30 Transactions Tennessee Academy of Science. 



perature had risen at Nashville to 20° above that of the preced- 

 ing day for the same hour, and this was followed shortly by a 

 fall of 24°. 



The track of this tornado was followed and closely studied for 

 six or seven miles. The beginning of its destructive work was 

 at a point on the road from Clarksville to Nashville known as 

 "The Telephone Road," four and a half miles southeast of 

 Clarksville. Here the road runs up a creek valley. Some tree 

 tops were twisted off to the south of the road here, but the de- 

 structive vortex seems not to have reached the ground until it 

 crossed the road which runs along the base of the hill. Here was 

 the house of Henry Brown, which seems to have been a little to 

 the left of the central line of the storm track and was not much 

 injured; outhouses and trees were overthrown. 



From this point the track ascends the hill going through some 

 open land. On top of the hill a log stable was torn to pieces and 

 wreckage strewn over the surface of a pond. It is said that a 

 fish supposed to have been sucked up and carried off with water 

 from this pond was found on the ground several hundred yards 

 further on. 



Beyond the pond was the humble home of old man Stafford. 

 It was completely wiped away and the ground swept clean. The 

 old man was killed and his dog also. A little further on at the 

 forks of the road stood Mt. Olivet schoolhouse. comparatively new 

 and apparently strongly built; surrounded by a grove of fine tall 

 trees. Here the track of destructive action seemed only about 

 fifty yards wide. The building" was torn to pieces, some parts of 

 it carried backward, in the direction from which the tornado 

 came, thus proving conclusively the rotary movement of the 

 winds. Most of the trees were thrown toward the north, but 

 some were \)\\vd crosswise on these. 



In most places, all along the track, destructive action was more 

 marked on the right or south side of the storm's path. But on 

 both north and south sides the fallen trees generally pointed in- 

 ward toward the i)ath of greatest destruction. This seems to 

 prove a strong siiclion toward the center along the surface of the 

 ground. Portions of this schoolhouse and its furniture were car- 

 ried forward and droiipeil nian_\- miles awaw Tlie storm track 

 seems to make an angle at this ixiint. changing for a while to an 



