HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

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[446]

Loss of property in West Cambridge, $23,606. In Waltham, $4,000.

The other report of facts, in their relation to science, fills forty pages of the little pamphlet which was published Oct. 30, 1851. It will not be republished here, but may be found among the papers of the Smithsonian Institute.

The tornado commenced about five o'clock, P. M., in Wayland, passed through Waltham and West Cambridge, and entered Medford a few rods south of “Wear Bridge.” From that point it moved west by south to east by north, and kept this line till it ceased in Chelsea. The report describes the following facts: Direction; centre; form; width; speed; power; directions in which trees and vegetables were thrown; directions in which buildings were thrown; absence of whirl; miscellaneous items; personal injuries and death. The report closes thus:--

I must pay a tribute of respect to the people of Medford who were sufferers by this visitation. One and all have sustained their losses, met their disappointments, and borne their sorrows, with a true Christian heroism, worthy of all honor. They see in the event an extraordinary exhibition of a great law of nature, and they bow submissive to nature's God.

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Storms and Freshets.

Medford is protected from storms which come from the north and west by the range of hills called “Rocks.” It lies exposed to the easterly, and especially to the south-easterly, winds; and, from these quarters, it suffers more than some of its neighbors. Snow-storms, coming from the sea, are apt to end in rain; and our nearness to the ocean prevents the snow descending in that quiet way which is so common in the interior. [See remarks on Climate.]

Against freshets, Medford is particularly well guarded. The hilly portions have brooks sufficient to carry off into the river any extra quantity of water that may come from long rains or melting snows. The parts most exposed are those on a level with the banks of the river; and, when violent south-east winds occur during spring-tides, the river rises to a dangerous height. A few times within a century, damages have come from this cause.

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