Cass County, Indiana - Chapter 25: Meteorology, 1913

According to a diary kept in the Elfreth family, Quakers of Pennsylvania, the coldest winter in the past 122 years was in 1812. The coldest summer was that of 1816. There were killing frosts every month in the year and on the 16th of June snow fell to the depth of ten inches in Vermont and a man went out to look after his sheep, in the blinding snow storm, was lost and when found he was nearly dead with both feet frozen. The com was all killed and no crops were raised and people subsisted largely on game. The greatest snow storm ever experienced in the United States was in February, 1817. The coldest winter in Cass : county of which we have records, was that of 1842-43. The winter set in on November 6 with a heavy snow and zero temperature and with the exception of a slight January thaw, never let up until the middle of April. Solomon Fonts, a pioneer of Deer Creek township, relates that they had an election on the first Monday in April, 1843, and the following day he brought the returns, consisting of twelve votes, to Logansport in his sled and crossed the Wabash river on the ice ; that the wild game, deer, turkeys, quails, squirrels, etc., nearly all perished.

The Millerites, an erratic religious sect, some of whom were holding religious meetings in Cass county at that time, said that the heavy snows of that winter would turn to oU and burn up the world, and when one of their members died they placed the body in a tight cofiQn and left the box rest above ground and not in a grave beneath the surface, as the world would soon be consumed anyway. A great comet with a long tail appeared in the northwest and this greatly excited these religious fonatics.

The coldest day in Cass county was probably January 1, 1864, when the mercury registered 30° below zero (Fahrenheit), with the wind blowing a gale. The previous day was warm and pleasant but a blizzard from the northwest suddenly swept down on the section, with an unprecedented fall of temperature.

The summer of 1863 was excessively cold. There were killing frosts every month in the year. Wheat, corn and tender vegetables, especially on low prairie land, were killed.

The wannest winter was probably that of 1875-76. New Year's day,. 1876, the mercury registered 72** ; the sun shone brightly, the grass was green, and it had more the appearance of a June day than New Years. It rained nearly every other day during January but February was warm, dry and dusty; spring birdfi^ robins, bluebirds, etc., made their appearance and farmers were breaking their com ground.

Probably the longest drouth, taking the country as a whole, was that of 1862, but according to records kept by old residents, the severest drouth Cass county has experienced was in the summer and fall of 1871, the year of the great Chicago fire. It was also very warm, with an early spring. Cherry trees were in blossom on April 9.

One of the wettest summers was that of 1855, when the rains were almost continuous through the months of June and July, and 1857 was similar. From an old letter written by W. H. Brandt on July 20, 1857, we quote: '^Raining like hell and no wheat cut yet." Wheat sprouted in the single head, standing uncut in the field, and shocks of wheat were sprouted and matted together so that they could be lifted or rolled over without separating the rfieaves.

Probably the coldest Fourth of July was that of 1873. The railroad to Crawf ordsville was just completed and an excursion was run over the road on July 4, 1873, and many Logansport people took an outing on that day. The train was made up of flat open gravel cars with seats made of, boards and some green bushes stuck in the sides of the car for protection against the July sun, but they were not needed because it not only rained but snowed on that 4th of July and the temperature approached the freezing point, and everybody nearly froze. Three or four of the excursionists died from the exposure, as they were clad in the usual July garb.

Cass county has been remarkably free from severe wind storms, cyclones or hurricanes, although destructive storms have occurred all around us. We, lying in a valley, have escaped with only small damages from wind storms and with few or no fatalities.

The first severe storm of which we have record occurred on July 1, 1845. It blew down the first market house erected in Logansport, which stood west of the old canal, now Fifth street, between Broadway and north, back of Frazee's dry goods store; unroofed the courthouse, still uncompleted, T. H. Howe's store at 228 Market, and a number of other buildings.

Enion Kendall, Logansport 's pioneer poet, although he could neither read nor write, describes this storm in a poem, that was published at the time ; and not only describes the storm, but the poem itself is an historical curiosity which we will reproduce in part, including the original spelling: the first we *'heer'* all in its way, into west Logan, it there did stray. And there a whirlwind, in by turns, it cawt the hows of nabor bums.

