Harvest Twister?

By Darla Bracken

Elk Drive In

courtesy photo


When we woke up to the news of the Indiana Tornado which killed 22 on November 7th, it reminded me of another ‘out of season’ tornado. Tornado season is generally from March to August, but tornadoes may occur at any time of the year. It was October 13, 1960 and the local harvest was in full swing as evidenced by the custom combine crews staying in the local trailer park on west Highway 60 near where the old Chieftain Drive In Movie had been. After looking at an old yearbook a few years ago, I was thinking out loud one day about the Elk Drive In (the ‘new’ one which was just across Highway 60 from the Chieftain): and how it had such a beautiful painting on it and that when I was a little girl you could see it from my house on 6th Street just 2 ˝ blocks from Main! [Too many trees to see it nowadays.]

My friend Betty Talley happened to be in the library that day and she said she sure remembered that very well because of the tornado that blew it away. When I asked her when that had happened and she said, ‘I think it was October.’ I could hardly believe it. Sure enough it was 45 years ago this year on October 13th and, as Hugh Moseley pointed out to me the other day, it had been in the Friona Flashbacks, recently.

The October 1960 Tornado By Betty Talley

“As Joe and I drove in from Hereford, we watched a cloud building in the southwest. Joe decided to come in a drink a glass of ice tea before going back to the farm. While we were having our tea, I happened to glance out the patio doors. I noticed several cars leaving the trailer park behind our house. It was where the first drive-in-theater had been–the new one was across the highway. Custom harvesters were parked there.

I went to the doors to see why everyone was leaving in such a hurry. The tornado was sitting on the bridge at the golf course. Joe and I got in the pickup–I did remember to get my purse. The streets were full of cars. Everyone was trying to get across the railroad tracks at main street. Some people were jumping curbs or driving on lawns, trying to be the first to the crossing. It would have been funny had it not been so scary.

Joe and I decided to go north on 214. We were trying to outrun the tornado which is a no-no. About 1 ˝ miles north we were out of the storm and the sun was shining. We sat there watching that black storm cloud covering Friona–we couldn’t see the tornado.

When the weather began to clear, we drove back into town to see if we still had a home. Imagine our relief when we saw that our house was intact. The tornado had turned north at the alley! It did a lot of damage to the harvesting equipment that had been parked behind our house, however.

One of the most amazing sights was our little 3 legged charcoal barbeque which was sitting on

the patio unmoved and unharmed!” The Elk Drive In with its beautiful painting, was history.

From the Star Friona Flashbacks, in case you missed it like I did:

45 years ago—October 13, 1960

Friona–Frionans went fleeing about 4:40 PM Tuesday with the tornado siren screaming in their ears as a twister bore down on the community. The crazily twisting clouds were first spotted south east of Friona by Ben Moorman and Ralph Shirley, who warned the city hall by radio of the impending tornado. Floyd Dameron about 45, who farms near Friona was the only person reported injured during the twister. Dameron was driving his truck on Highway 60 when he spotted the twister. His truck was caught just south of the Friona Draw bridge near Friona and was sent spinning into J.T. Gee’s grain field and came to rest about 45 feet from the highway. The cloud touched down at the Elk Drive Inn and this was deemed a complete loss following the storm. Across the highway at the old Chief Drive Inn the screen is gone and Tuesday night, seven trailer houses lay stacked upon one another. About one mile west of town at the Leo McLellan residence the house suffered damage to the northwest corn er where twisting winds pulled the frame loose from the roof spilling the furnishings onto the ground. Several outbuildings at the McLellan place were destroyed or damaged. On west of the McLellan place, about a quarter of a mile, a tenant house was damaged and outbuildings were hit at the Eric Rushing farm.

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