60 H. C. RUSSELL. 



nothing left but bare tree stumps and fallen trees, and so thick 

 was the fallen timber on the road, that it was found quite imposs- 

 ible for the mail coach to pass, until the driver had taken the 

 horses out, and used them to drag trees off the road. The photo- 

 graphs will shew, that every limb that was at all rigid has been 

 broken off, and only those are left which were thin enough to bend 

 to the force of the gale. At first sight there is nothing here to 

 show the gyratory motion of a tornado, for in all three photographs 

 the limbs broken off seem to have been thrown towards the east. 

 In other portions of the track however, the trees twisted off bear 

 unmistakable evidence of gyratory motion, and from the fact that 

 the broken trees are thrown, from west to east while the storm 

 progressed at the rate of fifty miles per hour southwards, it is 

 evident that the wind that did the damage, was blowing across 

 the track, or in other words, was part of a tornado, and further, 

 in order to throw down trees at right angles to the storm path, 

 when its forward motion was fifty miles per hour, it must have 

 been blowing with hurricane force, probably one hundred and 

 twenty to one hundred and fifty miles per hour. This view is 

 borne out by the fact that in parts of its course, as already stated, 

 sound and growing trees, two and even three feet in diameter 

 were broken off short close to the ground, which may be taken as 

 conclusive evidence of the suddenness of the strain, for such a 

 force applied gradually would tear the trees up by the roots. 



I am unable at present to give more information about this 

 interesting storm, but I hope that the publication of these notes 

 may lead persons who have the opportunity to observe carefully, 

 and report such storm tracks. The damage done by tornados in 

 populous parts of America is often appalling, and if we cannot 

 do anything to prevent them, we can at least acquire such a 

 knowledge of their frequency and force, that it will be possible 

 in the future to insure against the damage caused by them. 



