A Saturday storm—-destruction & helping hands
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
SCHOENECK - Wet,
curled and discolored, it lay
in a cornfield along Spook
Lane in northern Lancaster
County.
Quite small among the
waist-high plants, it could
easily have been missed. But
the much larger pieces of
f
ORAL CALF
FEEDER
SAVE THAT DE
HYDRATING &
SCOURING CALF
WITH THIS
COMBINATION!
Whitomyer
Vytrate
ZIMMERMAN’S ANIMAL
HEALTH SUPPLY
3 mi W of Ephrata,
Along Wood Corner Rd
RD #4 Box 140
Lititz, PA 17543
717-733-4466
A piece of tin roofing lies in the middle of a cornfield hundreds of yards from
where it was torn from a barn. In background is another building damaged on
Melvin Nolt farm.
debris scattered throughout
the field seemed to call at
tention to it.
It’s a letter dated March
15, 1940 from the Mc-
Corauck-Deermg Store in
Ephrata addressed to Mr.
Ezra Martin. The text of the
letter extols the virtues of
mechanical milkers and
explains how sixty 10-hour
days can be saved a year by
switching from hand milking
10 cows tc the modem
mechanical process.
The back of the letter was
used by Martin as an in
formal ledger to keep track
of his chick expenses on
March 21, 1940. Among the
items are $40.00 for 300
chicks, 85 cents for coal oil
and 90 cents for cobs.
By itself, this four-decade
old letter amidst a muddy,
ram-soaked cornfield seems
quite inconsequential. But
surrounded by pieces of bam
roof, farmhome spouting
and even scraps of
wallpaper, it represents a i
important aftermath of the
fast, vicious storm that
swept across northern
Lancaster County last
Saturday causing damages
m the millions.
The letter came from
either the barn or farmhouse
owned by Ezra Martin and
occupied by the family of his
son, Gerald. Both were
severely damaged, stripped
of their roofs, much the way
an opener peels off the top of
a can.
Within walking distance,
the storm also unleashed
similar fury against the
neighboring farm of Melvin
H. Nolt. A barn was
destroyed, along with 36
steers that died in an ensuing
fire, as well as additional
damages to the 1764 house
and other buildings.
In all, about a score of
major buildings were
destroyed or severely
damaged m the section of
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 5,1980—A15
Iso the center of a
large baking and cooking operation. A mountain of
food was brought to the farm as hundreds of
volunteers from the Nolt and Martin cleanup ef
forts were fed.
Hackman, Indiantown,
Durlach and Pleasant View
Roads.
The storm apparently
entered the normal peaceful,
pastoral countryside m the
area of Agway along Rt. 322
and cut a wide swath of
destruction in a nor
theasterly direction.
Two farms owned by
Reuben Weaver, R 1
Ephrata, m the area of the
Pennfield plant along
Schoeneck Road received
heavy damages.
On one farm, a 160-foot
tobacco shed, one of the
largest m the county, was
(Turn to Page Al 6)