Posted: 4/2/03

1929 twister left destruction, vivid memories for Forest Lake residents

(Editorís Note: The following Reflections column was first published on April 1, 1986. It is reprinted here as part of the newspaperís coverage during its 100th year. This column and future Reflections columns are in tribute to Vogel who died Feb. 7, 2003.)

By Elsie Vogel
Historical Feature Writer

How many times this spring and summer will your favorite TV show be interrupted by a beep-beep-beep and a flashing message, ìsevere tunderstorm watchî or ìtornado warning,î causing anxiety to grow as the screen lists the counties that are in the stormís path?

Today, if there has been a tornado sighted, you can follow its course on your radio as you listen to the eyewitness accounts of people who call in. It is especially scary when the tornado sighting is only a few miles away, but with all the present warning systems, such as the siren blowing, there is time to reach a safe shelter. But this wasnít the case a long time ago.

Forest Lake tornado

April 5, 1929 is a never-to-be forgotten date for the people of the Forest Lake area... it was the day of ìthe tornado.î

For that time of the year, the weather was sultry and hot (90 degrees) and the lake, warmed by the sun, ìopened upî that afternoon.

Just before supper time, about 6 oíclock, local residents watched with apprehension as the sky in the southwest turned dark and looked very ominous.

A tornado with its unforgettable roar spread a patch of destruction in minutes and soon the powerful force would touch down south of Forest Lake, leaving devastation in some instances and leaving some things untouched.

The area people that were just youngsters on that day, 57 years ago, have sharp memories of that experience and this is what it was like for them and their families to be caught in this killer tornado.

Tornado touches down

For our newer residents, Gene Taylor helped me pinpoint the first touchdown as about one-half mile northeast of the present junction of I-35W and I-35E. The present Walls brothersí farm and the next farm previously belonging to Byron Lathrop felt the first fury as their barn and outbuildings scattered high and low. The whirling funnel then progressed toward the large George Taylor farm.

George F. Taylor farm

Gene was a first grader at that time and as boys normally do, he spent some playtime before coming to the house. As the storm approached, his sisters grabbed him and took him down to the basement and in Geneís words, ìDid we get whammied!î As the Taylor family huddled in the basement they could hear the crash of glass as all the windows were blown out and the house was moved 18 inches off of the foundation, but it held together.

When they came out of the basement they found the barn and other buildings were destroyed and they lost animals including 13 head of cattle. There was a building that had been formerly used as a summer kitchen, but was at the time stocked with split wood for the stove. The whole thing just took off... wood and all.

Taylors had 300 bee hives with the wooden bee boxes painted white, but after the tornado they found only one white painted board about three-quarters of a mile away and of course the bees were no where to be found. The important thing was the family was safe and the buildings and house could be rebuilt.

Emil Pollreis farm

The tornado kept on a straight track, roaring across US-61 and in its path was the large, beautiful brick farm home belonging to Emil Pollreis. Dick Pollreis was only seven years old at the time and he too remembers he was hustled to go to the basement with his brother, sister and mother. Emil and another son were in Withrow at Ray Jeansí auction and upon their return they found an unbelievable sight.

With one exception all the outbuildings were gone and cattle were injured or killed in the collapsed barn. They lost a total of 13 head of cattle, two horses, 200 chickens and five hogs.

The red brick house lost, strangely enough, all the bricks on the north wall. In minutes, this neat home was turned into a shambles with curtains hanging at blown out windows and a damaged roof making it uninhabitable at the moment. They stayed with neighbors for a while.

Dick tells us that it turned cold after the tornado and it snowed a few days later, adding to the misery of this scene. Fortunately, they had insurance to rebuild and restore things to their past attractiveness.

One man killed

Three days before the tornado, two bachelors, newcomers to the area, moved on the Landgan farm, near the Pollreis place. One of the men, by the name of Lundgren was killed. As we look at a picture taken at that time by Orval Thompson of Forest Lake it is understandable how it would be hard to survive such wreckage. This is all the information I have on this fatality.

Virgin Boodysí barn dances

No tornado insurance to cover a loss of buildings was the catastrophe Virgil Boody faced as he viewed the ruins of his barn, buildings and livestock that April 5. This was also the time of the Depression and Boody was faced with caring for his family.

