THE WEST INDIAN HURRICANE 343 



from several points along the line of the Chicago and North- 

 Western railway, Black Hills division. Hot Springs, on both the 

 North-Western and the Burlington railway lines, is within two 

 days' drive from Sheep mountain, but Hermosa, on the North- 

 Western railway, is somewhat nearer. At this station convey- 

 ance may be had, and a fairly large area of the Bad Lands may 

 be seen in a three-da}'s' trip, including a climb to the top of 

 Sheep mountain and the top of the divide between the head- 

 waters of Indian creek and Cottonwood draw. 



The White River clay formation extends into Nebraska, and 

 at a number of localities exhibits characteristic bad lands. Near 

 Adelia, on the Burlington and Missouri River railroad, in the 

 extreme northwestern corner of Nebraska, there is a small but 

 exceedingly interesting area of these bad lands, presenting the 

 usual characteristics. One particularly unique locality in this 

 vicinity is shown on page 342. On the North Platte river the 

 same formation presents many striking topographic features, no- 

 tably Jail Rock, in Che}^enne county, an admirable illustration 

 of which appears as the frontispiece. 



THE WEST INDIAN HURRICANE OF AUGUST 7-14, 1899 



By E. B. Garriott, 



Professor of Meteorology, U. S. Weather Bureau 



The American public has manifested a peculiar interest in the 

 West Indian hurricane of August 7-14, 1899. This interest may 

 be partially attributed to the fact that for the first time in her 

 history the United States possessed territory in the tropics 

 which was devastated and made temporarily dependent by a 

 hurricane. And aside from this consideration the storm afforded 

 an opportunity for demonstrating the utility of the newly or- 

 ganized West Indian branch of the United States Weather Bu- 

 reau. The experience of Puerto Rico in this hurricane is of spe- 

 cial interest and importance for the reason that she possessed 

 the advantage of a full-reporting station of the Weather Bureau 

 from which warnings of the approach of the hurricane were dis- 

 seminated the day before its arrival and where accurate data 

 near the path of the center of the disturbance were recorded. 



Extending near] 3^ four hundred miles east and southeast from 

 Puerto Rico are the Leeward islands of the Lesser Antilles. To 



