Excerpts from the Weekly Valley Herald

Our little city of Chaska suffered the greatest catastrophe in its history Tuesday evening, when a tornado of cyclonic proportions swept out of the southwest at about 7:15 p. m., and not only laid the city low but brought devastation and death and injury to many surrounding communities, and killing three in our neighboring village of Carver.

[Sequel: Recovery Efforts]

The Herald is being issued 24 hours later than usual this week, and if the paper is demoralized and shows any shortcomings, we may be pardoned, for [t]he Herald building was in the path of the storm and with most of the other places in Chaska, suffered its share of damage, although the machinery and equipment was unharmed and the plant is again running in first class shape after lying idle since the time of the cyclone Tuesday evening until Wednesday evening at 7 o’clock when power and light was restored, after heroic efforts of City Electrician Paul Kayeske, O. H. Paschka, assisted by electrician Carroll Moeschler, and help from Jordan and Shakopee, while the General Electric Co., had an army engaged on all lines in every direction.

After the tornado wrecked the city and left us in darkness, the local Post of the Legion took the initiative by patrolling the streets during the night and even the same night Shakopee sent over help, the next day also, and Jordan came to our rescue in great shape.

Mayor Elizabeth K. Ries was here from Shakopee, yesterday afternoon, proferring [sic] help and extending the sympathy of the city of Shakopee, for which we are duly grateful. [Editor’s note: Ries had just been seated in April, a couple of months before the storm. Learn more about Shakopee’s almost-accidental, first female mayor.] Never in the history of Chaska has anything like this occurred and we hope never again. It will take a long time to recover from the shock and the damage inflicted.

[Flashback: Storm Started Slow But Quickly Got Out of Hand]

It doesn’t make any difference what the city papers tell you as to what occurred or how it occurred or from what direction the storm came from, we know from personal observation, being in the heart of it and having gone thru [sic] it, that the storm swept out of the south-west. The Herald editor and his [L]inotype operator, Mercel Born were in the office at the time.

About 7 o’clock we noticed the first signs of a storm, but the wind wasn’t startling and the rain only a little more than a drizzle. A few minutes later as we stood at the front window, we noticed a peculiar darkness in the west and increasing wind and in less time than it takes to tell the story we heard a roar and hissing and the rumble of brick to our left, when the Guardian Angel’s school was hit and the Sebastian Vogel corner, and at the same time our front caved in like so much powder. This is evidence enough that the storm came out of the south-west, as the west end of our second story was cleaned of every window and the stairway taken off and even a partition in the center of the building moved.

[Incredible Damage]

Some of the city papers tell us that Chaska suffered a half million dollar loss. That is only guess-work. The heaviest losers are Klein Bros. Brick Co., having a loss of $50,000; Minnesota Sugar Co., with a loss of probably $12,000 to $15,000; Guardian Angel[s] church and school, loss varying from $29,000 to $30,000, all these covered by insurance. Other badly damaged places are the Chaska Garage of Theo. Hunziker, practically a total loss; the Chaska Cash Store of J. Cooper, Carver County court house, Rex theatre, Chaska bakery, Chaska mill, Chaska creamery, John Brinkhaus confectionery building, Brinkhaus bulk oil station, Chaska high school, Habegger garage, and several other business buildings as well as hundreds of residences, in some instances the loss being very heavy.

The editor was so busily engaged digging himself out of the wreck that we have had little time to make personal investigation, but in a few days things will be more normal and in next week’s issue we hope to give a more detailed write-up of the catastrophe and present a lot of pictures showing the havoc wrought. Ou[r] little community suffered heavily, to be sure, but we have a lot to be thankful for at that. Only two slight injuries and no one killed. God be thanked for that. Chaska will rise from the ruins in short order and go its way in better shape than ever.

The night of the storm was one of horror and all during the night, in intense darkness our people cleared away enough debris to make passage about the city possible, and it was a night that will never be forgotten.

[Deaths in Carver]

In our [neighboring] village of Carver, help was called for to clear away the wreck of the Park Pavilion, under which several were pinned. The village itself suffered little damage except to trees, but a mile east in the Fair grounds, death and destruction stalked. Prof. Raldo Johnson and a party of friends were having a farewell picnic in the park when the storm struck. They huddled in the pavilion and when the tornado hit it and demolished it all were covered by the wreck. Miss Christine Nelson, sister of the late John S. Nelson and an aunt of Mrs. Wm. F. Zamjahn, of this city, Mrs. Thorp, the mother of Prof. Johnson, were killed and the others injured, some badly.

[Outcomes in Shakopee and Hopkins]

Shakopee suffered slight damages, other than that sustained by St. Marks church and the loss of many trees, but the Sanitorium, one mile east of the sugar factory, was badly hit and Dr. H. P. Fischer and one of the chauffe[u]rs were injured, both having broken arms. The country around suffered heavily[,] the number of barns destroyed being unestimable at this time. Telephone and wire service were d[e]stroyed and we had no communication in [e]ither direction until late Wednesday afternoon. Hopkins suffered heavily, some claiming that the loss there is even heavier than here, and the city also had loss of life and many injured. In that respect Chaska came out extremely lucky. Yesterday we had probably five thousand visitors, viewing the wreckage.

[Chaska City Park and the Sugar Company]

The wind hit this town traveling at a rate of at least 70 miles an hour. Our beautiful City Park is a complete wreck and trees by the hundreds in all parts of the city, some of them of gigantic size, were uprooted and destroyed. Thousands of windows were blown out and the glass supply of the city was cleaned out early Wednesday morning and emergency calls sent to the city.

Every window in the sugar factory was blown out, the boarding house and tool house destroyed, and damage inflicted on the south-end of the structure. During the melee lightning struck the Scharmer home and inflicted heavy damage. Trees, many of them uprooted, filled many of our streets. The force of the wind was so heavy that in one instance, a door knob was blown off and carried a considerable distance, while a handle on a screen door was completely flattened. This will demonstrate the force and fierceness of the elements—something beyond the power of man to control.

Catholic Convention and Entertainment Called Off

The Carver County Convention of the German Catholic Federation, advertised to take place here next Sunday, has been called off; also the entertainment scheduled foer [sic] that evening. The Auditorium of the school and part of the school rooms were destroyed, and the church damaged, hence it will be impossible to enter the school building for some time to come. Those intending to come here next Sunday for the big doings will understand the situation and realize that the undertakings scheduled for the day and evening are out of the question.