A big swath of Iowa, from southwest to northeast, is under a bright red blizzard warning this morning --- but Lucas County is part of a small south-central and southeast island under only a modest winter weather advisory. Here's hoping.
The big wind I came across the other day occurred during early April, 1871, and involved dust and debris rather than snow --- and my great-great-great-grandfather, too, referred to by Chariton Democrat editor John V. Faith as "old Uncle Jakey" Myers. "Old" is a relative term. Jacob was only 60 at the time.
The principal story about the wind storm appeared in The Democrat of April 13 under the headline, "The Blow."
"As a windy day, last Saturday was equal to any ever experienced in this country. The gale set in early in the forenoon, and continued until night. All the loose boxes, barrels, and in fact everything that was loose, was driven before it. Chimneys were demolished, outbuildings toppled over, and houses racked. Fences were blown down, and the public school building was dismantled of its adornments.
"The dust, dirt and straw flew in perfect clouds, and wherever there was a little crack, the dust came streaming in. It was almost impossible to move in any direction contrary to the wind, and it required two men and a small boy to draw a breath against it. Very few ladies ventured out, and those who did showed what they were made of.
"It blew the senses out of the opponents of the railroad and blew a great many dead drunk. It puffed the saloons into public favor, and puffed some people up. It filled bags with wind, and some of the sermons preached next day were principally all wind.
"It made some men windy, and a good many women stormy. It blew dirt into everybody's faces, but didn't blow it out again. It filled their eyes with sand and their food with all manner of stuff. It is said that in Kansas they have six months of just such weather every year, and we should like to see some of our people go there. As for this locality, all of us have had enough blowing."
Later --- The same blow came back Monday night, t'other end first, and repeated the programme.
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Here's the report involving my family and the "big blow" ---
"Old Uncle Jakey Myers met with a severe loss on Saturday, A spark was carried from his house to the sheds and ignited the straw, burning up the sheds, granaries, and over two thousand bushels of corn and about twenty tons of hay. His loss will reach about fifteen hundred dollars. His son-in-law, Charles Houck, lost about four hundred bushels of corn and a stack of hay, and his son's loss was about three hundred bushels of corn and two hundred bushels of oats. (The son would have been Abraham Snow Myers; my great-grandfather, Daniel Myers, wasn't old enough to farm independently). About 1,000 rails also were burned. The spark that did the mischief was carried some two hundred yards, and though it was immediately discovered, the high wind rendered it impossible to put it out. We regret to chronicle this loss upon the part of these men, but it will not fall so heavily upon them as it would upon some others."
Elswehere, under the headline "Prairie Fires" --- "Last Saturday was a good day for prairie fires, but a bad one for those people who had property in the path of the fires. A fire got out in Whitebreast timber, and up onto the prairie in Liberty township. A large number of persons worked hard to stop its progress, but it traveled fast as a running horse. Mr. Sidebotham lost his barn and about 100 bushels of corn, and Samuel Stuart, Esq., some of his fence. We have not heard of other losses."
And still more, under the headline, "Accidents" --- "A portion of the roof of the M.E. Church at Gosport, several miles north of this place, was carried off by the wind on Saturday. During the high wind on the same day a spark was blown into the granary of Mr. Williams, who lives between Gosport and Knoxville, and the granary, together with its contents, was burned. The house of a Mr. Moon, who lives about ten miles northeast of town and near the Marion county line, was burned on Friday. The contents were saved. We are indebted to Mr. S.L. Morrison for these items."
The Democrat's weather report concluded with this --- Everybody who knows enough to go in when it rains takes the Democrat, and it is not necessary for their information to say that we have been having another spell of weather, but for those who borrow (a polite name for 'sponging') of their neighbors, it may not be out of place to say that the recent storm froze up on Monday night, and was coated over with ice the next morning, to the thickness of half an inch. It is quite probable that all the fruit has been killed, as the buds were swollen almost to bursting, and some of the peach trees were in bloom."
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