1860 — June 3, Tornadoes, IA/117, esp. Camanche/~42, Albany area, IL/31, MS Riv./23–171-175

— 175 Ludlum. The American Weather Book. 1982, p. 129.
— 171 Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 566-567.
— >150 Childs. A History of the United States… 1886, p. 170.
— >150 Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine 1888. “Every Day’s Record, June.” 1889, p. 928..
— 148 Wikipedia. “List of North American Tornadoes.”
— 141 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 220.
— 124 NWS, Lincoln, IL. Illinois Weather Trivia for June (webpage). Accessed 5-1-2020.

Illinois ( 31)
— 12 New York Times. “The Terrible Tornado,” June 7, 1860, p. 1.
— 23 18:20 Whiteside County. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 567
— >7 Albany
— 4 Outside Albany
— >4 Morrison Township farms 15 miles east of Albany.
— 8 Como and Coloma area farms.
— 08 20:45 Whiteside, Lee, DeKalb Counties. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 567
— 2 Amboy area farms.
— >3 Harmon and Marion townships, farms.
— 3 Willow Creek Township, two farms.

Iowa (117)
— 42 Camanche. Herrick.
–117 Total from all IA tornadoes. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 566-567.
— 07 16:30 Hardin, Grundy, Marshall Counties. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 566
–7 Pritchard’s Grove, Union Township
— 09 17:30 Benton, Linn, Jones Counties. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 566
–9 Greenfield and Rome Townships, Jones County.
— 24 17:45 Linn, Cedar, Clinton Counties. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 566
— 5 St. Mary’s, near Lisbon, Linn County
–>10 Mechanicsville, Cedar County
— 9 Localities not noted.
— 08 18:00 Linn, Johnson Counties. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 566
–8 Rogers Grove, Linn County
— 69 18:20 Cedar, Clinton Counties Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 567
–28 Dewitt to Camanche, Clinton County. Farms.
–>16 Thomas Hatfield farm tenant house.
–41 Camanche, Clinton County
–10 Drownings as riverfront homes “thrown into the Mississippi River.”

Mississippi River (23)
–23 People on a raft “as the tornado moved across the Mississippi River.”
–23 18:20 Cedar/Clinton Counties, IA/Whiteside IL. Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 567.

Narrative Information

Childs: “A dreadful tornado passed over a portion of Illinois and Iowa, on the 3d of June, occasioning a loss of over one hundred and fifty lives. The tornado traveled ninety miles in Iowa, and seventy in Illinois, causing an immense destruction of property.” (Childs 1886, 170)

Grazulis: “IA Jun 3, 1860 16:30 7k 50inj…35m…Hardin / Grundy / Marshall — The “Great Tornado of the Northwest” was actually a complex family of tornadoes moving ESE and E on roughly parallel tracks and in at least one case “pausing to merge” into a single tornado. It was one of the most devastating tornado families ever to strike the United States as ‘death, devastation and annihilation marked its track.’ It destroyed farm after farm, village after village, killing a large number of people at a time when Iowa and Illinois were rather sparsely settled. Only the Great Tri-state Tornado of March 18, 1925 would kill more farm owners on a single day. A detailed study of these events was made for the Smithsonian Institution. That study was not presented until eight years later, delayed by the Civil War. It was given orally and no written text has been found.

“The first known tornado passed through the village of New Providence, where 11 homes were leveled and 20 others damaged or destroyed. Most of the residents were at a Quaker meeting, 12 miles away at New Bangor, and there were no deaths. Some minor injuries did occur at a Methodist meeting at brick school house in New Providence. Six miles further on in Union Township, the settlement of “Pritchard’s Grove” was devastated, and “the timber and every movable thing was swept away like dust before a broom.” The community was apparently caught by surprise and seven people were killed, four in one home. The track probably passed across the extreme southwest corner of Grundy County, but there is no known record of it doing so.

“In Marshall County, the village of “Quebec” was “absolutely obliterated, not a vestige of the settlement remained where it stood. Cellar holes marked the former sites of structures which, with their contents, were distributed in fragments over the wide prairie.” From there, on across most of Tama and Benton Counties, the record of damage and tornadoes is unclear. A funnel was seen aloft. 5m S of Vinton, and the damage area across Benton County was said to be 30 miles wide, which is the width of the entire county.

“IA JUN 3, 1860 17:30 9k 50inj 400y 35m…Benton / Linn / Jones — At least three tornadoes passed over southern Linn County, moving ESE in roughly parallel paths. This tornado, the northern-most of the three, is not plotted as being continuous to Comanche, nor was it likely that this tornado merged with the Comanche tornado. The initial touchdown was 4m NW of Palo, about. 12m NW of Cedar Rapids. The funnel passed about 5m N of Cedar Rapids, but apparently caused no deaths until it entered Jones County. In Jones County, a dozen farms were “swept out of existence” in Greenfield and Rome Townships as nine people were killed and 20 injured. Six of the deaths were on the Allen farm. “One of the sills of the farm house, 16 feet long and 8″ x 10″ in cross section, was carried 30 rods (about 500 feet) to the west and buried 13 feet deep in the soil of the prairie.” There is no record of this tornado entering Cedar County. Two other tornadoes moved ESE in Linn County, roughly parallel to this track. They are listed as the next two events.