And tore part of the roof asunder, which cawsed them all to quake and wonder, As it did pass, across eel river. All who saw it, how they, did quiver, to see the water whirled in the air, it maid all present, both gap and stair, it stretched its course towards the ski, and swept the river nearly dri the next we hear as swift, it did dash, tore pollard's kitchen roof to smash, kind providence held out his arm, his family, they received no harm.

the places rent, fell to the ground, tops of chimblys, tumbling down, this whirlwind, it did caws, much wonder, the market hows was rent asunder, the next that comes into my view, the methodist church was damaged to, John Hows, next comes in my round, he lives in the upper end of town,

May 11, 1837, Logansport experienced quite a severe wind storm that blew down the upper story of a building that stood on the northwest corner of Third and Market streets.

Isaiah Kreider also reports that a cyclone blew oflf the roof of his father's bam, uprooted apple trees and forest trees in its path, in June, 1851, and again in 1879 a hurricane passed over Bethlehem and Adams township, carrying away the bams of William Winegardner and John Grable.

In the spring of 1881 or 1882 the severest tornado and hail storm known to the writer sw^pt over Cass county. The back part of a twostory brick building then situated at 524 Broadway was blown down, many chimneys and outbuildings fell and hundreds of window glass all over towif were broken. It swept over certain parts of the county, cutting a swath half a mile in width, demolishing outbuildings, tearing up trees, and even killing stock and destroying everything movable in its tempestuous pathway. It carried in its wrathful embrace, tops of trees, shingles, loose boards and other objects for long distances through the air.

About the severest snow storm within the memory of the writer occurred on February 21, 1912, when nearly ten inches of snow fell during the day, with a very swift wind and the temperature near the zero point. The snow drifted in great banks, making travel impossible.

April 23, 1910, there was an unusual blizzard and snow storm with severe freezing, which did great damage to the fruit crop, in Indiana and Michigan.

November 12, 1911, there was a sudden drop in the temperature from 72° to 16° in ten hours, or a change of 56°, which was unprecedented, accompanied by a terrible thunder, wind and rain storm, followed by snow. Many chimneys were blown down, electric and telephone wires prostrated, street cars and interurbans tied up, forms on the Tenth street concrete dam (which was being constructed) carried out, etc.

One of the greatest electrical storms in the history of the county occurred June' 30, 1912. A continuous roar of thunder with flashes of lightning that kept the heavens in a glare of light. A bam on the Delaplane farm in Clay township was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. A house at 817 Race street had the roof torn off and many other buildings and trees were struck and the debris scattered promiscuously about. Great balls of fire ran along the electric and telephone wires and there were many prostrations and narrow escapes but no fatalities.

The storm of March 21, 1913, while the wind did not have the velocity of some former cyclones or hurricanes, yet upon the whole was probably as severe as any that our county has ever been subjected to. This storm was general all over the western states and blew a gale from the west all day, tearing off the roof of the Dunn hotel, Murdock feed barn, Western motor works and hundreds of buildings all over the county were more or less injured. Outhouses were overturned or carried away, wagons and buggies overturned and hundreds of telephones put out of commission and telegraph communication with the outside world cut off, delaying trains and suspending street car traflBc.

During all the meteorological and electrical disturbances that have oecurred in Cass county since its first settlement in 1826, there has been no great loss of life nor extensive destruction of property as we read about in many surrounding states. There has been some loss of property by lightning and wind and an occasional death has been recorded where some one has been fatally injured by flying debris, or struck by lightning and killed, but these cases have been very rare.

On September 15, 1911, A. B. Stanton had ten head of fat cattle killed by Ughtning on his farm in Washington township, which is probably the greatest loss of animal life in the history of the county.

parts of the county, but the greatest meteoric display on record occurred ** grand and awful; the whole heavens appeared as illuminated with skyon November 13, 1833. Robert Reed, Sr., describes the phenomena as rockets ; thick with streams of rolling fire ; scarcely a space in the firmament that was not filled at every intsant," almost infinite numbers of falling stars ; they fell like flakes of snow, but bright and shining, illuminating the whole heavens, and accompanied with a hissing sound similar to that made by a dozen skyrockets fired off at the same time. Says Mr. Reed, **We all thought the world was coming to an end and my mother implored Divine grace as never before." This phenomena was repeated on November 14, 1866, but not nearly so extensive or so brilliant as the meteoric shower of 1833. These November meteors or Leonoids have occurred about every third of a century with some regularity for centuries, but none have compared with the shower of 1833. Numerous meteorites have fallen in Cass county from the size of a man's fist to that of his head, composed largely of iron and manganese.

the river bed, has suffered some from floods during heavy rains or from ice gorges during the breaking up of the ice on the rivers in the latter part of winter.

