MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



undeniable ; but to go through it all, as I was obliged to do, 

 along narrow planks and ladders slippery with blood and 

 water, and in the warm, close, reeking atmosphere, was 

 utterly disgusting. My friend was, however, quite amazed 

 at my feeling anything but admiration of the whole estab- 

 lishment, which was considered one of the sights and glories 

 of the city. 



On coming out I was told something that interested me 

 more than the wholesale pork factory had done. A gentle- 

 man was standing at the door of an office close by, and in 

 the course of conversation with him, the subject of tornadoes 

 came up, in reference to one that had done some damage 

 there two years before. There was a very large iron oil 

 reservoir a few yards from the office, something like the 

 largest-sized cylindrical steam boilers, supported on a strong 

 wooden framework. The tornado struck this cylinder, lifted 

 it off its support, and threw it down some yards away. Yet 

 our friend's office and other small wooden buildings close by 

 were absolutely untouched by it. This illustrates a peculiar 

 feature of these storms, which, though sometimes sweeping 

 along the surface and destroying everything in their track 

 for miles, at other times seem to pass overhead, descending 

 occasionally to the surface and then rising again, picking up 

 a house or a tree at intervals. The kind of destruction a 

 tornado often produce is well shown in the photograph of 

 the main street of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, after the tornado 

 of the preceding year (April 14, 1886). This town is about 

 two hundred miles north of Sioux City. 



Leaving Sioux City in the afternoon, with several stop- 

 pages and changes I reached Kansas City at six next morn- 

 ing. After breakfasting there, I went on to Lawrence through 

 a pretty country in the valley of the Kansas river, the rich 

 alluvial land still partly covered with wood, and apparently 

 unoccupied. Several camps of emigrants (or migrants) with 

 waggons, etc., were passed. On the sides of the railway 

 there were dots, clumps, and even large patches of the beauti- 

 ful Phlox divaricata, with brilliant bluish-purple flowers. No 

 other flower was seen, but the trees were just coming out 