“IA Jun 3, 1860 17:45 24k 60inj 400y 40m…Linn / Cedar / Clinton — Forming SE of Cedar Rapids, this intense tornado moved ESE about six miles south of the previous tornado and six miles north of the next listed event. It eventually merged with a member of that tornado family, which continued on to hit Comanche. This tornado may have actually been a family of tornadoes, for at one point the funnel was described as moving to the northeast and funnel clouds were seen both a mile north and a mile south of Mt. Vernon. The known deaths were in SE Linn County and northern Cedar County. In Linn County, the funnel passed 3m S of Bertram, lm S of Mt. Vernon and along the edge of Lisbon. Five people died in the community of “St. Mary’s,” just west of Mt. Vernon. Near Lisbon “cloud flakes and spume were whirled from the sides of the atmospheric maelstrom” and “the head of an infant, and the arms and legs of a grown person, were brought from many miles to the westward. Three persons were taken up bodily and vanished forever from mortal eyes.” From Mt. Vernon, people watched the tornado’s “lurid red core glowing angrily through its murky envelope” rather than run for shelter as “the sight, while grand and fearful, was too fascinating to be lost unless the danger became imminent.”

“The funnel entered Cedar County in the northwest corner of Pioneer Township and destroyed several farms. Houses, barns, fences, and hundreds of head of dead livestock littered the fields across the northern tier of Cedar County-townships. At least 10 people died near Mechanicsville. The funnel apparently slowed its forward progress and weakened and/or narrowed as it drew closer to its companion tornado to the south, passing 3m N of Lowden and lm N of Wheatland. It
merged with a later tornado about 3m SW of Dewitt in Clinton County.

“IA Jun 3, 1860 18:00 8k 20inj 400y 20m…Linn / Johnson–This-tornado-began about 7m SW of Cedar Rapids and a funnel was seen moving to the west across extreme southern Linn County, passing north of Western College. At “Rogers Grove,” eight people were killed and “dead horses, cattle, and hogs were strewed upon the reft and riven ground, smeared badly with the dingy mud and blackened fire of the dread destroyer.” This tornado may have been continuous with the Comanche tornado, listed below.

“IA-IL Jun 3, 1860 18:20 92k 200inj 1000y 80m…Cedar / Clinton, IA / Whiteside, IL– The origins of the Comanche tornado are not clear, and, as plotted here, it may have been a family of tornadoes. The previous tornado was either weak or non-existent across central Cedar County. This tornado became clearly visible in eastern Cedar County as it and the previous tornado were seen simultaneously, moving roughly ESE and slowly getting closer. They were seven miles apart near Lowden. This tornado was four miles to the south, while the earlier event passed three miles to the north. This tornado passed about 2m S of Wheatland while the other was two miles to the north. “As if impelled by a mysterious affinity,” the merger took place 3m SW of Dewitt in Clinton County. This southern-most tornado “ceased its advance and enlarged its dimensions. For more than a minute it remained stationary. The northern tornado then “rushed into its embrace until the latter had been fully absorbed.” The tornado then grew in size and intensity and swept eastward, killing 28 people on farms between Dewitt and Comanche, including at least 16 people in the tenant house, on the Thomas Hatfield farm. Many of the farmers who survived were left completely destitute.

“Directly in the path of the massive funnel was the bustling river-front town of Comanche. Every home and business was severely damaged or destroyed. “The air darkened by the immense moving cloud was charged with death, and the shrieks and groans and prayers for help were heard even above the din and roar of the tempest Forty-one persons were instantly killed and more than 80 lacerated and mutilated in every conceivable form.” Losses totaled about $300,000 as 39 businesses and more than 150 homes were destroyed. “Trunks, clothes, beds, carpets, furniture, and even stoves absolutely vanished.” Several homes along the river were thrown into the Mississippi River, and 10 occupants drowned. A raft passing at the time was overturned, causing 23 deaths. The three survivors found themselves on the Illinois shore with no memory of how they had gotten there. A hotel “could not more effectively been destroyed had a barrel of gunpowder been exploded within its walls.”

“Across the river at Albany, Illinois citizens “saw the storm demon approaching, in his pavilion of darkness, and in guise that paralyzed the stoutest heart.” Sitting on a bluff overlooking the river, most residents of Albany could see the tornado approaching and most took shelter. At least seven people died at Albany and 55 were injured. Four others were killed outside of town. At least four more people died on three farms in Morrison Township, 15m E of Albany. Other farms were “blown to atoms” near Como, Coloma, 3m S of Sterling, and 8m S of Dixon. Eight people died in that area, with about 35 injuries. Whether the tornado that passed from Morrison Township to south of Dixon was truly the same tornado that hit Comanche and Albany cannot be determined, but it is plotted here as the same tornado…

“IL Jun 3, 1860 20:45 8k 25inj 400y…Whiteside / Lee / DeKalb – One or more tornadoes moved E and ENE from about 10m W of Tampico, passing north of that town and destroying farms across Harmon and Marion Townships, passing 2m N of Amboy, and ending near Shabbonia. Two people died on farms near Amboy as nine homes were destroyed. At least three others died as five farms were destroyed in Harmon and Marion Townships. ‘Scarcely a piece of furniture could be found.’ In Willow Creek Township, two farms were ‘blown to atoms,’ with three deaths on one farm and nine injuries on the other.” (Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes. 1993, 566-567.)

