The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-01-12
SINKING.
Coast Mountains Changing their 1scin
tive Level.

San Francisco folks are just now exercised
by announcement in the Scientific Press thai
the coast mountains are changing their relative
level with the Sierra Nevada-that is, that one
or the other range is rising or sinking-it doc:
not appear certain which.
The writer in the Scientific Press is Mr.. F.
A. Herring, who states that, Hooking west
ward from his house in the Sierra Nevada
near Forbestown, 230O feet above the level o
| the ocean, he can see the Marysriile Duties,
| thirty-five miles of, and the coast range, ono
hundred and thirty or one hundred ana hlty
| miles distant; that seven years ago one peak
of the buttes appeared higher from his house
| than the summit of the range; that on the 4tll
of September last the same peak appeared to
| he inst as high as the ridge; that he had TO go
seyenty-6ye feet down the hill to make the
| peak appear as high above the ridge as IL did
| before; that on the Sth of November the peak
appeared from his house lower than the ridge
| that when he went scvcnty-hve feet down the
hill the peak of the buttcs appeared to be on q
level with the ridge; that the change OF level
has been the subject of frequent observation
with him for months, and that his brother OBJ
served it as well as himself
The Scientific Press accepts these statements
as unqueslionably correct, and says: REFER
ence has frequently been made toobserve
and elsewhere. An inch Ofchange in Il century
is mile in little more than fifty thousand years
"a brief day in geology. While the eastern
coasts of the North American continent are
known to be sinking, and the western OSclllat-
inc or rising, from Ohio to British Columbia,
there are to be noted with special care ana
eyactness local variations OF oscillations,
periodical and regular, or otherwise. The stu
dent of the geological history of California
NAV find something that IS to the point and
suggestive in the following communication,
stating few facts, the pllrport OF which, III
regard to our local geology, need not be Ell
larged upon by lis ut present. Inc commu-
uication here referred TO Is that Of Mr.. Her.
rings, above mentioned.
The editor of the Scientific Press can hardly
have given the subject due consideration. The
change Of elevation or depression indicated by
the fdcts-il facts they arc-iS absolutely ter
rifle. One OF these things must be occurring:
Either Forbestown OH the Sierra Nevada is
rising, or the Marysville buttcs are SINKING, or
the coast mountains are rising at rate alto
rethcr unprecedented III the annals OF geology.
None of tic maryels recorded by Sir Charles
Lyell approach it. Let any mathematician
compute the angle Of the paralleX from the
following premises, giving first OF all the
correct distances between the objectS-vlz.,
$50 miles IRON the coast range TO the Sierra
Nevada. A line drawn from Forbestown
to the summit OF the MafysVllle Oultes, anu,
being tangent, when prolonged TO the
highest point of tho coast mountains, would
be somewhat longer. The height OF Forbes
town from the level of the sea is 230O feet;
that i'm the Marysville buttes is 1000; that
of the summit OF the coast range Is about 1900.
When Mr.. Herring looked in this direction
seven years ago the buttcs appeared higher
than the coast summit. The latter subsequent
ly lin September last) rose 10 level with
them, and in November ii was necessary to
descend 10 feet at Forbestown TO make the
coast range appear tho same height as the
buttes. Mar.,;svilc is thirty-fve miles from
Forbestown The time is also given in which the
changes occurred The l;,St one is the most stll-
pcnd0us, for it occupied only from the 4th ot
September TO the Sth Of Novembcr-a little
more than two months. Here are all inc
elements Of the problem. Calculating
roughly, and assuming that Marysville pllttes
and F0rbestown have moved, the proportion
ate rise OF the coast range would De Two ana Il
half feet for every foot of descent at Forbes
town. Thus, ii Mr.. Herring went down
seyenty-tive feet, the coast range must have
gone up 1873, and that, too, in the space of
two months, being at the rate of ll25 feet per
annum, and more than twenty-one miles III a
century. 1t would be more feasible theory
to suppose that the Marysville buttcs were
sinking; but q catastrophe like that could not
be going on at so rapid u rate without affect
ing the surrounding regions. To produce the
result described by Mr.. Herring, they would
have to sink at the rate Of about twenty-five
feet month, which rate would enable them
to ''git outn Of the State in eighty years.