CLAY COUNTY THROUGH THE YEARS: Clay County Tornado of May 28, 1883

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

At about 5 o’clock on a spring day, people living at Neal’s Mill saw heavy clouds coming up from the southwest. Eugene Corshaw who watched this cloud from his window says it was a light-colored cloud, not compact, but without a funnel, and the clouds were rolling over and over. There was so much wind everyone went into their houses and closed doors and windows. They said that as the cloud came closer it suddenly burst with fury and trees were blown down west of the river. Several men had sought refuge inside the Eel River Bridge at Centennial Mills; unfortunately, the bridge was hit full force with the wind from the north side at an angle so that it fell to the south. Inside the bridge had been Joe Seeley, John Moody, Celsie Porter, Solon Nickedmus, and Erastus Kay. An unknown man was running to the bridge when the heavy blast of the wind hit, but he was lucky and didn’t get inside the bridge; he managed to cling to the rocks of the west abutment and saved himself.

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