ACCOUNT OF A TORNADO, 



THAT PASSED NEAR NEW HARMONY, INDIANA, APRIL 30, 1852. 



WITH A MAP OF THE TRACK, DIAGRAMS, AND ILLUSTRATIVE SKETCHES. 



As every accurately observed meteorological fact must be of importance iu the 

 necessary accumulation of data, from which the phenomena of storms are to be 

 understood, and the laws which govern them deduced, I am led to believe that a 

 map and memoir illustrating the tornado which recently passed near New Har- 

 mony, Indiana, will be of some service to the cause in which so many are at 

 present engaged. 



On April 30, 1852, a tornado crossed the New Harmony Plank road, five miles 

 south of the town, about five o'clock in the afternoon ; its velocity, and the length 

 and breadth of its destructive violence, exceed that of any, to my knowledge, on 

 record. From within three miles of Golconda, Illinois, its course appears to have 

 been north 30° east to the "Wabash river, a distance of fifty miles ; crossing the 

 river near Grand Chain rapids, it altered its course to east, or rather to a little 

 north of east, and continued apparently in this to about four miles north of George- 

 town, Kentucky, a distance of 200 miles. At different localities, from Golconda to 

 Georgetown, the tornado is described as manifesting similar evidences of its destruc- 

 tive power; buildings being blown down ; houses and cabins unroofed; trees torn 

 up by the roots, or their tops twisted off; fences scattered in every direction ; and 

 beds, bedding, and articles of every description being carried to various and con- 

 siderable distances. See Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, of the map. 



Fig. 1 is a map of the track of the tornado from Golconda, Illinois, to George- 

 town, Kentucky, a distance of about 250 miles. 



Fig. 2 is a survey of a square mile of the track east and west of the New Har- 

 mony Plank road, showing the compass-bearings of the prostrated trees; the crossed 

 end represents the top of the tree ; the dotted end, the root ; where the dot is 

 absent, the tree has been broken, or twisted from the stem. 



Fig. 3 is a plot of the trees thrown across the road from New Harmony to 

 Springfield, two miles east of the Plank Eoad; this road passes through a forest; 

 a small portion is cleared, which is marked on the plot. 



Fig. 4 is a plot of the road from New Harmony to Evansville, and of the Cyn- 

 thiana road, eight miles east of the Plank road; the Evansville road is through 

 cleared ground, but the Cynthiana road passes through a forest all the way to the 

 mill at Big creek. The observations extend to about one hundred and fifty yards 

 on each side of the road, except near the middle of the track, where they cover 

 a wider space. 