The summer of 1857 was a very wet season and rains fell in June and July almost continuously and in June of that year the waters of the Wabash overflowed its banks and water ran across Fourth street but did not rise to do any damage to business houses along that thoroughfare, but all the town west of Fourth street and between the rivers was inundated.

Ice gorges have formed in Eel river and inundated portions of the city along that stream. In February, 1867, when the ice broke up an ice gorge carried out the old covered bridge across Eel' river at Sixth street and flooded both sides of the river west of Nineteenth street, and ^eat cakes of ice were carried and deposited over Riverside park, which was then a frog pond, and along Race street, lower High street. Eel Riyer avenue, then a mill race, Michigan and Linden avenues. Several times since that date, ice gorges have driven the water over the banks of Eel river, notably in the spring of 1900 or 1901, when water flowed down Eel river avenue and across Third street and came up Market street east of the Bamett hotel.

Probably the greatest ice gorge and the most destructive occurred on March 19, 1912. The ice was unusually thick (eighteen to twentyfour inches) and formed a gorge above the Tenth street dam in Eel river, causing the water to overflow, above, carrying tons of ice into Miles and Douglass streets, flooding the houses and carrying some of them from their foundations, covering Riverside park with large cakes resembling an arctic ice floe, carrying immense ice cakes and distributing them along Bringhurst, Race, Sixth, lower High street and Eel River avenue and flooding the houses in those streets. The ice carried out the head gates in the waterworks race and did much damage.

This scene was only of short duration, however, as the ice in the river broke loose in a few hours and the water rapidly subsided, leaving hundreds of tons of ice along the streets affected, in many instances right at the kitchen door, convenient for the housewife's domestic supply, although, if they had their choice, would prefer to have their ice delivered in the old way. But this is a progressive age and this is an innovation in free ice delivery.

The old covered bridge at Georgetown, eight miles west of Logansport, was carried out at this time ; an immense ice gorge formed at the bridge and a large tract of bottom land this side of Georgetown was inundated.

There was a June freshet in 1875 or 1876 that flooded Biddle island and the writer well remembers driving across Biddle avenue when the water came up to the buggy bed, and this condition was repeated about 1883 and probably several times before and since.

Logansport has had floods and inundations but nothing to compare with that of 1913, which breaks all previous records. On * ' Good Friday, *' which came, on March 21st, not only Cass county but the whole state and surrounding states experienced a continuous wind storm, a regular hurricane of wide extent, coming from the west, which did a great deal of damage to property. This was followed on Easter Sunday, the 23d, with a heavy rain, which continued for three days and extended throughout all the central western states, which caused the Wabash river to suddenly rise, and by Tuesday morning, March 25th, the river was overflowing its banks. Biddle island and the lower portion of town between the rivers as far east as Third street were under water. For two days the water continued to rise until the whole business district was inundated as far east as Pearl street on Market, east of the alley between Fourth and Fifth streets on Broadway, east of the same alley on North street and nearly to Market on Fifth street. The Panhandle railroad from its bridge at the mouth of Eel river to and including the round house and shops, also the Wabash railroad from its crossing on Berkeley street east to Seventeenth street and all the territory south to the Wabash river, also north of the Railroads including Toledo street, were completely inundated and looked like one vast lake. The south side, for a square on Burlington avenue, all the lowland along the south bank of the Wabash river from the old hospital to west of Heppe's soap factory and all of Shultztown neariy up to the street cai^ and interurban track was one vast inland sea. The west side, including State, Helm, Melbourne, West Market streets to th6 Vandalia railroad ; West Broadway, Wheatland and Linden streets weist to the Chicago branch of the Panhandle railroad ; Miami street from North Sixth, to a square west of the Franklin school building; Ottawa street' from North Wall street to Plum street and the east end of Bates street were all flooded. The approaches to the Third street bridges, both across the Wabash and Eel river, were flooded and also the Market street bridge. The water extended on Sycamore street, north, nearly to the Vandalia railroad, ran west on Ottawa street to Plum and the whole length of Washington street and north on Woodland street to the tracks of the Vandalia railroad and in a swift current west to and under the overhead bridge of the Chicago branch of the Panhandle and down the Vandalia tracks, inundating James Mc- Millen's gardens and on around to the Western Motor Works, connecting with the waters from West Market aijd Melbourne avenue, leaving only a small portion of the West Side, formerly known as Cabbage Hill, lying west of the Franklin school building, above water. The Washington and Franklin schools, the St. Bridget's, Methodist and Evangelical churches on Wheatland street, and the West Side Presbyterian church were all flooded, as were also the English Lutheran and St. Joseph's churches on lower Market street. The following figures show the depth of the water in different localities :

