124 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



SOME OLDER TORNADOES. 



WARREN KNAUS. 



A correspondent in No. 59 of Science calls attention to evidences of some 

 unrecorded tornadoes in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana and some of the 

 Canadian States. 



As our knowledge of these storms has been acquired almost entirely from 

 observation of their prevalence dating from the organization of the present Signal 

 Service system, any notes touching them will, perhaps be more or less interesting 

 even if not of any permanent value in adding to Historical Meteorology. With 

 this object in view, I will notice somewhat briefly some early tornadoes in Ohio. 



In almost any general history of this State a description of General Anthony 

 Wayne's battle with the Indians on the Maumee river is given, and it is noted 

 that the Indian warriors were strongly posted along one edge of a windfall, and 

 that the trees were lying so thickly in front of them that the cavalry found it im- 

 possible to dislodge them by a direct attack, and this had to be done by the in- 

 fantry. This battle, fought in August, 1794, is sometimes known as the "Battle 

 of the Fallen Timbers, " and is probably the earliest authentic known record of 

 evidences of an eighteenth century tornado in this part of the United States. 



About 1824 a tornado passed through Tuscarawas County, the general course 

 of the storm being from southwest to northeast. Its width as indicated by the 

 prostrate trees was from one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards. The track 

 of this tornado was somewhat peculiar ; instead of a uniform width of the dimen- 

 sion given above, off-shoots were thrown out at right angles having a width of 

 some fifty yards, and a length of one hundred yards. 



The tornado was of great severity, nothing being left standing, and the trees 

 were thrown with a general inclination toward the centre of the storm track. When 

 examined in this county no skips or breaks were found, but the track was con- 

 tinuous. 



Another tornado of probably greater extent entered the State (Ohio) in Mer- 

 cer County, passing four miles south of Fort Recovery, the scene of Gen'l St. Clair's 

 defeat by the Miami Indians in 1791. The course of the storm was from the 

 southwest to northeast, and it passed in this general direction near Bellefontaine 

 and through Marion County. The width of the storm track, the direction in 

 which the trees were lying and the lateral off-shoots, were similar in this windfall 

 to the one described in Tuscarawas County, and was of about the same date. 



About half a mile distant from the track of the above storm in Marion Coun- 

 ty, was evidence of a much more ancient tornado. The limits were not well de- 

 fined, but it was supposed to have occurred about a century previous to its later 

 and more extensive neighbor. 



About 1854 the town of Monterey, in Mercer County, was damaged by one 



