigan and the Peninsular State, till its force was spent, after a five hundred mile race. And here a strange fact might be noted. All the great tornadoes of long continued tracks, of which we have any knowledge, originated near the same spot. Another, near the time of the great Tornado, swept along down to the southward, near the Missouri river, crossed into Illinois in the region of Alton, wheeled round towards the east and north, very similar, though less violent than the one of which we write. In 1844 a terrific whirlwind came down from the prairies of Northwestern Iowa, crossed the Mississippi not far from the crossing place of the June storm of the present year; then pursued almost its exact pathway across Whiteside and Lee counties in our own State.

Not only the vast destruction of life and property in the great Tornado of 1860, but many scientific questions, heretofore but imperfectly understood, demand the attention of the thinking, and turn hither the eyes of the scientific world. An unexplored field opens up at the very first inquiry into the causes and philosophy of these tornadoes. Little is understood of them. They have been chiefly observed within the tropics-on the seas. The yielding waters closed over their pathway. Facts, data, phenomena, could not be collected. The little we did know about them is completely at fault, when we come to explain the long, revolving storms of our mighty prairies of the West. New facts baffle all our science.

Old problems must be resolved. The deep philosophy of storms; the knowledge of "the winds in his circuit;" the forces of electricity, heat, magnetism; the laws of fluids in motion; a keen insight into the mysteries of meteorology-all these, and more, must be well understood before we can solve all the problems attending these terrible storms. The fantastic modes in which the mighty forces of Nature sometimes act puzzle our most learned and scientific men. This was doubly so in the great Tornado of 1860. Was it the pressure of the mighty storm wind; was it a display of the electricity of the atmosphere; was it some mightier power that produced results so contradictory and almost omnipotent? Science is now deeply engaged in the investigation of these questions. She needs in this work facts, data, phenomena. Every one, who has any, should give them to the world. A circumstantial detail of the minutest may prove of much importance. For such a purpose, also, to add a few crude thoughts of my own, this paper is prepared.

The subject cannot be better introduced than by some quotations from a sermon, preached in this village by the Rev. Ø. D. W. White, a short time after the event it commemorated. He, in company with the writer, visited the Tornado's track, where its greatest power was displayed. Out of good eyes he looked, and treasured their observations in a wisdom loving mind.

After describing the beauty and stillness of the holy Sabbath afternoon, by way of contrast, he proceeded: "There was a change -an appalling change. There came a wind, a rumbling, a rush, a crash, a whirl, a shriek, a wail, followed by a desolation that has sent mourning through the land-whose saddening echoes will be heard for ages to come. More than half a century will have elapsed before the scene will have been erased from the memories of eye witnesses. In the after part of the day the clouds began to congregate as they are wont to do about the western horizon. At first they seemed to have met, like holy angels, for purposes of mercy, to shed the gentle rain upon the thirsty field and water the husbandman's toil. But soon they began to be disturbed and utter tones of anger, and pierce each other with arrows of fiery lightning. And then advancing, as a mighty army sweeping over the battlefield, they commenced their dire work of devastation and death. Everywhere in the course of the angry Tornado trees were uprooted and tossed into the air like feathers. The very land was scoopup like the sands in the desert. Imbedded rocks were torn from their ancient resting places. Fences, barns, houses, cattle, horses, sheep, fowls; with men, women and children, were caught up amid the darkened folds of the whirlwind, to be dashed down again and crushed against the unyielding earth. The storm has been traced in its track, according to latest accounts, more than two hundred miles west of the Mississippi river. When it was first seen it was advancing in two columns, which were six or eight miles apart. After passing Cedar Rapids, where some

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were killed and a number wounded under the ruins of razed buildings, the columns united their forces, as they were about to make a furious charge upon the denser population of Iowa. Mechanicsville, De Witt, Camanche, Albany, Lindon, Como-all beautiful and growing towns--were the principal points of the loss of life and property. The list of mortality is yet imperfect; but it is known that over one hundred and fifty souls were precipitated into eternity; and most of them amidst the wildest confusion of warring elements. In some instances whole families were blotted out of existence. In others, children were snatched from their mothers' arms and thrown into the angry vortex. Again, others have been left orphans, homeless, clotheless, foodless, and I were about to say friendless; but no; thank God, thousands of kind hearts weep for the orphan ones; who would take them to their homes of pleasure and of plenty. The list of the wounded is also imperfect. But it is keeping within bounds to say that over two hundred are now suffering from wounds and bruises-some of whom will recover wholly, while others will be disabled for life. As to the destruction of property, the loss will only be estimated by the million. Many years will have elapsed before the desolated district will recover its wealth, population, and wonted activity. In the course of time the wound may be healed; but the deep pitted cicatrix will be worn by the States of Iowa and Illinois till the time of their latter days.

"To philosophize upon this particular storm would require us to give the history of winds, their causes and courses, both in the tropical and extra-tropical regions. While propriety forbids this it may adinit some few remarks. Some of the characteristics of this storm were these: The whirlwind assumed the form of an inverted cone. It had an axis on which it revolved, having one pole— the positive-in the clouds, and the other-the negative-on the earth. It possessed three motions: centrifugal, centripetal, and vertical. By the first it was propelled forward at the rate of sixty miles per hour; by the second, it revolved on its axis at a much greater velocity; while the third kept it dancing up and down in the air something like the boy's kite. Having a zigzag course, it traveled to the northeast, directly under the track of the returning northeast trade winds. Its centripetal motion, like all such winds north of the Equator, was from right to left, or contrary to the motion of the hands of a watch. At the same time it was highly charged with electricity, as evinced by electric phenomena, such as picking hens and geese, as electricity only can do; stripping tires from cart wheels and laying them out straight on the ground. When such elements are contending so furiously, it is not strange that everything in their course is destroyed.

