Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1867-07-03
a TERRIBLE ADVENTURE IN &c E
LAND - t5-i.aiio3 ii3'ft 8


is slightly aunder.a mile in height. i 1t
has three peaks a little elevated above its
body, and along it's sides are numerous
craters, the seats of former eruptions. The
crater of the princi pal peak is about one
-hur dred feet in depth. 1t is composed
chiefly Of bassalt and lava, but slug-sand
and ashes cover'a great part of It's surface,
and obsidian is among its most remarka-
bic produots.od 81 Sgg5 a18 Z lg gabaa#f
There have. been forty three eruptions
of Mount Hecla recorded within the last
thousand years, FIVE of which have. been
simultaneous with Vesuvius, four with
those of Etna, and one with thoseof boGh
s The last eruption began September 2,
1645, and lasted until Aprila6, 1916. On
the 23o of November the forrest of lava,
two miles from the crater, was a mile in
width, and from 40 to 81 feet In depth.
Carl .Steinman visited Hecla just preyi-
Gus to this terrific eruption, and had one
Of the narrowest escapes ftom horrible
death that ever befelan adventurous man:
We give his narrative In almost hisown
words - 'a ,y9sm3 HeazalE 81 .a
On the next morning after my arrival
at the small village at the foot. of the vol
cano [ engaged a guide, a faithful, hon.
est fellow, and set out for a visit to the
noted crater ss7ds 3Gi 5ad1 bu4g4 81 +
From the very first it seemed as if |
had passed the confnesaand was entering
new world, sorentirely ly different was the
scenery. iIGG 70 gabgo s45 4uivojosib 3
!. As you press upward toward the focus
of all the horror Of burning stuff, you find
the peril, drearlnesss and deselatlon in
creases, until at length, its awfulness be-.
comes sublime aud, at length when you.
stand on the topmost point Of this bulning
world of chaos, you iastinctlvely y raise
your heart to God, with a shudder Of ter
ror, to restore you to, the great living
world that!you have left behind you.T Oh
For six mortal hours-three on horse
back and three on foot-I had beenclam-
bering upward from the lower world, and
now, among the clouds and mists that
rolled around me, | stood in a world of
lava mountains, ice and snow, the lava
black as ink, the snow of dazzling white
ness-and not in all the region the slight
est brush, shrub, plant, or living creature
except the guide and myself .t.
AS far as the eye could discern, when
the sweeping clouds afforded view, was
a succession of dark hills, glistening gla-
ciers, snow-capped peaks, and frozen
streams-a world devoid Of life, the awful
solitude of itself-flled with gaping cav
erns, terrific abysses and Stygian caves,
which echoed only the sulien reyerbera-
tions of thunder or the groanings Of the
troubled earth beneath .aair3naeo 80.
So impressive was this scene that,I felt
a strange chill creeping through me, and
1 shouted to break the horrible stiffness
which was more awe inspiring than the
,thunders of thousand Niagaras.s [ fre-
quently found myself imagining that I
was dreaming; and [ was only assured by
!pinehing my limbs or conyersing with my
guide. -aal Ia .99siaa.su5 2uo15a p
:, Drawing my blanket around me to shell
ter me from the chilling atmosphere, and
carefully puncturing the ground with my
sharp pointed stick before me to make
sure of my footsteps, began to pick my
way over piles and heaps of lava, and pit
falls and patches of ice and snow, my
guide keeping near me, and often warn
ing me when he imag ned my footsteps
were leading me into danger ;e4qua via
Occasionally I I5struck the fragments of
lava that rolled down behind me, and as
yet discovered no signs of the crater,
which, eighty years before, had yomlted
forth it's tremendous volume of melted
black sand. At length, however, I reach
ed the summit, and looked down into a
sort of basin. open at the lower side, and
having several deep seams or ehasms in
the centre, into which the melted snow Oh
ice on it's sides were2 running In smal
streamsa gs-erg % Gg5t ~