The 1900 Storm: Tragedy and Triumph

Isaac M. Cline chronology

Oct. 13, 1861: Born in Monroe County, Tenn., to Jacob Leander Cline and Mary Isabel Wilson.

1882: Graduates from Hiawassee College; begins courses at the school of instructions of the U.S. Signal Corps at Fort Meyer, Va.

1883: Takes job as assistant observer, Little Rock, Ark.

1885: Graduates from the University of Arkansas; begins duties at Fort Concho weather station. Later in Abilene, he helps edit The Reporter, a daily and weekly newspaper.

March 17, 1887: Marries Cora May Ballew.

Dec. 10, 1887: Allie May Cline is born.

1889: Moves to Galveston as sectional director Texas section for the Climatological Service of the U.S. Weather Bureau, which he organized.

Aug. 24, 1889: Rosemary Cline is born.

July 2, 1894: Esther Ballew Cline is born.

1895: Cline introduces the U.S. Weather Bureau to the 24- to 36-hour forecasts.

1896: Receives a Ph.D. from Add-Runn, now Texas Christian University.

1898-99: Spends time in Mexico where he establishes weather stations for use in forecasting weather for the U.S. fleet that was fighting the Spanish fleet in the Caribbean and West Indies.

Sept. 8, 1900: Hurricane kills his wife and their unborn child and destroys their home.

1901: Transfers to New Orleans, La., to direct the U.S. Weather Bureau station there, and to be section director for Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Aug. 5, 1902: Marries Margaret C. Hayes in Mobile, Ala.

1903: Cline begins his collection of antiques and art; sends warnings of the Mississippi floods and the possibility of 21-foot crests.

April 9, 1926: Margaret Hayes Cline dies.

1926: Writes the textbook "Tropical Cyclones."

Dec. 31, 1935: Cline retires from the U.S. Weather Bureau.

Jan. 1, 1936: Opens Art House antique and art gallery at 633 St. Peter St. in New Orleans' French Quarter.

1945: "Storms, Floods and Sunshine" is published.

1953: Cline becomes very ill and has to sell the Art House.

Aug. 3, 1955: Isaac M. Cline dies at the Touro Infirmary. He is buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

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