Herrick: “…the cyclone of 1860 which passed through the State for a dis¬tance of more than two hundred miles and crossed the Mis¬sissippi River near Camanche, in Clinton county, where forty-two persons, or one in twenty of the population, lost their lives.” (Herrick. “The Grinnell Cyclone of June 17, 1882.” Annals of Iowa, V3/N2, July 1897, 81.)

NWS, Lincoln, IL: “June 3. 1860: The “Great Tornado of the Northwest” (actually a complex family of tornadoes) moved from Iowa into northern Illinois. The greatest death toll of 124 people occurred in an area extending from near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Albany, Illinois (located northeast of Moline). The death toll included 23 people on a raft, which was destroyed as the tornado moved across the Mississippi River.” (National Weather Service, Lincoln, IL. Illinois Weather Trivia for June (webpage).)

Newspaper

NYT: “From the Lyons City Advocate – Extra. Monday Morning, June 4, 1860….Last evening, about 9 o’clock a man came from Camanche, about nine miles below this city, on the Mississippi, with the heart rending intelligence that the town had been visited by a tornado, and that many of its citizens were buried in its ruins. The alarm spread from house to house, and in a very short time hundreds of our citizens were on their way to the scene of the disaster, both by land and on the steamer Queen City…

“We were among the first to arrive at the scene of the disaster, and our pen fails entirely to depict the sight that met our view. We found the town, as the messenger reported, literally blown to pieces, and destruction and death scattered everywhere within the sweep of the devastation.. The first pile that met our eye was the ruins of the Millard House… This was a three-story brick hotel, and it could not have been more effectually destroyed had a barrel of gunpowder been exploded within its walls…. Mrs. Davis and her child, a little boy four or five years old, were taken out of the ruins dead…. From this we proceeded to look about the town, and we found that hardly a house was left uninjured, and many of them entirely swept away. Every business building in the place is destroyed, including the large brick block recently erected….Front-street presents a scene of ruin seldom witnessed; every building on it is either unroofed or entirely destroyed. The dwelling and store of Mr. Waldorf, a three-story brick, is entirely demolished, and the family buried in the ruins. Mrs. Waldorf and one child were taken out dead and two children rescued alive. Mr. Waldorf had not been found when we left, at 2 o’clock, A.M.

“Soon after arriving at Camanche, we learned that the town of Albany, on the opposite side of the river and about one mile above Camanche, had been visited by the tornado, and was about as badly riddled as Camanche. Upon the arrival of the Queen City at Camanche she immediately put back to Albany, to learn the truth of the rumor, and found that scarcely a building in that town was left uninjured; but from what we could learn, the loss of life was not great as the former place. Those who returned reported 12 killed. Two churches were blown down entirely. We did not visit Albany, and consequently can speak only from report with reference to it….

“The gale commenced about 7 o’clock P.M. Its course was from the southwest to the northeast, and we many hear of further ravages in Illinois. It is rumored at Camanche that the farmers had suffered severely, southwest from there, by having their buildings and fences destroyed, and stock killed. It was also stated that a large raft was passing Camanche at the time, and that every man, numbering apparently about twenty, were swept off into the river….” (NYT. “The Terrible Tornado,” June 7, 1860, p. 1.)

Sources

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Grazulis, Thomas P. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VE: Environmental Films, 1993, 1,326 pages.

Herrick, S. H. “The Grinnell Cyclone of June 17, 1882.” Annals of Iowa, Vol. 3, No. 2, July 1897, pp. 81-95. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=9CsUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCN05032209&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine 1888. “Every Day’s Record,” Vol. XLIII, January to June 1888, 1889. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=nLURAAAAYAAJ

Ludlum, David M. The American Weather Book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1982.

National Weather Service, Lincoln, IL. Illinois Weather Trivia for June (webpage). Accessed 5-1-2020 at: https://w2.weather.gov/media/ilx/Trivia/wxTrivia_june.pdf

New York Times. “The Terrible Tornado. The Towns of Camanche, Iowa, and Albany, Ill., Entirely Destroyed – From Thirty to Fifty Persons Killed, and One Hundred Wounded.” June 7, 1860, p. 1. At: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9406E4DA143FEE34BC4F53DFB066838B679FDE

State Historical Society of Iowa. Annals of Iowa, Vol. 3, No. 2, July 1897. Accessed 5-1-2020 at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/vol3/iss2/

Wikipedia. “List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks.” Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks#1920.E2.80.931929