“As soon as the storm was over, I went to see the damage it had done.
From the point where I first observed the black column to rise from the
woods and join the clouds, the trees were twisted in every direction.
A belt of timber had been levelled to the ground, about two miles in
length and about one hundred yards in breadth. At the entrance of the
town it crossed the river Speed, and uprooted about six acres of wood,
which had been thinned out, and left by Mr. Gait (late superintendent of
the Canada Company), as an ornament to his house.
“The Eremosa road was completely blocked up for nearly half-a-mile, in
the wildest confusion possible. In its progress through the town the
storm unroofed several houses, levelled many fences to the ground, and
entirely demolished a frame barn. Windows were dashed in; and, in one
instance, the floor of a log house was carried through the roof. Some
hairbreadth escapes occurred; but, luckily, no lives were lost.
“About twelve years since a similar storm occurred in the north part
of the township of Douro, but was of much less magnitude. I heard an
intelligent settler, who resided some years in the township of Madoc,
state that, during his residence in that township, a similar hurricane
to the one I have described, though of a much more awful character,
passed through a part of Marmora and Madoc, and had been traced, in a
north-easterly direction, upwards of forty miles into the unsurveyed
lands; the uniform width of which appeared to be three quarters of a
mile.
“It is very evident, from the traces which they have left behind them,
that storms of this description have not been unfrequent in the
wooded districts of Canada; and it becomes a matter of interesting
consideration whether the clearing of our immense forests will not, in a
great measure, remove the cause of these phenomena.”
A few minutes after our household had retired to rest, my first sleep
was broken by the voice of J. E----, speaking to old Jenny in the
kitchen. He had been overtaken by the storm but had run his canoe ashore
upon an island before its full fury burst, and turned it over the flour;
while he had to brave the terrors of a pitiless tempest--buffeted by the
wind, and drenched with torrents of rain. I got up and made him a cup of
tea, while Jenny prepared a rasher of bacon and eggs for his supper.
Shortly after this, J. E---- bade a final adieu to Canada, with his
cousin C. W----. He volunteered into the Scotch Greys, and we never saw
him more; but I have been told that he was so highly respected by the
officers of the regiment that they subscribed for his commission; that
he rose to the rank of lieutenant; accompanied the regiment to India,
and was at the taking of Cabul; but from himself we never heard again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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