681 



TOKNAl'O. 



of the SanU F Railroad, the chief industrial works 'central region. Tn tliisi rything 



are 9 flourini; mills, wlmx 1 yearly output is -im.iMi touched is destroyed; hoc.-.- unrooted 

 barrels. There are also .'{ iron foundries, '_' pack- 



r. cloth- 



houses, and f.ictories producing starch, yincjrar. 

 harness, cigars, touts, wheels, winiliiiills. 



and 



agricultural implements. The .-iix is well laid out with 

 wide, shady. well paved streets. ;md huiidsnin 



It has excellent sewerage. an electric-light 

 and telephone system, jjas- and water works. Topoka 



mettled iii is '.i and UMorponted iii 1868. 1 



history is closely eMMCtM with Jhe HttlaBMUl "I 



- and its admission into the 1'nion. Its jiopula- 



tion in 1SSO was 15.452, but it is Mtumted in 



to be 40,000. Its assessed valuation in !-->, was 

 $7.'J7ii.<>17. tlie true value being thrice as much. 

 TOBBKRT, AI.KKKD T. A., general. was born in 

 ire in July, 1*33. He graduated at West 1'oint 

 in Ivl,'), and was appointed brevet MOO0d-lieateiUUlt 

 of infantry. He served in Texas and Florida, and took 

 part in the Utah expedition ot' lx~.7-.~iS. When tin- 

 em! war broke out he was employed in nattering N< w 

 Jersey volunteers into service, and in September uus 

 made colonel of the First regiment N. .1. volunteers, 

 With his command he participated in McClell.m's 

 IVninsnlar campaign, and in August. I si'i". he was 

 assigned to the command of a brigade, lie fbngfal in 

 the second battle of Hull Run, and was wounded at 

 South Mountain. He was then made brigadier-general 

 of volunteers, but was arable to serve until .Inn 

 when he returned to his brigade in the Sixth corps in 

 time to light at (icttyshnrg. In ISi'.l, while lien. 

 Sheridan conducted a raid on liicliiiiond. (!cn. Torliert 

 commanded tin; cavalry which remained with (ien. 

 ("rant, and afterwards led the First division in several 

 actions. including the battle of Cold Harbor, (ien. 

 Torbert was now made chief of cavalry of the Middle 

 niilitary division. and was engaged in all the operations 

 in the Shenandoah Valley, fn April, |St;.">. lie was 

 made commander of the Army oi'thc Slienandoah, and 

 afterwards had charge of various districts, until lie was 

 mustered out of the volunteer sen ice in January. I Soil. 

 In October of that year he resigned from the regular 

 army, in whicli his actual rank was only captain. 

 though he had brevet rank as major-general lie was 

 sent as U. S. minister to Salvador in lsr/.i. as consul- 

 general to Havana in 1871, and to Paris in Is7-l. 



TOKNADO. There are two well marked species of 

 gyratory storms the cyclone, in which the wind moves 

 mainly in a horizontal direction and covers an exten- 

 sive area, and the tornado, in which the movement is 

 principally vertical ami the ground area of the storm 

 very small. These two kinds of storm are connected 

 by no intermediate gradations, and seem distinct in 

 character and origin. The tornado, however, is con- 

 nected with a scries of less violent gyrations. ranging 

 from the waterspout of the ocean and the sand-storm 

 of the desert down to the little dust -whirl which is so 

 ordinary a phenomenon in our streets. The violent 

 form of whirj known as the tornado occurs more fre- 

 quently and disastrously in the 1'nited States than in 

 any other region uf the earth, and is particularly prev- 

 alent in the valley of the M - i--ippi. where sevei 

 tuples are of annual oei-urrenci . ami the loss of life 

 and property often exlenshe. 



The tornado, which apparently hns its oricin in the 

 clouds at no great distance above ll ..... arth, present.-. 

 the appearance of a vast cloud funnel, visibly descend- 

 ing from the layer of cloud in whieh it originates un- 

 til it reaches the earth, where it draws up even thing 

 that lies in its path into its swift revolviiiL' \' 

 Its cloud-like appearance is due to the condensation 



that M 

 torn to 

 and their li.iL-nieiit* thrown lone distances; 



(ireat trees t\vi>ted oil 



motives lified and hurled a.-idc. and a power displayed 



which it is difficult to appreciate. The whirling mo- 

 tion is indicated by tin- t\i>tinu' of trees and the tiirn- 

 in>; roun.l of buildiiiL's which have been lilted from 

 their foundations, while the mode in which the walls 

 of houses occasionally .-.cciii to Imrst outward in all di- 

 rections appears the work uf a vacuum in the passing 

 centre of the whirl. 



