Account of a Tornado. 91 
wing of a house which had been moved quite around so as to 
form a tight angle with its former position, and still the building 
was not broken.—#ids. 
“On the afternoon of the 25th of July, 1838, (says Mr. Gay- 
lord,) a violent tornado passed over part of the county of Allegany, 
N. Y., rarely equalled in its destructive effects, and giving a most 
striking illustration of the peculiar movements of the wind in 
these aerial currents. It was noticed in some of the journals at 
the time; but happening to cross its route, in passing up the 
Genesee valley in the succeeding month, we were so much in- 
terested with the appearance as to be induced to prepare the fol- 
lowing sketch for the readers of the Farmer. 
“The first appearance of severe wind, was, as we learned, in 
the town of Rushford, some fifteen miles from the place where 
we observed its effects. 'The day was hot and sultry, and the 
course of the gale was from the N. of W. to S. of East. At its 
commencement in Rushford, it was only a violent thunder gust, 
such as are frequently experienced, but it soon acquired such 
force as to sweep in places every thing before it. In its passage 
the same violence was not at all times exerted ; some places seem- 
ed wholly passed over, while in the same direction and at only a 
Small distance whole forests were crushed. In the language of 
ne who had suffered much from the gale, ‘it seemed to move 
by bounds, sometimes striking and sometimes receding from the 
earth,’ which indeed was most likely the case. 
“It passed the Genesee river in the town of Belfast, a few miles 
low Angelica, and its fury was here exerted on a space of coun- 
tty perhaps a mile or a mile and a half in width. The country 
here is settled and cleared along the river, but the road passes at 
little distance from the river, and at this point wound through 
One of the finest pine woods to be found on the stream. Of course 
When it came over the higher lands from the N. W., the tornado 
Crossed the river and the plain before encountering the groves of 
Pine. In the space occupied by the central part of the tornado, 
“ay three-fourths of a mile in width, nothing was able to resist its 
fury. Strong framed houses and barns were crushed in an instant, 
and their fragments and contents as quickly scattered to every 
Point of the compass ; while those out of the direct line were only 
Unroofed, or more or less domaged. Large oaks and elms, were 
literally twisted off, or crushed like reeds. 
