Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/71

 in the south part of the county, and was largely settled by Quakers. Most of them were at an afternoon meeting some distance south of the town, out of the track of the storm, which had now become a tornado with its trunk-like trail dragging on the ground. It struck the village from the northwest; eleven houses were torn to pieces and several persons injured. It passed south of Eldora and crossing the Iowa River at Sanderson’s mill, swept a clean path through the woods and passed on through a corner of Marshall, Tama and Benton counties, in a direction to miss most of the settlements. The destroying funnel appears here to have risen, as little damage was done. As it approached Linn, near Palo, two funnel-shaped clouds settled down toward the earth and the work of destruction began anew. These clouds were several miles apart, passing Cedar Rapids, one on the north and the other on the south. The storm passed near Bertram and just missed Mount Vernon. At Lisbon, the freight depot, a large warehouse, and a freight train of ten loaded cars were completely destroyed. The north branch of the tornado now passed into Jones County, while the south branch swept into Cedar. The Jones County branch passed through Greenfield and Rome townships. The southwest branch of the tornado swept through the north part of Cedar County, destroying eight houses and one church, killing three persons and wounding thirteen. About five miles east of the Wapsipinicon River the two branches united and a broad black column again descended, which now swept on through the south part of Clinton County with a wider sweep and accelerated force. With a propelling power driving it eastward at a rate of seventy miles an hour and a rotary motion of inconceivable velocity the storm proceeded on its work of destruction. In many places the path of the tornado was from eighty to one hundred and sixty rods in width and this track was left a desert waste. Scores of people were killed and mangled and beautiful homes swept out of existence.