168 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Extract from the Corpus Christi Herald of August 30, 1909 : 



The people who wore at Tarpon Beach are loud in their praises of the 

 United States Weather Bureau, and say that had it not been for the warnings 

 sent out by the Bureau every one of them might have been drowned. As it 

 was, they received the warnings in lime to seek safety in the quarantine sta- 

 tion, where they all remained until the storm was over. 



Tropical stoiin of September 17-21^ 1909. — This storm was first 

 observed south of Jamaica on the 14th. It moved thence northwest- 

 ward to the Yucatan Channel, where it was central on the morning 

 of the 17th. Advices were issued to shipping interests at Atlantic 

 and Gulf ports that the hurricane center would probably move 

 northward over the Gulf of Mexico ; vessels in extreme south Atlantic 

 and Gulf ports were warned not to leave their harbors, while vessels 

 elsewhere preparing to sail to those waters were told to await the 

 passage of the storm. After a northwestward movement the storm 

 struck the Louisiana coast, about 50 miles west of New Orleans^ 

 on the 21st. 



The following is taken from the New Orleans Picayune of Sep- 

 tember 22, 1909 : 



It must be said to the credit of the Weather Bui-eau that the excellent work 

 done has proved of incalculable benefit to life and property by the issuance 

 of timely warnings of the storm. On Wednesday of last week the Weather 

 Bureau began to give out bulletins as to the location of the tropical hurricane 

 and its probable trend, and this warning note never ceased from day to day 

 until the crucial moment, Monday morning, when the definite warning was 

 'issued telling about the very near approach of the disturbance threatening 

 south Louisiana and probably having some sinister design upon the city of New 

 Orleans. The storm reached this city about the time forecast by the Weather 

 Bureau, and it lasted until nearly midnight Monday. 



The following is from the same paper, under date of September 25 : 



The admirable arrangements made by the weather service insures ample 

 warning of the approach of these W^est Indian storms, but there is little that 

 can be done to protect property from their ravages. That the timely warnings 

 saved many lives is, however, undoubted, and were the people who live in 

 exposed stretches of the coast to pay greater attention to these warnings the 

 loss of life would be still more reduced. Sailors who go to sea carefully note 

 the weather predictions and are guided thereby, whereas the people living on 

 the low-lying coast, who have actually more to fear than the sailors, usually 

 pay less lieed to the storm predictions. 



The Key West hurricane of October 11., 1909. — This storm was first 

 noted over the south-central Caribbean Sea on the 2d, and masters of 

 vessels in or bound for southern waters were kept advised daily, 

 beginning on the 6th. On the 10th storm warnings were ordered on 

 the south Florida coast, and at 6 a. m. of the 11th they were changed 

 to hurricane warnings. After passing over Key West the hurricane 

 swept the Florida peninsula south of Miami. On the extension of 

 the Florida East Coast Railroad about 3,000 workmen were vyith- 

 drawn from dangerous points as a result of the Bureau's warnings. 

 The following particulars are taken from the report of the Weather 

 Bureau official at Jacksonville, Fla. : 



The correctness of the warning and the effectiveness of its distribution are 

 indicated in the small loss of life — about a dozen^along the lines of the pro- 

 jected railroad. Those who were drowned paid the penalty of remaining aboard 

 a tugboat, which sank, instead of seeking shelter, as did others. With about 

 3,000 laborers scattered for many miles over the low islands of the sea along 

 the proposed route of the Florida East Coast Railroad, the fact that the loss of 

 life was so small is an eloquent tribute to the wisdom of the railroad officials 

 in obeying implicitly the information given out by the Weather Bureau. In 



