The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1869-05-08
Jhe Albang Rrgjster,
SATURDAY, NAY 8, 1869.
The Gulf stream.

non more SluSuldE, VI HlIdcItO uudCcouuG-
able, than the ocean current known as
the ''Gu Stream" This puzzle of the
centuries has at last been solved, and the
weird visage of mystery is lost in the
glare of knowledge. George Catlin, one
of the first Ethno9raphists of this country,
has won new laurels and gained new
fame, by turning his attention from the
aborigines to the hieroglyphics on the
rocks. For some years past he has been
pursuing this latter study, and the results
are shortly to appear in a book. His
book will be one of the most intensely
interesting that probably has ever been
issued by the American press. In a
recent communication to the press, Mr..
Catlin epitomlzes the chief point Of inter
est-that indicated by the head of this
article. His work will be entitled, 'The
Lifted and Subsided Rocks Of America,
| with their influence on the Oceanic, At
mospheric and Land Currents" And
one of the most striking features of this
work seems to be, to quote his own words
in the communication above referred to,
and the process by which the final result
was reached:
''1he discovery Of river under the
| Rocky Mountains, many times larger
than the Mississippi, its course nearly
twice the length of the Mississippi, and
gliding through the clean and vast rocky
cellars Of the upheaved mountains with
out loss by alluvial absorptions and solar
evaporations which diminish valley rivers,
it takes along in its course the sinking
streams and lakes of the mountains of
| Mexico, and with them, perhaps by
hundred mouths in its deep bed ,debouches
unseen into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf
Of Mexico.
''The frequent FMontognez qui fument,'
| sRoches qui tremblent,' and Blowing
Caves which occur in the Rocky noun
tain range, indicate sub-montagne cas-
cades, caused by the waters of melting
SHOWS, of rains, of glaciers, and thous-
and sinking rivers and lakes, which,
among broken up and angular rocks, are
on their way to the ocean level.
"Through the vast and heated vaults
underneath the Andes, [ contemplate
similar river, running from the 30th de-
gree of south latitude, to the north, and
carrying their overfowing waters also to
! the Caribbean Sea.
The Antilles, now partly sunk in the
ocean, are but chain of mountain tops
which, six thousand years ago. stood up
in their grandeur, part (and probably,
the glory) Of the Andes and at that
date the two mighty sub montague rivers
meeting and debouching together into
the ocean, east or north of the Antilles,
combined with extraordinary volcanic in
fuenccs, undermined the Antilles chain,
| which went down in the Cataclysm well
| established in the Indian traditions. " hich
| [ have gathered both in North aud South
| America, and also by unimpeachable re-
cords on the rocks themselves-by shades
and grooves left in the giant walls at Car
| accas and Santa Martha, on the coast of
Venezuela where this mighty chain was
broken-rec ords which [ have twice
seen, which may be read by all the ages
to come, and which are not myths or
fables.
"In this tremendous catastrophe, prob
ably the most stupendous that ever took
place on the surface of the globe, the
Peninsula of Yucatan, with its splendid
Aztec cities, sank, and since has partially
risen, leaving the two grand sunken es-
tuaries, the Gulf of Mexico and the Ca
ribean Sea, into which the two subterra-
mean rivers, from the constant overflow
| of their vast cisterns under the noun
tains, now spread their clear and blue
waters, heated by the volcanic furnaces
they have passed. BY the joint influx Of
| these rivers into the Caribbean Sea, its
western surface is elevated several feet
above the level Of the ocean and pour
ing into the Gulf of Mexico, sweeping
its western coast, and taking in its way
the waters of the Rio del Norte and the
Mississippi, this vast flood debouches
with them into the Atlantic, at the Flor
ida Cape, and there becomes the Gulf
Stream, until now one of the mooted
puzzles of the world"
IL Gol..xa b;a ;a Lax,t