The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-03-30
THE LABOR OF TIE MOUNTAINS.
An Intsrs.ting Ae,Sun. of Volcanic Erup
lions and Earthquakes In America,


lions and Earthquakes In America,
The electric wires, says the New York
Herald, have, perhaps, never flashed
more startling tdings Of physical con.
vulsion than the announcement that a
volcanic eruption was imminent in the
mountains Of North Carolina, No
geologist OF the present century has
ever yentured, We believe, to predict
that the Appalachian chain, at our own
doors, would ever again be disturbed
by those throes with which, in the So
called prehistoric epoch, they were sup
posed 10 have been conyulsed. The In
tGlligence as now conveyed tous reveals
o terrestrial disturbance which, so far
as we know, has no parallel on this
Continent during The historic period.
The historic accounts Of American vol
canoes are confined to the Western
coast Of the Continent lying in that belt
Of fire which stretches from the Pata-
CONAN and ohilian Andes, through the
isthmian mountains, far away to the
northwestward, along the fog.shrouded
shores OF British Columbia. We are
told by Hayden that, in remote
geologic period, the entire country
drained by the Yellowstone and Colum.
bia rivers was the scene OF volcanic nc
tiyity as fierce rs that OF any portion OF
the globe, and that IL formed one vast
crater made up Of thousand smaller
volcanic vents and assures, out OF
which the fluid rock was hurled in un-
limited quantities We know that
Mounts Deane, Iangford, Stevenson
and more than o hundred others were
the nuclei Of cyclopean fires that
rtyaled many on the shores OF the
Mediterranean. Humboldt has record
ed the almost inConceiyable upheayal
in Mexico, in 1850, when on the night
Of September 90, between the setting
and the rising Of The sun, the volcanic
cone of Jorullo rose in fiery splendor
sixteen hundred and eighty.three feet
above the plain. In the middle Of
August, 1868, when the Pacific Ocean
came rushing into the port Of yalpa.
raiso, many Of us remember how It's
shock, responsive 10 the deep upheayals
Of tile Pacific coast, spread terror and
dismay in the streets Of San Francisco.
AT that time the shaking OF the earth
extended fai inland in California. The
ground opened Jets Of water were
elected from IL; many buildings were
demolished, and ever since then the in
habitants Of the land OF gold have lived
in constant uneasiuess.
Allthese bookings Of tho Continent
have occurred on The western slopes.
The conclusions which have been trans.
mitted from the West Indian and At
lantic earthquakes 10 the Mississippi
Valley have been scarcely perceptible
and made but littleOr no impression on
the popular mind. The nearest mp.
proaches to volcanic action in the Mis-.
sissippi Valley have been the occasional
slight disturbances In the bayous and
estuaries Of the Lower Mississippi,
which have been tnced to the agency
Of the Mexican Gull and It's underly.
ing volcanic furnace, There Is no doubt
1t Is o centre OF plutonic force, and
Figuier, tile eminent French physicist,
has gone SO far as TO suppose that It's
submarine furnace partly accounts
for the superheated waters which
emerge through the Florida Pass as the
great Atlantic current
II isnot impossible that there may DO
connection between this volcanic cen.
treand the foundations Of tho Allegheny
peaks, from one Of which, in Western
North Carolina, the present eruption is
reported. The Alleghanies form an mp.
parently isolated barrier, or rather series
Of isolated upheayals, extending from
Alabama 10 Maine, with n mean alti.
tude of two Thousand feet. Tho two
brothers, the Rogerses, so eminent as
American geoloRists, who most fully
explored them, first pointed out the ex-
traordinary fact that they have no cen.
trail axis, but consisted a series OF con-
yex and concaye ae1ures, giving them
tho appearance Of 50 many colossal in.
trenchments. Mount Mitchell, the lof-
tiest, and Mount Washington, the next
in altitude, guard either flank OF tho
series. The western slope Of the whole
range, running from The Genesee coun-
try OF New York TO the AIussel Shoals
Of the Tennessee River, are skirted by
q deep underlying bed Of limestone.
This latter fact is significant md may
give a clew TO the origin OF the yolcan-
ic action in North Carolina. II, as Sir
Charles Lyell. the highest geological
authority, asserts, volcanoes are due to
q chemical action in the bowels OF the
earth, and not to On internal sea OF fire,
it is not inconceivablc how such chem.
ical action has eliminated in the pres.
ent fiery disturbance in North Carolina;
but we anxiously wait for further intel
ligence for the data from whichto draw
q satisfactory conclusion.