Bigheart Tornado, April 12, 1911

What do Barnsdall citizens know about the tornado of 1911?  Long time citizens would probably sum it up in a few sentences saying it demolished the whole town and killed some people. Others, new to the small town may not know what transpired 103 years ago. As the administrator for the Barnsdall History Page on Facebook, I'm always looking for a lead on something that might be of value to the site. Hours of looking through old newspapers and reports have given me a better sense of what happened on that day when Bigheart suffered it's second tornado strike within a year.

The first tornado to hit Bigheart was in 1910, almost one year before the April 1911 tornado. Though not as destructive as the second that would hit the town in the following year, it still damaged homes and did minor damage to the Southwestern Refining Company causing around $2100 in damage overall. No deaths were reported but nine people receive minor injuries. According to a report from the Tulsa Daily World, the Osage people  told stories of four valleys on the Osage Reservation that they would not venture into during a certain time of year because they felt the valley's were "garbled" by the white man. They told of their forefathers being  killed by disturbances of nature in which the winds would whip around the hills and into the valleys to form cyclones. The Bird Creek basin where Bigheart was plotted was one of these valley's the Osage's would stay away from. NOAA records show that six tornadoes have hit in or within a one mile radius of Barnsdall over the last 103 years. It would seem that the Osage knew something about their land that others may have overlooked.

Wednesday, April 12, 1911. What started out as a warm, cloudy  and breezy day for the 400 inhabitants of Bigheart  would end in one of the most destructive tornado's in early Oklahoma history as reported by newspapers from that era. What follows is the story of that day pieced together from eye witness and newspaper reports from that time and  told just as the reports were stated.

As the Midland Vallley train pulled into the depot at around 4:30pm at Bigheart, William J. Copenhaver was aboard one of the passenger cars. he was returning from a business trip in Pawhuska. As he exited the train car he stood by as others hastily went on their way. He spoke briefly with another passenger that had stopped at the depot looking for a place to stay for a while. Copenhaver directed him to the Midland Hotel which was only a short walk  across the thoroughfare. William Copenhaver's father, John Copenhaver was near the Bank of Bigheart at this time, passing the day with conversation with others over issues of the day and ranching. As 5:00 pm came closer, more attention was shifted to the weather which over the day had become increasingly unstable. William Copenhaver, noticing a change for the worse in weather began his walk to his parents home on Birch Street, just a couple hundred yards from the depot. It was at this time Theodore Woodall was near the new school building and was watching the the clouds to the south. Others that were near him also gathered close by. As Theodore watched the green rolling cloud formation he began to direct everyone near him to take shelter inside the new stone school building as rain began to fall. As they were running for the school others began to arrive to take shelter. It was estimated there were near 100 people that took shelter in the school. William Copenhaver was nearing his parents home as family members and neighbors were running to the storm shelter. The Copenhaver's had one of the only two storm shelters in Bigheart. He made it just in time as the storm hit.

To the south of Bigheart was an encampment of Osage indians. The tornado first blew through the camp killing some of the members of the tribe and their horses.

Edward Shaner, a rig contractor, along with D. J. Riley and another man named Potter were sitting inside the Midland Hotel as the storm began. John Copenhaver along with others that were in the bank area ran inside the stone structure bank for protection from the storm. D.J. Riley, one of the hotels occupants said, " The three of use were inside the Midland Hotel when we saw the storm coming. I never saw a cyclone and don't know how they act but I never saw anything like this. It looked like muddy water boiling. I don't know how much territory it covered, but it was wide enough to cover the whole town of Bigheart. The wind seemed to crush the buildings as fast as it struck them. It lifted our hotel up about 15 inches from the ground and when it dropped back to the foundation the upper story and roof crushed like an egg shell. I was helping hold a door shut and the top half of it was broken off by the force of the wind. I saw two men rolled up the street like they might have been empty barrels. The wind was so strong that they could not stop and they rolled on until both lodged behind a little tree. We could see house roofs go sailing past and the air was full of splinters and parts of buildings". Edward Shaner, the rig contractor staying at the hotel also gave his eyewitness account saying, "I did not know where to run or I would have gotten out of the hotel to some safer place. The other people in the hotel ran when they saw the storm coming but Potter, Riley and I stayed. That was the queerest and strongest wind I had ever been in. The storm came from the south and the clouds looked light gray and green in color. There was an awful noise with it and we could hear the roar of it before the storm struck. It sounded about like such a noise as twenty freight trains would make. It was dark and dusty during the storm  but we could see pretty well what was going on. I stood at the front door and was so excited that I never saw the storm rip the porch off and carry it away. There was a porch around the building and the wind took it off just as clean as though it had been done by a carpenter. When the wind picked up our hotel and set it back down it blew the window frames entirely out of the upstairs rooms and stacked the bed and bedding against the door so they cannot get into the room. It ripped a piece off of every building in town and the pool hall was the least damaged of any. It carried away the post office building  right from beside the pool hall and unroofed the bank and blew all of the windows out of it right close by.The storm only last three minutes but it seemed like a good deal longer".

As school was in session that Wednesday, it had not been long after students had been released for the day from their school work at the corner of Vine and Third Street that the tornado would demolish the frame schoolhouse. The tornado which hit the south part of Bigheart first flattened the Southwestern Refinery leaving very little of it's operation intact. The tornado then moved on through the residential part of Bigheart destroying everything in it's path as it moved north ripping the roof and second story of the new stone school house.

Levina Jones is seen here going through the remains of her family home.

