546 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



the road along which we passed. Some farm animals were killed. A few 

 people were injured but no one killed in this immediate vicinity. As I 

 passed along the road I could see the path of the storm for miles each way, 

 so great had been the destruction. The path was about half a mile wide 

 at the widest points, but not nearly so wide at the points of greatest de- 

 struction. 



The newspaper accounts of the tornadoes of May 21st were in no wise 

 exaggerated. After having witnessed one at close quarters I am convinced 

 that no meteorological phenomenon is so terrifying and of such destructive 

 force. Fortunately they are not of common occurrence. 



The Postmaster at Guttenberg, Iowa, reports the arrival of the storm 

 there at 6:30 p. m. 



A funnel cloud seemed to travel slowly from southeast to northwest and 

 was attended by a heavy rumbling noise. Color was dark slate. Lightning 

 all around. Only a little rain occurred before the, storm struck- — heavy 

 after. Hail did not amount to much. Storm was a whirl and it threw 

 wreckage 150 feet up along the hillside. Path in Guttenberg was about 

 two city blocks wide and about eight city blocks long, then it crossed the 

 Mississippi into Wisconsin. No one was killed but three were injured. 

 Houses were unroofed, barns and other buildings were wrecked and some 

 were blown across the river into Wisconsin. Estimated property loss about 

 $20,000. 



Later: Reports from "Walker, in the northwest part of Linn county, 

 show that about 6:45 p. m. May 21, a tornado moved east-northeast 

 through that town, causing the death of Mrs. Wm. Ossman, the serious 

 injury of two others, and property damage amounting to |52,000. Some 

 reporters place the damage considerably higher. 