1'lie tornado cloud never seems to reach to a pp 



it. but U-comcs lost in the broad layer of eloii-1 

 from whicli it depends. It M\:I\^ t" and fro. liL 

 daiiL'iiii)! whiji. ;us it moves rapiilly alon.s its path of 

 destruction, the end occasionally rising from thi! 

 ground to des,-eiid farther on. \Vheii thu- r.ii-cd it 

 - somewhat pointed at bottom, and though the 

 surface wind is still severe, little harm is done. The 

 path of greatc.-t vio'.,-nee of the tornado is very nar- 

 row, while the time of p. itic over any 



spot is less than a minute, sometimes but a few - 

 onds. It seems to stoke cvei vi IUIIL' within its reach a 

 single blow, like that of a gigantic hammer which de- 

 stroys whatever it touches. The wind pressure of the 

 tornado ha.- been estimated from ii> e licet- to vary from 

 18 to 112 pounds to the square loot, ami the velocity 

 of the wind to be sometimes, as much I .lea 



per hour. 



IVIinite scientific observations of tornado phenom- 

 ena have been confined to a few y.-ars past, this work 

 having been taken up by Lieut. John !'. Finlcy. of tho 

 Signal Service Bureau, who several years ago organ- 

 ized a system of regular observations which have added 

 greatly to our knowledge of the subje.-t, lie has 

 learned so much eonccining the tornado conditions, in 

 fact, as to In- able to predict, with some degree of ac- 

 curacy. the probable appearance of such storms witli'.u 

 the settlt d region.; of the country. In furtherance of 

 this project lie has -.,!;! hlaid..- to competent persons 

 throughout the tornado region, desiring them to de- 

 scribe the character and pcciiliaiilics of every tornado 

 that came under their observation, and in this manner 



obtained a large sum of .-tatislies. ;!t of his 



studies on the siibjeet it may be stated that c.l 

 dictions made by him in April and June. ISs). that 

 tornadoes would occur, is were verified, and of I'.l in 

 June and July. I 1 -.-:,, l.'i were verified. In all a 

 violent storms occurred, either tornadoes, fier 

 or hail-storms. 



Ills predictions are based on the following ol.- 



Tornadocs are found to be always a-.-ociated with 

 cyclones, and always to make their appearance in the 

 south -east quadrant of the cyclone, or south-east of 

 a iiioviii'.' centre of low barometric pressure, while their 

 tracks conform closely to the direction of .'.,,? main 



storm. Theirplaoeofoocarrenoe, however. bteTenl hun- 



dred miles distant from the centre oi'thc cyclone. The 

 favorable climatic conditions are an elevation of tem- 

 perature of from I.j to Till above the normal, and an 

 \(- humidity, with abnormal conditions of wind 

 direction and cloud formation and movement. The 

 average number of tornadoes which annually occur in 



: i he 



Mountains is over 1(K). 



. 



In ;vs>t here Were 17L'. (If ' ::i1 I' eo| tied occurrences 



from 17'.' I to ISsI, .'io| moved from south-west to north- 

 lal rule- about sn per cent, of them 

 in this direction, and alnmt 10 per cent, front 

 reel to south east. The average width of path 

 and nf velocity :;n miles an hour, though 



of moUtnre in the warm and compre-.-ed air of the the velocity may vary from 1 to l.'iil miles per hour. 



wind-whirl, into which the adjoining air is drawn with The cloud is nearly always funnel shaped, varying 



.th extraordinary from the hour-glass to the conical and the inverted 



violence, the motion lieing an upward spiral, with a funnel forms. The direction of the whirl is almost 



partial vacuum in its centre. The path of the- tor- invariably oppo-ite to that of the movement of a 



n.ido is always very narrow, averaging le.-s than a clock hand, in this re-pe. -t aL'rccim; with the gyration 



quarter-mile in width, the greatest violence being in its of the cyclone. Tornadoes move parallel to the pro- 



