The Carleton College weather diaries were created during the month of October 1885. Carleton students, faculty, and staff used the U.S. Army Signal Services Form 101 to record temperature, weather condition, precipitation for the station located at Carleton's first observatory in 1885.
The Carleton College weather diaries were created during the month of November 1885. Carleton students, faculty, and staff used the U.S. Army Signal Services Form 101 to record temperature, weather condition, precipitation for the station located at Carleton's first observatory in 1885.
The Carleton College weather diaries were created during the month of December 1885. Carleton students, faculty, and staff used the U.S. Army Signal Services Form 101 to record temperature, weather condition, precipitation for the station located at Carleton's first observatory in 1885.
The Carleton College weather diaries were created during the month of January 1886. Carleton students, faculty, and staff used the U.S. Army Signal Services Form 101 to record temperature, weather condition, precipitation for the station located at Carleton's first observatory in 1886.
This is an original picture, taken by Wilize (?) at the time, showing the ruins of Gladstone Hall, Red Wing, after the building had collapsed under the heft of 3 or 4 feet of heavy snow. The picture was gotten from W. S. Scott, Red Wing, Minn., in June, 1933. Note that Bush Street is covered and completely blockaded by stone and snow. (B. Eide)
The Carleton College weather diaries were created during the month of February 1886. Carleton students, faculty, and staff used the U.S. Army Signal Services Form 101 to record temperature, weather condition, precipitation for the station located at Carleton's first observatory in 1886.
The Carleton College weather diaries were created during the month of March 1886. Carleton students, faculty, and staff used the U.S. Army Signal Service's Form 101 to record temperature, weather condition, precipitation for the station located at Carleton's first observatory in 1886.
Despite the fact that the new St. Benedict's Hospital boasted of a modern heating system, an operating room, two private rooms, wards, and a kitchen, only ten patients were received during the first two months. The sisters began to worry about their hospital project until a cyclone swept over St. Cloud and the neighboring towns killing 58 and injuring hundreds. It wrecked all in its wake but the hospital which became the center for rescue work. The sisters toiled for 48 hours before relief came from the Twin Cities and neighboring towns. The catastrophe broke down the prejudice against hospitals and, thereafter, St. Benedict's Hospital did not lack patients; at the close of the second year of service, the number of patients received reached 400. When over-crowded conditions forced the sisters to build a new hospital, St. Benedict's Hospital was converted to an academy of art and music (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives , McDonald, page 254).
Overall view looking southwest of the destruction following the cyclone of 1886. A man stands in the foreground with devastation all around him including a dead cow lying in the lower right section of the shot. The Mississippi river can be seen in the distance.
Westward view of the devestation of a street in Sauk Rapids following the cyclone of 1886. Five men are standing in the foreground amongst the destruction.
The cyclone's destructive power is evidenced through this shot of a lone, bare tree standing amongst the debris. Nine structures (including the Davis House) survived the storm.
Local relief committee inspecting some damage caused by the cyclone of 1886. Members of the committee met with state appointed committee members to assess damages and decide how to properly distribute donated funds for food, clothing, health care and for repair and new construction of structures.
Splintered trees and debris litter this scene captured after the cyclone of 1886 near the Schultz farm. Seven fatalities were initially recorded at this site before the death toll rose to twelve.