Panhandle railroad station, Fourth street, six feet; Market and Fourth, five feet; Broadway and Fourth, four feet; in front of courthouse, on Fourth, three feet; comer of Market and Third, six feet; corner of Market and Second, seven feet; at the Wheatland street M. E. church. West Side, six feet; at St. Bridget's church, West Side, five feet; at Newby greenhouse, West Broadway, ten feet; at the comer of Market and Wilkinson, nine feet ; at the corner of Helm and Park avenue, twelve feet ; at the Washington school, Cicott street, twelve feet ; at the Colored church, West Market, nine feet ; at the Cumberland Presbyterian church, six feet ; at the West Side engine house, six feet ; in the Wabash passenger station, Ninth street, three feet.

The inundation in Shultztown was back water, but through the business streets and on the West Side the current was as swift as in the center of the river. The water in the Wabash seemed to be higher than Eel river and thus the water ran across Third and Fourth streets and down Market and Broadway with a rapid current. The buildings obstructed the water so it could not spread out, hence the current in the streets was as rapid as in the river. At first wagons and drays were employed to haul goods and people from the flooded stores and houses, but soon the water rose to such a depth that only boats could navigate the streets, and the current was so rapid that it was dangerous even for boats, as they were liable to be hurled against telephone or light poles on the buildings or trees in turning a corner. It was certainly a unique and novel sight to see boats running along Fourth street from the Panhandle station to the courthouse and from Pearl street down Market and Broadway to the hotels and on across Eel river. Boats could carry people from the Panhandle shops, through the yards and down over the tracks to the passenger station, along Fourth street to the courthouse and Masonic Temple and to any of the hotels, to the English Lutheran or St. Joseph's church, to any opera house or show, city offices and on across Eel river to either of the West Side school buildings or any of the five churches located in that part of town ; could cross the Wabash to the South Side church, go to Heppe's factory, sail through Shultztown and back up the South

Side river road to Tabertown, then float over Biddle island, steam over the South Side Pennsylvania railroad yards above the Eighteenth street bridge, recross the Wabash river and float down through Jerusalem back to the Panhandle shops - all this round, stopping, if desired at any of these places, could be easily taken in a row boat or steam launch. This may seem incredible, yet such a boat ride could easily have been taken during the height of the greatest flood Logansport ever experienced. The scenes in the business district reminded one of Venice or Amsterdam where passengers are taken from the railroad station to the hotels in ** gondolas" and the people take a boat from their doorstep to go to church or transact business. By Tuesday evening, March 25th, the water had risen to the Wabash railroad bridge on to Biddle island ; it had also reached the interurban and Third street bridges and quantities of drift was fast accumulating at these bridges and endangering those structures. ' The Wabash Company ran a heavily loaded train of coal cars onto the bridge to hold it down and succeeded in saving their bridge, but the wagon bridge to Biddle island, both the north and south bridges, to- gether with the interurban bridge on the north branch of the river, were swept away, and the former was carried down to the mouth of Eel river, so great was the force of the water and the accumulated drift. The Cicott street bridge and the Lewisburg bridge, the last of the old covered bridges in the county, were both swept away. The foot bridge across the Wabash to the Country Club, four miles east of town, was also washed out, and the interurban bridge at Keinly island was damaged, but not so seriously but what it may be repaired and saved. The water was up to the three bridges across Eel river and the Market and Third street bridges could not be crossed owing to their approaches on both ends being flooded, and only the Sixth street bridge could be utilized for the four days in the height of the flood. Had there been ice or any heavy drift these bridges would have been swept away also. On Tuesday evening, April 25th, the situation became very alarming. The water was so deep that horses and wagons could not be driven on the downtown or West Side streets, and the few little skiffs to be had in the city were not suflBcient and even these were dangerous to navigate the swift waters of the flooded district. Mayor Fickle called a meeting of the citizens to consider what could be done. Hundreds of houses were inundated and the occupants could not get out, were suflPering from cold, hunger and thirst, and many were liable to be swept away and drowned.

