The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-11-27

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M{sfsllanaoas,:..s
y Fs M ae Ncar Hork Hereld. Oct. %. I.
TIE Eas-sI.puaAse at Sa,. Esraacse.
Cos 1As. R'olcansc Chain OF
.fnserSca. 2'ioq n
"a The earthquakes at San Francisco on
Wednesday last, some Twelve or thirteen in
NUMBER extended as it appears, pretty
much along thewhole coast line of Califor-
MIA, and back to the foot hills Of the Sierra
Nevada, or snowy mountains which axe
part of the great volcanic chain of the
American Continent. Earthquakes come
from some volcanic disturbances, and we
dare say that all these volcanic pertt,rba-
tions in both hemispheres since May last
may be traced to the grand eruption of that
month of the terrible Mauna Loa of the
Sandwich Islands,ithe king of all the eafth's
volcanoes. That eruption, we conjecture,
caused such commotion Of the fiery fluids
enclosed within the thin shell of our globe
that they have been, from time to time,
breaking out at various chsaneys and shak.
ing the earth more or less severely at yari-
GUS thin places ever since o. q .6s73ai fja1
1t is remarkable fact, while from the
18th to the 10Th of August last those fear
full earthquakes came upon Ecuador and
Peru, involving in ruin numerous towns
and cities along the coast for hundreds OF
miles, that ou the 18th ofAugust the same
phenomena were felt and seen at Y okohama,
IN Japan, and along the southern and east
ern coast of Australia, and that on the goth
d pretty severe earthquake shook down "a
number ofibuildings at Peshawur, in India.
These almost Simultaneous disturbance were
doubtless the result Of the pressure of the
internal liquid fire from one side right
through the heart of the earth against the
other side ofthe shell. These shakes which
they have had in California came from the
agitation impaired to the lava which un-
derlies the comparatively thin crust of the
western section Of our Continent. East of
the Mississippi river werepose upon thick
solid and reliable crust. We have no vol
canoes in this section, because we have no
use for these safety valves and escape pipes.
We are all right, But in 1911, it will be
remembered by some, there was an earth
quake. at New Madrid, on the west side O
the Mississippi, from which some forests
went down and some little lakes were crea-
ted, From the west side of the Mississip-
pi, therefore, we may assume, the crust Of
the earth to the Pacific, especially in the
valleys, is comparatively thin, and the two
sections otherwise are as widely different
as Europe and Asia2 The Continent east
from the Mississippi is like Europe, and
west like Asia.
IsnButwe have spoken Of the great ig0lca-
mic chain of America, This chain of noun
tains and subterranean fires extends from
Cape Horn and Terra del Fuego, or the
land of the fire, up to Mount St Elias, in
Alaska. Through South America it is the
backbone ofthe Continent; through Gem
trail America and Mexico it is scattered
about, but abounds in volcanoes and earth
quakes. At the southern boundary of the
United States two great chains branch of
to the .northward, the Rocky Mountains
and the Sierra Nevada TheRocky Noun
tain chainis the backbone proper of North
American but it is no longer Volcanic II
was in ages gone by, but its craters have
become extinct and are lakes. West ofthis
backbone chain, ON the way to- Great Salt
Lake, we have Fremont's Great Basin, an
hisolated region of some five hundred miles
wide and seven hundred miles long, the
water courses of which are lost in the sands
Eof the desert or expanding into lakes ARE
evaporated by the SUN. This Great Basin,
fromthe waterniarks on the mountains of
the rim, was al, one iime an arm off tis
ocean or an inland, sea like the Caspian
but was at q latter period lifted up by. the
fiery forces inside the earth and made dry
land. All this vast and inhospitable re.
giony withlthc region norhwardtp Oregon
was aptly described by Fremont as u vol
oanic region hardly yet cooled down.
land of fracture and violence and fire.
The NUMEROUS hotsprings in the mountains
and rvalleys,and the volcanic chemicals Of
/ the ashy sell Of the Plainssupport Fremont
( In this description. n tM
On The west side oftlIis Great Basin lie
have the Sierra Nevada OF thecontinuatiof
of the living volcanic chain from South
America. 1t runs along parallel with the
Pacific coast, hundred miles off, more Oh
less, alE the wsSs to- Mount 6tsi Elias, il
Alaska This chain has numerous peaks
rising from twelye to seventeen thousand
feet above the sea, and two ofthem, Mount
Hood, in Oregon, and Mount, st Helens
further north, were reported to be smoking
last autumn from volcanic combustion, a,
all events, under this mountain chain in its
whole length the volcanic forces of the
earth arefconpa rAfiyely nerf the esarAce
ana 50, for centuries to come perhaps, all
the countries onIboth sides will be liable tc
earthquakes. gnigts4ne9 ,9abiH
Hereafter five and six story buildings
win be rather q rislxy besinessin San Fran;
isco, atleast fbfa year 81 two, though such
A. shaking as they bad on Wednesday las,
llaay not occur agaip, perhaps, for fifty years
lIte Gomez ID u TX .adfT "a ha5roosI
ill., !, AZ [rI...na 4<1s2 :