Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-04-10
Canic Disturbances ia western
NORTH, Carolina.

Gen. Ciing,sla,a's Views OF the VOL
canic Disturbances ia western
North Carolina.
a New York Herald man recently
had an interview with General Cling
man about the Bald Mountain "dis-
turbances," report Of which we
present to our readers this morning.
1t is needless to say that no man in the
country is better qualified to give g.
reliable opinion in regard to the noun
tains Of North Carolina than General
Clingman.
General Clingmun replied in re-
Spouse to some questions touching the
phenomenon that s'the volcanic dis
turbances in those mountains of West
ern North Carolina, which are now
making such q great sensation, are no
new thing-that they can be traced
back to the remOtest traditions of the
Cherokee Indians, and thence, by
scientific research, to the volcanic up
heavals from which these mountains
were formed. In the northeastern
corner of Haywood county, near Fines
Creek, forty miles northwest Of Stone
Mountain, there is mountain which
has been subjected to periodical shak-
ings, after intervals of two or three
years, ever since the war OF 1872, aud
and for how long IL period before /
cannot tell. lie Immediate locality
Of these disturbances is about mile
III length and quarter of n mile in
width. The shocks under this noun
tain have not been, within my recollec-
ton Of Il longer duration than few
minutes; and yet with each recurrence.
after an interval of rest of two or three
years, the shocks have been sufficient
ly powerful to break up the mountain,
as one may say, into new assures, hill
locks, up-heavals and cavities, SO far
as to change its general appearance.
''And you have noticed these phe-
nomena, from lime to time, through a
period of many years %
'Oh, yes l think if You will look
over the files of the old National Intel
hgencer Of about twenty-five years
ago you viii find a pretty full descrip-
ton which [ gave of these volcanic
disturbances at that time. I remem-
Der that about twenty-five years
ago, in the edge of Macon county,
southwest from Haywood, there was a
shock which opened seam in the
ground for nearly mile in length land |
that In Madison county, in line be-
tween Haywood and Stone Mountain. |
smoke issued from fssure opened in |
the rocks. This was some two miles |
from the French Broad river and in |
he''neighborhood of the Warm Springs. |
Madison county. l have known the |
solid granite cliffs of Haywood Nom
tain to be fractured by volcanic action |
for nearly milo in length, and in one
instance L have seen a detached gran
lite rock of perhaps 1000 tons in
weight, which, lying above one of these |
earthquake assures, was broken into
three fragments. But one of the most |
remarkable freaks of these little earth |
quakes was that which split a large
tree, bringing one half to the ground
and leaving the other half standing. [
have no doubt that the newspaper men
detailed to look into these mysteries
will gather many interesting reminis-
cences from the old settlers of those
western mountain counties of the Old
North State, touching the periodical
recurrence OF these remarkable little
[ have often wondered
that the attention OF men of science
had never been drawn to these inter-
estlng volcanic disturbances in our
North Carolina mountains"
"But do you think they mean moth
ing more on this return than the usual
spasms, gradually dying
out with the. continued cooling and
of the earth's crusts o.
The General thought this a matter
of doubtful speculation. After warn
ngs IL premonitory tremblings of the
ground, there may be a disastrous
earthquake, or volcanic eruption, as
these things occur in Mexico and
Central America; or these spasms as
from time to time, may
pass off as nine days wonder. But
hose mountains, the eliminating mass
If the Allegheny system, were uplifted
ooy forces which are still throbbing I'M ,
Ter their foundations and shaking
hem to their SUBMITS. There are |
hlrty peaks on these mountains of :
Western North Carolina, from the
smoky Range to the Blue Ridge, which {
ire higher than Mount Washington;
md from the primitive rocks thrown
Up in these old ranges, and from the
sreat variety of minerals brought out
rom the bowels of the earth into the
ldes and chasms of these mountains.
We know that the subterranean forces
rom which those mountains were
ormed operated here more powerfully {
han at any other point on the Atlantic 4.
ide of our continent; and we nav con- :
dude, from these frequent disturb i
tnces, that these tremendous forces
re not yet under those mountains re-
iuced below the capacity for a disas- :
rous CONFUSION.