The churches, halls and private residences were thrown open to the flood victims, but the rescue work was very dangerous, and slow with the few small skiffs, so an appeal was made to Culver Military Academy, and to the U. S. Life Saving Station at Chicago and the next day six boats from Culver and as many from Chicago, sent down by the Chicago Tribune, each manned by ten skilled oarsmen, came to the city's relief and did magnificent and noble work in rescuing thousands from their perilous positions in houses surrounded and washed by the mad waves of the muddy and turbulent current. It was through the heroic efforts of these skilled seamen, with their perfect equipment that saved, many, many lives that otherwise would have perished. During the whole day of Wednesday, March 26th, the rescue work went on notwithstanding

The rescue work was continued Thursday although the waters began to assuage and by Friday evening, March 28th, the waters had receded so that there was no danger from drowning and the boats could do no more exciept to communicate with the South Side and carry persons or provender back and forth, as all the bridges were washed away. During the flood all the railroads and interurbans were tied up and could operate no trains, except the Vandalia north to South Bend ; all the others were under water.

The telegraph and telephones were also out of commission, and half the phones in the city were also disabled. A relief committee was appointed on the first afternoon of the flood with A. 6. Jenkins in command. Donations of money, food, clothing and bedding were asked and freely given by our tjitizens and headquarters opened in the high school building, and systematic methods of relief were adopted. Outside help soon began to pour in, both money and necessary supplies from all sur- rounding towns, aa far as Chicago. The state and national governments each gave substantial aid and the high school and the basement of the postoffice resembled a commissary of a large army. Pour thousand mattresses and other necessary household supplies were promptly received. Governor Ralston sent about one hundred state militia to do guard duty, to prevent depredations and enforce sanitary regulations, and aid in the distribution of supplies, and everybody worked in harmony to overcome and alleviate the distress and suffering of the greatest calamity that has ever overtaken Logansport.

At this writing, April 14th, after a careful estimate of the damage inflicted by the flood, Mr. A. G. Jenkins, the chairman of the board of relief, who acquitted himself nobly, reports that twelve hundred houses were inundated and their occupants were compelled to leave their homes; twelve houses were entirely swept away and many more were moved from their foundations or the latter undermined ; scores of outbuildings with fencing and other objects were carried off by the rapid current ; six thousand persons were temporarily made homeless.

This does not include the damage to railroad, telephone, interurban, heating and other companies whose losses will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, as the interurban bridge at Third street was carried away, the Panhandle shops were under six feet of water and the tracks of all roads were washed and undermined and telegraph and telephone lines had to be largely reconstructed.

With all this destruction of property and the rescue of thousands of people from the inundated districts, it is remarkable that no more lives were lost, only two lives sacrificed. Luther Maxwell, the hero of the hour, who lost his life trying to save others, and another who -was found in the rear of a saloon on Sycamore street, his death probably being due more to **flre water" than to flood waters. Several deaths, howevOT, from exposure were likely traceable to flood conditions.

A ^alk through the flooded district presented a sad and sorrowful scene. In the business district plate glass windows were broken, counters and all flxtures ruined, goods soaked with muddy water, the floors bulging up and covered with an inch or two of slime, and everything strewn about promiscuously by the water. Basements filled with muddy water and the contents ruined. Furnaces out of commission and damaged, with a cold, March wind, everything water soaked presented a sad and sickening show.

In the resident part of the flooded district the picture was even worse. There all that many poor people possessed was water soaked and covered with mud and ruined. Mattresses, lounges, sideboards, bookcases, organs, pianos and other household goods thrown out in the yards, covered with mud and falling to pieces, wholly worthless; wearing apparel and all textile goods water soaked, hanging in the back yards ; the floors of the houses bulging and covered with soft sticky mud ; the plastering with the decorations falling off; the doors, windows and all woodwork warped, with paint and varnish sealing off, and at many houses the foundations, cement porches and walks were undermined and settling.

palling flood. Many yards and streets were washed out into great holes two to four feet deep and the dirt and sand piled as high on other lots, streets or sidewalks. The pitiable and sympathetic features of it all was to see the occupants of these houses, themselves bespattered with mud, clearing out the slime, filth and debris of their once neat and comfortable homes. But with all the loss, trials and hardships, it had one redeeming feature, that it brought out the better nature in our being, and placed the entire population of Logansport on a common plane, each vieing with the other in alleviating the suffering and distress of his fellowbeing, and taking that view, it may be a blessing in disguise. It will cause people to take notice that they are weak and can not do as they will but are subject to a higher and mightier Being and that His will, and not ours, must be done.

