Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/68

 running at large upon the prairie ranges were seen approaching the settlements in anxious haste. As the long line of clouds slowly arose, the lower portion, which seemed to touch the earth, became of inky blackness. We could now faintly hear long continued rumble of thunder and for some time sharp tongues of lightning had been visible. The atmosphere, the haze and the rising bank of clouds had a weird unnatural appearance and the oppressiveness of the lifeless heat became almost unendurable. It was now noticed for the first time that the light-colored upper clouds, which resembled the dense smoke of a great prairie fire, were rapidly moving from the north and south toward the center of the storm cloud, and, as they met, were violently agitated like boiling water descending in a rapid movement to the black cloud below. We were all now intently watching this strange movement, something we had never before seen, when the thought flashed across my mind—this is a tornado! The cloud had now been in sight about three-quarters of an hour and the vivid flashing of the lightning and steady roar of the thunder were continuous.

The wind came in gusts from the east, changing to the south, and again suddenly veering to the north, then dying away into a dead calm. The cloud was now rising rapidly and trailing below it seemed to be an immense funnel, the lower end of which appeared to be dragging on the ground. We could hear a steady roar, very heavy but not loud, like an immense freight train crossing a bridge. Looking toward a grove some three miles distant in the path of the black trailing cloud we saw high up in the air great trees, torn and shattered, thrown by the force of the whirlwind outside of its vortex and falling toward the earth. My family had gone into the cellar, which was of large rocks, upon which rested the balloon frame house. I stood close by the outside doorway, ready to spring in if the fearful black swaying trail should come toward the house. It appeared to be passing about half a mile north