"From these well known data the following hypothesis may be given: It was formed by the intersection of two currents of air, namely: the northeast trade winds that had veered around by the north to westward, and the returning winds from the southwest.

These two intersecting motions produced a third and intermediate one, which, with the rotary motion of the earth, gave the storm a northeast direction.

"This Tornado seems to be out of place, or lost, both as to time and latitude. Science has recorded but one Tornado as early as the month of June, and that was a marine one. It occurred in 1831, in the latitude of Trinidad. The season for tornadoes is during August, September and October-seldom earlier or later. Their well known regions are the West Indies, Indian Ocean, and the Chinese Sea. Hence, any recurrence of this calamity is not likely to be suffered soon, if ever."

In addition to these characteristics, the following phenomena or appearances of the storm from this town, some twenty-five miles. north of the Tornado's track, at its nearest point are worthy of preservation. Towards sundown of that day an ordinary looking thunder cloud was observed to be passing along the horizon from the southwest towards the east. As it came nearer, the clouds were observed to be in violent agitation. A low, ominous roar, began to be heard, increasing in loudness every moment. A constant rumbling of thunder, accompanied the short crackling sound in the air. The finest electrical display it has ever been my lot to witness was kept up all the time. The whole black mass of moving storm cloud seemed a vast celestial bonfire, so vividly did the lightnings illumine its shadowy edges, and stream through its troubled folds. The Storm Fiend seemed to rage with demoniac fury. The air was in a high state of electrical excitement. White, fleecy clouds floated about the denser mass, whence proceeded the roar. The cumuli and cirri moved slowly about and around the terrible nimbus cloud of the center. Thus the storm approached its nearest point; then died away towards the east, following the steps of the twilight, until stillness and darkness together came, and closed over earth.

The next morning our county was literally strewn over with bits of shingles and light wood, tin cups, pie pans, fragments of papers and letters, and many kinds of light articles. This was true of the whole country over which the Tornado passed. These, and kindred light articles, were scattered for fifty miles on either ...e of the whirlwind's path. A few days after the storm, as an intelligent farmer of our county was plowing in his fields, an old letter attracted his attention. It was dated in the same county in Pennsylvania from which he had originally emigrated to this country; written by a man whom he knew; about a transaction in which he was interested; and addressed to a friend of his own then living near DeWitt, in Iowa. He immediately left his plow and arrived at DeWitt in time to sympathize in a scene of sorrow and death. The house had been taken up in the arms of the storm and scattered in pieces over the land; and this scrap had floated sixty miles and told the husbandman of his friend's distress.

This phenomenon is easily explained. These articles were caught up in the spiral folds of the hurricane, borne aloft until its whirling motion was spent ; then carried off in different directions by the upper currents of the atmosphere. The light ones of course would travel to the greatest distances. Some authorities have denied the rotary movement of these tornadoes; but the fact is too well established by the testimony of observers, and by the effects of the whirl, to be gainsayed. I myself observed one later in the season pass over the eastern part of our county. Its force was soon spent, but for a few miles it was exceedingly violent, lifting one barn from its foundation, and injuring everything in its way. The atmosphere was in a high state of electrical excitement. A number of bright looking clouds moved rapidly, like sheep chasing each other, round an invisible center. Indeed, every one who has ever seen one of these storms, has noticed, the very first thing, the revolving motion of all ascending substances. Hurricanes, whirlwinds, tornadoes, waterspouts, typhoons, cyclones, doldrums-all these have an advancing motion as well as a rapid motion of a rotatory kind. So, our recent Illinois tornadoes have had this motion in a violent degree.

To those living in and near the track of the storm, its approach had the appearance of an elephant; the clouds being after the similitude of its body, and the funnel shaped Tornado, looking like a trunk, the lower part of which kept swinging about with an unsteady, swaying motion. This left a zigzag track upon the ground, the reason of which will be noticed hereafter. Citizens of Camanche all say that fleecy clouds were floating in a troubled manner about the air, often breaking and showing glimpses of blue sky beyond. These, at intervals poured down showers of big rain drops, mingled sometimes with hail. A gentle wind blew from the northwest. A terrible roar came from the same direction. While it was yet at a distance a dead calm came over the town. Then a violent east wind sprung up. Then, in a moment, the great Tornado, like the besom of destruction, swept the ill-starred town into ruins. Then a violent west wind followed the broom of the mighty

storm.

This fact seems well established as the beginning of our data, viz: that the wind blew violently towards the storm as it passed along from every point of the compass. At Camanche, we have already seen, the Tornado was immediately preceded by a strong east wind and followed by a west one. The ferry boat in the river opposite the town was driven by the first of these upon the Iowa shore; there it was whirled about by the Tornado; a few minutes afterwards it was driven upon the Illinois shore and dashed in pieces. In one place I was informed a tree grew, forked near the ground. One of its parts fell in one direction, the other, in the other, from this same cause. Along the northern verge of the track, of greatest force, trees and everything else were blown towards the south, along the southern they were blown towards the