CURIOUS LIGHTNING FREAK. BY WATSON L. BISHOP, 

 Dartmouth, N. S. 



Read, 9th December, 1912. 



On July 26th, 1903, a report came to me that our main 

 twelve-inch water-pipe of cast iron, supplying the town of 

 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with water, had burst and that 

 a large quantity of water was flowing from the break. At 

 this place, about two miles from the town and one from the 

 reservoir lakes, where the pressure would be about twenty- 

 five pounds per square inch, the pipe-line was carried east 

 and west, five feet deep, along an old road, the side of which 

 was lined by a low rough stone wall. Several larch (hack- 

 matack) trees were growing along this wall, some through 

 its centre and others close along the sides. The pipe-line 

 here is six feet from the wall. 



On examination I found that one of these trees growing 

 in the side of the wall had been shattered by lightning. The 

 stump (or what remained of it) was three to four feet high, 

 and was split in several pieces with the top ends well apart, 

 showing that the great pressure was from the centre outward. 

 The trunk of the tree, which was about ten inches in diameter, 

 was shattered for a length of fifteen feet or more, and was 

 scattered over a radius of about one hundred feet from 

 the stump. 



The remainder or top of the tree was left intact and fell 

 vertically until the largest end was about six feet from the 

 ground. In this position it was held by the branches of the 

 other trees growing near by. The lower end was six inches 

 in diameter and a stone weighing about twelve pounds was 

 found firmly held in a cleft in this end, and appeared to have 

 been driven by the lightning up through the centre of the 



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