After the storm had passed, people emerged from their shelters in amazement and awe. The ones lucky enough to be in the two storm shelters, the Bigheart Bank and the new school building came through the ordeal without injury. Others that found shelter inside their homes were not as fortunate. K.L. Colley, Bighearts local doctor organized the towns citizens into groups to rescue those that had been trapped by debris or injured. The Swift Hotel and the Midland Hotel were two sites set up as temporary aid stations and morgues. J.H. Harris, President of the Midland Valley railroad was in the area on business when the storm occurred. He drove to Bigheart to find the town  had been demolished. On accessing the devestation he drove to Pawhuska and recruited doctors to go to Bigheart to help those injured in the storm. Since all telegraph lines were down, communication in the area was down. Mr. Harris then drove to Avant and dispatched a train to go to Bigheart and transport the injured to Tulsa where they could receive hospital care. The homes that were still intact were used to house the homeless. The next day, J.H. Harris would dispatch another train to Bigheart pulling box cars for those homeless families to live in until they could either build another home or move on.

Boxcars brought in the day after the tornado for the homeless to reside in.

Bigheart had over 100 buildings in the town at the time of the storm, afterward only eight buildings and homes survived the tornado. Some of the homes to survive the storm belonged to: John Copenhaver on Birch Street, Tom Crawford (First home built in Bigheart) on Walnut Street, C.D. Pinney on West Walnut, T.E Gibson on 7th Street.

Main Street after the tornado. T.E. Gibsons home can be seen on the left side of the photo with the four porch posts. it still stands today at the corner of Cedar and 7th St.

Businesses Destroyed in Bigheart:
G.C. Little; General Merchandise
C.D. Pinney; Blacksmith
K of P and IOOF Hall
Bigheart Drug Store
R.F. Lockwood; Unknown Store
Ed Thomas; Restaurant
Foster and Wade; Meat Market
Post Office
T.C. Hamm; Grocery
Bigheart Chronicle Office
Rodman and Tinker Millinery
Carpenter and Brummel Buggies
Rounds and Clark; Two Lumber Yards
John Glenn; Restaurant
William Copenhaver; Livery
Bank of Bigheart: Partially destroyed
High School Building; Partially Destroyed

One act of vandalism was accounted for after the tornado. Overnight, the remnants of stock at G.C. Littles store were pilfered by unknown persons.


Judge William Marlow and his wife  were living in a tent on Chestnut Street as the storm hit. Mrs. Marlow was swept away and later found after the storm. She had been killed by a 2x4 scantling which had pierced her body. William Marlow would later build a new home on the property where he and his wife had their tent. It would be a two story structure built from stone from the rock quarry at Wrangle Heights. It still stands today and is the home of Dale and Jane Javine.

As the storm struck, Fred Kerns was in the middle of Main Street at the west side of town. The wind gathered him up and carried him through the air for nearly a quarter mile before dropping him. He was later found entangled in wire and his body crushed.

Fred Hammond and his wife were at their home on the west edge of town. They took shelter inside the home as the tornado hit. As the walls of the home gave way, Fred was swept outside. He was found by his wife after the storm about twenty feet from the home. He had been mangled so badly his skull had been crushed and his head almost severed.

Mr. and Mrs Otis Brown were at their home as the tornado hit. Mrs. Brown was ill and unable to get out of bed after giving birth to their son only a few days earlier. The infant boy, laying with his mother in bed  was swept from her grasp as parts of the home were pulled away by the wind. The infant was found dead the next day.

  Drillers that came in from the oil leases the next morning spoke of seeing pieces of bedding and parts of buildings  along the route to Bigheart. The spoke of homes that had been demolished and rigs that had been blown over

Tornado Victims:
 Dead:
Mrs. William Marlow;  Wife - Wood scantling through the body
T.S. Hamm; Unknown injuries
Fred Kerns;  Blacksmith - Crushed body
Fred Hammond; Pool Hall Owner - Mangled body, crushed head
Infant Son of Mr. and Mrs. Otis Brown; Mangled body


Injured:
William Marlow; Head cut, broken shoulder
William Jackson; One eye out, nose broken
J.E. Robertson; Bruised
Mrs. J.E. Robertson; Back injury, face cut
J.E. Powell; Broken leg, internal injuries
J.E. Powell (daughter); Cuts
Henry Lessing; Broken left arm
M.L. Morgan; Knee injury
Mrs. Otis Brown; Face laceration, legs and back injury
Carlton Brown; Cut and bruised upper body (three years old)
Otis Brown; Cut head
William Swift; Lower body injury
Cy Trank; Left arm and shoulder injury, broken collar bone
Mrs. J.C. Glenn; Right hip and back injury
J.E. Glenn; Bruised body
Glenn children (2); One bruised, one broken leg
Mrs. J.E. Powell; Hip and back injury, cut head
Josie Powell (13 years old); Splinter in foot, cuts and bruises
Mrs. August Taylor; Broken ribs, pierced lung
Mrs. James Granger; Broken arm, cut face and leg, back injury
John Granger (8 years old); Bruises
Mrs. Taylor; Unknown injuries
Annie Taylor (10 years old); Fractured skull
Lloyd Powell; Head injury
Charlotte Granger (10 years old); Fractured skull
Mrs. Robert Huston; Head and neck cuts
Robert Huston; Cuts and bruises
Mabel Huston (2 years old) Cuts and bruises
James Downing; Cuts and bruises, injured back, broken leg
Walter Kerns; Skull fracture
Frank Davenport; Cuts and bruises, internal injuries
Mrs. Eva Hammond (Mother to Fred Hammond); Dislocated shoulder, chest injury
Mrs. Robinson; Broken arm
M.L. Morgan; Broken leg
Carl Young; Unknown injury
John Fahley: Unknown injuries


Over the next few days trains would stop in Bigheart with sight seers from Tulsa and the surrounding areas looking over the damage caused by the tornado.

Sight seers  eating ice cream