Winter

ABOUT THE WEATHER!

​our weather men

​A 1978 newspaper article about Lloyd Vrtiska being awarded a 15-year pin gives a history of the weather station in Table Rock.

Table Rock 5N was established on January 1, 1878 by O. D. Howe, grandfather of Orville D. Howe of Tecumseh.  The Howe family, including E. D. Howe, father of Orville Howe, kept the records until September 1961, when Orville Howe moved to Tecumseh, leaving the instruments in charge of Lloyd Vrtiska. 

Thus, Orville Duane Howe (1831-1917) passed on the weather job to his son Edmund Dudley Howe (1862-1949), who passed it on to his son Orville David Howe (1901-1981), who passed it on to neighbor and close friend Lloyd Vrtiska (1926-2017).

Table Rock's first weatherman, Orville Duane Howe (1831-1917), shared by descendant Patricia Furth. He came to the rural neighborhood of Bunker Hill after the Civil War and was a successful fruit farmer.

Lloyd Vrtiska, our weather man beginning in 1961

1888 -- a terrible storm
& mysterious incident supposedly described
by pawnee city residents on their way home from table rock
​

A transcription posted on line of an article said to be from the September 21, 1888 Seneca, Kansas Courier-Tribune

1896 - A CYCLONE IN THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTY

May 9, 1896 San Francisco Call

​1897 - lightning
hits the millinery store
of miss maggie sutton & miss elva layman

June 1, 1897, Fremont Triweekly Tribune

1899 -- once weather permits
​gumbo to be burned again

Gumbo clay down between the Nemaha River & the depot once was once burned by the CB&Q to be used for ballast under the rails.

1901 - lightning
lewis schurr's house hit
john hilbert's cow killed
​

1905 - lightning
kills silas bowen

July 6, 1905 Omaha Daily Bee

The July 6, 1905 Table Rock Argus carried a more detailed story.  As transcribed by Luella Hinrichsen:

KILLED BY LIGHTNING

Silas Bowen, a Well-Known Farmer Instantly Killed.

Death, sudden and awful, visited a home in this county yesterday afternoon taking from the husband and father in a manner, that almost stupefies with horror the entire community. Silas Bowen, who lived on a farm about half way between this city and Elk Creek, was struck by lightning and instantly killed.

During the day he and his son, Ralph, had been cultivating corn, and when the storm came up, between 4 and 5 o'clock, they started for the barn, Mr. Bowen driving his team and Ralph following with his, being perhaps 20 or 30 feet apart. When within about 50 yards of the barn a heavy bolt of lightning struck, knocking the team driven by Mr. Bowen down, killing Mr. Bowen and the team driven by his son, and shocking the latter so that he fell and lay unconscious for 15 to 20 minutes.

When Ralph regained consciousness he went to his father, but found him dead and he hurried to the house, and then to a neighbors for help.

The terrible instrument of death had entered the body, down the right leg and out at the ankle, leaving a mark about the width of a man's finger along its course. When he fell, he evidently struck on his face, and the heavy fall of rain washed the dirt and mud upon him so that he was covered with it, and presented an awful sight. The footprints were also washed away.

The team driven by Mr. Bowen was not injured, and the team following him, which was killed, fell with their feet to the north and looked as though they had quietly laid down to sleep, there being no evidence of a struggle.

The news spread rapidly and the entire town and community was deeply stirred by the calamity.

On June 20, 1903, a brother of Mr. Bowen was instantly killed by lightning while standing in the doorway of a store in Lewiston, and this fact seemed to intensify the feeling of horror which permeated all who heard the dreadful news.

Mr. Bowen was 42 years of age and leaves a widow and three children. He was respected and esteemed by all who knew him, had resided in this vicinity for many years. He was a member of Table Rock lodge A.O.U.W. in which he carried $2000. life insurance, also $2000 in the Bankers Life of Lincoln.

The funeral services will be held tomorrow, at the Christian church at 11 A.M., and will probably be under the auspices of the A.O.U.W. lodge.

The family and other relatives have the sincere sympathy of the entire community in their bereavement.

Son Ralph (1887-1949), who had been helping, was 18 at the time.

The report of insurance money was a standard part of such stories in those days.  The A.O.U.W. - Ancient Order of United Workmen - was a fraternal benefit society for working men, originally formed by railroad men after the Civil War.  

Silas Bowen was not related to Stanley Bowen (1897-1960), who came to Table Rock & in 1921 married Cecil Heer; their three children -- Boyd, John, & Shirley -- and their descendants are better known to us now, but Silas Bowen's extended family was present in earlier days, including his son Ralph, who was the proprietor of a billiard hall here for a while.  Silas's wife, mary Effie Aylor Bowen, was left with children Ralph, then 18, and year-old twin girls Stella & Della to raise. In 1918, Mary, who had remarried, died in the influenza pandemic, when the girls were only 14.  

Ralph Bowen in later years -- far right, with wife Grace, and their sons Lloyd & Raymond, at their home in Table Rock. Photo 3579, shared by Bonnie Venhaus

1905 - lightning
& mrs. a. m. fuller

September 19, 1905 Lincoln Star

1915 -rain
c. w. chambers of table rock remembers rain-making cars on the rock island back in "the 90s"

1916 - lightning
hits peter hales fine stack of straw

July 21, 1916

Undated photo of Peter Hales, his wife, and their daughter Fannie

1918 - lightning insurance available

October 18, 1918

​1936 - february weather
an amusing essay by charlie harlow

​1954 - weather report

November 11, 1954 Argus

1965 - end of the year weather report
by lloyd vrtiska

December 31, 1965 Argus

1978 - weather pin for lloyd vrtiska
516.56 inches of rain had fallen during his reign thus far

April 28, 1978

In 2020, Larry Layden, a brother-in-law of Lloyd's, remembers talking with Lloyd, who always loved the weather :

The rain guage flared out at the top, kind of like a funnel. This distorted the amount of rain entering the tube but was taken into account when the measurement marks were engraved on the collecting tube.

I asked him why all that was necessary and he said if the tube had a sharp edge it might cut a raindrop in two,giving an inaccurate reading.

He said he was surprised to discover that year after year the month with the most precipitation was August.

He said he was constantly having to explain why the temperature reading he reported was always ten or more degrees colder than his neighbor's thermometer and why he only reported the shade temperature.

​1978 - high winds

June 29, 1978 Argus

? - lighting
hits fran & bob blecha's home
photo by markus jokela 

Bob & Fran were out of town when lightning hit their home & it burned down. Here Markus Jokela captured a moment at the site of the home's last remains.