The Washington Republican Washington County Friday April 2, 1897 That Dust Storm. This part of Kansas is subject to dirt storms, high wind and hot weather, but last Friday was a weather breaker. Early in the morning a nice shower of rain fell, so the ground was muddy for a time, but about noon the sky looked gray with dirt while the wind was blowing gently from the south. At this place the ground was too damp to allow any dirt to blow, but donw in Oklahoma, or somewhere else, the cloud of dust came. About 4:30 p.m. darkness covered this part of the earth and lamps had to be lighted in stores and dwellings. This darkness lasted about one hour or more, then it grew lighter and a good shower of rain fell. The air was so full of dust that when the rain mixed with it in falling, it became mud, so it was for a time nothing but a shower of mud, splattering windows, houses and everything it touched.