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History

"Elgins" is the H. S. Elgin place/farm described as across the road from H. P. Wedemeyer's in the newspaper article below. That road is known today as Frontier Road. Damage left by this tornado began at the B. D. Carlton farm in northern Grant Twp., Cass Co., tracked through southeastern Audubon Twp., Audubon Co., and then into Grant Twp., Guthrie County.

The Anita Record, June 11, 1925, pg. 8, col. 1-3:

Full details of the terrible cyclone which passed through the Adair-Casey vicinity, are gleaned from the Adair News, as follows.

A destructive cyclone, or tornado, passed north of Adair about eight o'clock Tuesday evening, demolishing about everything in its path. The first damage was in the Oak Ridge neighborhoood, where a number of sheds, corn cribs, and other outbuildings were destroyed or blown over. The first big damage was at the Eddie Carlton place, six miles west of Adair, where it destroyed the barn and corn crib and damaged some of the other buildings. No more serious damage is reported until it hit the Jacob Ernst farm northwest of Adair, where it wrecked the barn and did some other damage. The next place to be hit was the Peter Winkleman farm, at present occupied by J. P. Randall, where the large barn was blown to pieces, and the lumber scattered in the path of the tornado.

From the Winkleman place, it passed across the fields to the H. P. H. Wedemeyer farm, three miles north of Adair, where it completely demolished a large barn, hog house, and other out-buildings, and moved the large modern, two-story house about fifteen feet off its foundation. The family were upstairs when Mr. Wedemeyer saw the storm approaching. He warned his family of the approach and they were rushing down stairs to go to the basement, when the storm hit the house, before they had reached a place of safety. A slamming door hit Mr. Wedemeyer on the side of the face bruising it quite badly. The other members of the family escaped serious injury.

There were seven head of horses in the barn at the time of its destruction, and none of them were injured. A Guernsey bull tied in the shed adjoining the barn, escaped injury, although the shed was blown down, but it fell in such a way that it left the animal room to stand up, and when the News scribe visited the place, the [bull} was eating as peacefully as though nothing had happened. A summer kitchen that stood a few feet away from the residence was not disturbed. It is hard to estimate the damage done at this place, but it will amount to several thousand dollars. It is quite likely the residence can be moved back onto its foundation.

At the H. S. Elgin place, just across the road, and down in a hollow from the Wedemeyer place, the house was completely destroyed. Mr. and Mrs. Elgin, and their little boy were in the building at the time and how they escaped alive, will always be a mystery. There is not a whole pice of furniture left on the place from the building. A piano which was in the house was town to pieces and strewn over the ground, as were the beds, stoves, and other articles in the house. The members of the family were blown into the trees to the northeast of the house. They were brought to town shortly after the storm and were given medical treatment. All were badly cut and brused [sic bruised], but it is not thought at this time that any of the injuries will prove fatal. They are at the home of Mrs. Elgin's parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. L. Grimes in Adair.

The large barn on the place was just outside the path of the storm, and escaped, but some of the outbuildings on the place were badly damaged.

From the H. S. Elgin place the storm swept northeast to the farm of his brothers, Sandy and John. The barns, granary, machine sheds, corn cribs and other outbuildings, were completely destroyed. The large new barn on the place, which was one of the largest in that neighborhood was blown to pieces, and the lumber strewn in the path of the storm for a long distance. The house on the place escaped serious damage, outside of broken windows. One horse, which was in the pasture northeast of the house was killed and another horse and mule were so badly crippled, they were killed. A cow was also crippled so that she will quite likely have to be killed. There were eleven head of horses on the place at the time, and none of them escaped injury of a more or less serious nature.

Elmer Stewart, who lives between the two Elgin farms, escaped the fury of the cyclone by a few rods, it having passed just north of his home. After leaving the Elgin Bros. place, the storm continued northeast and did some damage at the Sanford Brownlee farm.

Not much damage is reported from the cyclone after it left the Elgin Bros. farm, until it reached the Tharp place, occupied by Ed. Harris and son, John, and two daughters, Mable and Alice. The house was completely destroyed, and the old gentleman and two daughters lost their lives. They were blown into the field some distance from where the house stood. John is in serious condition. It was some time after the storm had passed before the bodies were found. About fifty auto loads of neighbors gathered at the place to assist in the search. The house on this places was large and modern, but after the storm had passed there was not enough of it left standing to indicate that there had been a house standing there, had it not been for the basement. All the other buildings were completely swept away. The family had a large number of chickens, but there were few live ones left after the storm; many of them had been picked up and then crushed to the earth and literally buried.

John, the son, who is still alive, but in serious condition, was upstairs when the tornado hit the house and says he was picked up and followed the roof of the house for some distance. He remained conscious, although suffering from a fractured leg, and walked and crawled to a neighbor's to get help in finding the other members of the family.

At the farm occupied by Chas. Arnberg, about a mile and a half east of the Tharp place, the barn and corn crib were blown down and considerable damage was done to the roof of the house. This is the last trace of the storm we have, at the time this was written. The path of the cyclone was at no time over thirty or forty rods wide and its path of destruction was about fourteen miles long.

It is hard to estimate the damage done by the storm, at this time, but at the places mentioned it will probably total close to $35,000---it might be more than this, but we doubt if it is any less. Most of those whose property was destroyed carried insurance against tornado, but we have been unable to determine the amounts at this time, and it will no where near cover the loss sustained.

The storm was about thirty rods wide, and where it passed over corn fields, the corn will have to be replanted.

Telephone wires were blown down in the path of the storm and fences were leveled to the ground.

Many Adair people saw the storm when it was forming west of town, and watched it until it had passed out of sight. Those who saw it say it was just like the pictures you see of the funnel-shaped cyclones.

The grove at the H. S. Elgin place looks a good deal like a corn field after it has been hit by a hail storm. The top of almost every tree is gone.

The force of the cyclone must have been something awful, juding from the way the large trees were up-rooted.

Those who were in the path of the storm, said that it did not last more than two or three minutes. A very little rain accompanied the storm.

It was reported that the buildings on the F. J. Hammond place had been destroyed during the storm. There were some of the smaller of the buildings destroyed during the wind which swept over here Monday afternoon, but nothing was disturbed in the storm Tuesday evening.

Some tourists who reached Adair Tuesday evening after the storm stated that they had followed it for some distance after leaving Council Bluffs, and were sure from the way the clouds were acting that they were going to form into a cyclone, and they finally did see it drop in the funnel shape, which did the damage north of here.

The scene of destruction was visited by hundreds of people during the day Wednesday; many coming from neighboring towns. Among the visitors were tourists from other states who were passing through Iowa on Whiteway-7, and stopped to view the wreckage.

A photographer from the Des Moines Register was here in the afternoon Wednesday, taking pictures which will likely appear in the photogravure section of that paper in the near future.

On Thursday morning, several auto loads of Adair business men and residents of the town went out to assist in clearing the wreckage.

The path of the tornado was almost identical with that of the one that swept across Grant Township, Guthrie County, some thirty or more years ago, and it lifted from the ground at almost the same place at which the Arnberg family now lives.

While Adair has never been touched by a tornado, the people here have had plenty of scares in teh years past. On June 2, 1882, a cyclone swept across Summit township, about a mile and a half south of Adair, and members of the Duff family were killed. One went a mile and a half east of Adair in the later 80's, and moved a house on the Arnold farm off its foundation and destroyed the barn on the Brownlee farm east of town. Several years ago, the house on the farm now occupied by George Talty, was damaged and other property destroyed. It isn't to be wondered at, that Adair people hit for their cyclone caves when a bad-looking cloud appears in the offing.

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