It is encouraging to see our people take such a philosophical view of their afOictions and trust that their trials will redound to their own true good and that doubting, they are not in despair; cast down but not destroyed; sorrowing but not without hope and disciplined in

That our rivers rise quicker and higher than in former years can not be disputed. The cause seems to be manifest. Qreat canals have been drecL^ed to drain the swamp lands and farmers are yearly putting in tile to rm<3erdrain their flat clay lands, which runs the water off suddenly into the iri^ers. Again the land has largely been denuded of the virgin forests Vhicli obstructed and held back the waters and prevented it from running oflf so xapidly and instead of the forest the land has not only been cleared but iT^^placed by a system of ditching and tiling that greatly facilitates ^® <ii«charge of the water into the rivers, and they rise more rapidly *^<i »:*^ach a higher stage than ever before. The same rainfall today will eaus^ the river to rise higher than it would ten years ago, because of the ^^p^tixinal drainage which is not yet completed and until this drainage is ^^I>X«ted no man can predict the height to which the river will rise from a given rainfall over the drainage basin of the Wabash river. The rainfall prior to the recent floods was no greater than in former years yet the river rose higher from the above causes. Not every year will we have so heavy a rain, but we are likely to have it any year and, as history repeats itself, it is reasonable to suppose we will have as heavy rains some time in the future with similar results unless something is done.

Three remedies may be employed if feasible : First, by a system of reservoirs, to prevent the sudden flowing of the water into the river by thus holding it back; second, widen and deepen the channel of the river; third, construct a system of walls and dykes around the town. The first may not be practicable, but the other two are if the expense is not too great to make them impossible of execution. All river towns situated as Logansport is should take time by the forelock and prepare for the future by erecting buildings that will be damaged as little as possible by water and arranging to move and save their goods quickly in upper stories, or take measures to prevent or control further floods, or both.

After writing the above and before going to press, the committee through Mr. A. Q. Jenkins report that they have received in cash from all sources, $52,000, with which they have purchased necessary household goods to distribute among those who lost all their household effects and are delivering the same to the houses in the flooded district. This is in addition to many car loads of provisions and goods received at the time to relieve the urgent needs of the sufferers.

Nearly four weeks after the great flood of 1913 the proprietor of the Murdock hotel barber shop was testing a sanitary automatic popcorn machine which had been partially submerged and placed a nickel in the slot, heard the buzz of the mechanism working, saw the fire inside light, detected a loud and unusual scratching sound followed by a young muskrat jumping out of the machine instead of a package of popcorn, and started to run down the street. He was too dazed and surprised to give chase until the rat made its escape. Opening the machine, they found inside evidence that the muskrat had made a long stay therein, ever since the flood nearly a month before. It had been washed in by the waters, taken refuge in the machine, where there was a supply of popcorn above and water in the base of the machine and Mr. Muskrat was well fed with plenty to drink and could have held the fort much longer.

A colored man on the West Side, going back to his little home found a coal shed with a quantity of coal nicely located in his back yard, and with a broad grin, exclaimed: **De good Lawd has remembered me for I was gist out of coal."

Drs. Little and Troutman, whose oflSce was flooded, in cleaning up their typewriter after the flood found a small crawfish encaised in mud within the machine and when they removed the mud covering the craw* fish began to ** crawfish," but the doctors pursued their find and it can now be seen among the anatomical curiosities in the doctors' office as a

When a shoe dealer opened his store in the midst of the flood, he found a rat had taken refuge in a shoe, a miniature Noah's ark, and was floating on the surface of the muddy water, seemingly contented. The shoe not only acted as a boat to keep his ratship 's head above water, but also furnished food, as the rat was dining on the leather of the shoe, but seemed to be wise enough to appropriate the upper part of the shoe, and not gnaw a hole in it to let in the water.

In answer to a series of questions the director of the weather bureau at Indianapolis makes the following statement as to the operations of the weather bureau and meteorological observations taken in Logansport, but the total rainfall for any one year does not necessarily indicate excessive or destructive floods and the statements previously made are taken from local records and statements of actual observers in Cass county.

1. The United States Weather Bureau was established February 9, 1870. The local oflSce of the weather bureau at Indianapolis was established in March, 1871. The cooperative station of the weather bureau at Logansport was established in January, 1881. The only meteorological records we have on file pertaining to Cass county are those of Logansport.

10. The coldest day on record at Logansport was January, 1885, when a temperature of 25° below zero was recorded. The lowest official temperature of record for the state is 33° below zero, which was recorded at Lafayette in January, 1885, and again on January 7, 1887.

11. The highest wind velocity ever recorded in Indianapolis occurred on September 1, 1897, when a velocity of 66 miles per hour from the west was recorded. Destructive wind storms of hurricane violence have occurred in diflEerent localities of the state at different times, but I am unable to say when or where the most severe storm occurred as our records of these occurrences are necessarily very meagre.