Boody was a survivor and with the help of his two brothers and son Dick they put up a large, modern dairy barn. When the barn was finished in 1930, he started Wednesday night ìbarn dancesî in the upstairs of the barn, while below a purebred herd of Guernsey cattle was ready to supply milk for Boodysí milk route around Forest Lake.

Wally Skoog Remembers

Wally Skoog, a senior at Forest Lake High School, was considered very much a hero when he returned to school following the tornado.

The Skoogs were aware of the approaching ìstormî so Wallyís father went to close the barn doors. Hearing the roar of the tornado, Wally led his mother to a ditch beyond the house and covered her with his body to protect her as the powerful winds tore at them. Wallyís shirt was ripped off his body and wood slivers and sand were driven into his face and body.

A flying timber somehow struck Mrs. Skoog in the hip, penetrating near the kidney. Mr. Skoog was unhurt and with Wallyís help they put her on a blanket and carried her into the house and tried to stop the bleeding. Somehow Dr. Niles got through all the debris and fixed the wound the best he could before she went to the hospital.

The fury of this tornado was such that Wally recalls finding straw driven into the telephone poles.

Mrs. Gustava Alm loses all

Mrs. Alm, her daughter Alvina, Alvinaís husband Delbert Hoekstra, two children and Ruby Francine were living on the Alm farm, which is the present Forest Hills Golf Club

The family urged Mrs. Alm to go down to the basement but she said, ìI never ran away from a storm before and Iím not going to now.î They finally prevailed upon her to follow them and she just got below the house level when the house blew away. The basement stairway fell with her on it. Fortunately she only sustained a cut hand.

Piles of broken sticks were all that remained of the house, barn and other buildings. Golfers have paused for a refreshing drink of water from the pump near the fifth tee... this is the only visible reminder of the farm that blew away.

Hoekstras survive injuries

Because the weather had turned so warm, Mrs. Martin Hoekstra washed her daughtersí summer dresses and put her daughter Tooty to work ironing them, after school. Mrs. Hoekstra was very apprehensive about the change in weather and hoped her husband would return from work soon.

They saw him drive into the garage and just as he reached up to close the door, the tornado hit, trapping Hoekstra in the collapsed garage. At the same moment, in the house, Tooty saw the piano from the front room moving right behind her into the dining room.

Tooty and her mother made it to the glassed-in back porch and while Mrs. Hoekstra protected her daughter by sitting on her, she herself was cut by flying glass from one side of the back of her neck to the other. Tooty remembers the noise, it sounded like a train.

Even while bleeding and stunned by all this, Mrs. Hoekstra sent Tooty to get a pail of water from the neighbors. On the way she encountered pigs and other farm animals that were running loose from Harringtons down the road, as they were also hard hit by the tornado.

Returning to her home she found her mother digging in the debris of the garage trying to find her father. Needing more help than they could give, Tooty again ran for help, she encountered Mr. Erickson and he went for more assistance.

By lantern and candle light Dr. J.A. Poirier and a doctor from Hugo stitched Mrs. Hoekstraís cut and tended to Hoekstra who was severely injured with a scalp wound, back abrasions and other injuries. He was brought by ambulance to Bethesda hospital where he stayed for nine weeks with around-the-clock nursing.

Hoekstras owned the Fishermans Home Resort and all the boats were destroyed. They went back in the business the following summer. As soon as he could, Hoekstra had a ìcyclone cellarî built near his home. However, he never had to use it again.

Tooty (Hoekstra) Raduenz gives great credit to the Red Cross for all their aid and assistance.

Oddities

The aftermath of a storm or tornado is the time we discover strange or unusual situations. For instance, two of Tootyís carefully ironed dresses were found hanging from the highest tree on Simmons Point... still on hangers.

Orval Thompson working at the farm next to Pollreises saw some of Pollreisí chickens running around without their feathers. I want to thank Orval for the important pictures he has contributed to this story.

It seems the lake just bubbled and boiled that spring afternoon, the rolling waves were very high. Near Willow Point, fish were found across the road, on dry land, as the force of wind just scooped water and fish out of the lake.

Iím certain former members of the Forest Lake Presbyterian Church will remember Rev. N.L. Frank, currently of Ormand Beach, FL. In a recent correspondence from him he mentioned the tornado and this is what he wrote.

ìEtched into my mind is the recollection of the floor of a house, superstructure all gone, floating on the lake. There in the middle of the floor sat a shiny piano, nothing else. Such are the curious effects of Minnesota tornadoes.î

Top of Page