The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1881-11-02
The Lnnd.1ip at Elm.

structon Of Goldau, in September, le06. by az
earthslip from the Rossberg. Some 200 per-
sons arc supposed to be buried under an ava
lancbe of rock and earth, and the work oil
rescue is being carrieds on under conditions
that render success almost hopeless. The
dammed-up streams that flow through the
valley are turning it into lake, and another
esrthslip, still more extensive than the first
nav occur at any moment. Elm is situated
in the Sernf Thai, at the foot Of the LaaxeI
and Stoekli glaciers, and under the lee OF The
Tschingel Alp, a mountain composed princi-
pallv OF argillaceous schist For years past
the Tschingel had been regarded as perilous
neirLbor, but familiarity dulls apprehension
and until last week no precautions seem &c
have teen taken to avert the impending peril
On Friday. however, after two days OF heavy
rain, the appearance Of assures ia tho noun
tain 90 alarmed the villagers that they called
in local engineer TO devise means for meet
ing the emergency, but before anything could
he done the catastrophe came On Sunday
afternoon, shortly after 5 O'Clock, a great
mass Of earth and rock slipped down from the
mountain. sweeping away the greater part Of
Unicrthal. that portion Of the village on the
,Scht hank of the Scruf. An hour latter a
second earth-slip completed the work of de-
strnction. overwhelming al the same time all
lie VILLAGERS who were engaged IN cxtncating
their friends and kinsfolk from the ruins.
Srrr. lA.-on Monday evening third
mass Of earth aud rock fell from the Tschiugcl
Ain into the Scruf Thai, and the engineers
who have been sent by the Federal Council to
supeuu,end tho work Of disinterring the
bodies and roscuipg any Of the buried who
may be yet alive are OF opinion that a fourth
and still moro extensive slip is imminent and
inevitable The mountain is constantly
watched for the first indication Of danger, aud
every precaution has been taken 10 prevent
further loss OF life Many Of tho inhabitants
of the valley, who were mostly woll-io-do
peasant proprietors, have los, everything they
possessed-even their land, which is covered
with the wreck OF the mountain. lmmenSe
fragments Of rock were projected to distance
of three miles. Temporary help, both in
money and kind, has been provided by the Gov
crnmcnt for the surviving victims Of the Gala
mitv, and pubic subscription which is about
~ be got up for their relief will make good TO
them in part the material losses they have
sustained.
Owing TO tho tremendous rains Of the last
fortnight, earhslips, more or less serious,
have taken place in several other parts Of the
country. The extraordinary slip at Leisigen,
near the Lake Of Thun, is still in progress and
gives rise 10 serious disquieude. The at
tempts hitherto made to arrest its progress
seem 10 have utterly failed; several houses,
for the most part belonging to working peo-
pic, are already half buried in the mud and
rubbish Of all sorts brought down by the NOV
ing ground. The peasants are laboring night
and day to avert the impending calamity.
They have removed all the stones from the
bed Of the torrent that traverses the village
and dcepened its channel in order to give free
massage to the masses Of debris which descend
from the mountain. The highway to Spiez has
entirely disappeared. Reichenbach, in the
Bernese 0berland, has also been much Injured
BY an earthslip, and in Krithal, canton Basic,
n wood has slipped down a mountain side over
some medows, where it remains intact, the
trees all erect, as though they had grown
where they now stand.
Elm, the scene of the disastrous landslip on
Sunday, is lofty mountain village on the
highest point Of the pass between Glarus and
the valley Of the Vorder Rhein. Elm itself is
in the canton Of Glarus, but the valley of the
Vorder Rhein is ia that of Grisons, or (irau-
bunden, by the Semf Thai From Elm sew
eral glacier expeditions are made (Vorab.
Hausstock, Sardona Pass, &c.), under the
guidance of Henry Elmer, his brother Peter,
and other expert guides of the district, who
are well-known TO members of the English
Anime Club. The mountains called Freiberge
rise above the town to the height of nearly
Il, 1000 feet, the heighest peak being the
Karpfstock, 9,ls0 feet. Tile village is i'm
portant enough to have at least two inns.
That best known to climbers is a comfortable
little house kept by the Emers, who have
long settled in the village from which their
family is named. Zentner is the landlord of
the other house. We have no information as
TO whether these inns are among the habita-
tions destroyed. The disaster is not by any
means of kind unexampled in Switzerland.
In a much more frequented part of the terri
tory of the Republic, many travellers have
seen the ruins of Goldau, near the Lake of
Luceme. The original Goldau was destroyed
by the fall of the Rossberg in $685. An excel
lent account of the disaster Is given in
Murray" and no one can approach the viii
lage now known by the name of Goldau with
ont seeing traces Of the catastrophe which
buried the earlier and much larger village of
the name. The valley is strewn for a con-
siderable distance with the stones and rubbish
which mark the landslip, while the mountain
which caused the calamity is still scored
from top to bottom, and nothing grows upon
its barren surface. The Rossberc Of Ruffberg
is a mountain $3.50 feet high. The upper
mart Of il consists of conglomerate formed Of
rounded masses Of other rocks cemented to-
gether and called by the Germans A,,gelfRe or
Nailrock. from the knobs and protuberances
which its surface presents. From the nature
of the structure this kind of rock is very liable
TO become cracked. and if rainwater or springs
nenetrate the assures they will not fail to dis
solve or moisten the beds Of clay which sepa-
rate the NggeJiae from the strata below it,
and cause large portions to detach themselves
from the mass The strata of the Rossberg
are tilted up from the side Of the Lake Zug
and slope down towards Goldau The slant
ing direction of the seams which part the
strata is well seen on the road from Art
Within the period Of human record, deStruc-
five landslips had repeatedly fallen from the
Rossberg, and great part of tho piles Of
Garth. rock, and stones which deform the face
of the valley, derive their origin from such
catastrophes Of ancient date; but the most
4 ,structiye Of all appears TO have been the
- The summer OF SOC had been very wet.
aud on the LIST and 2nd of September, the rain
hal been incessanG. Towards ? o'clock in
,ha afternoon, tho face Of the mountain began
10 move. and a mass estimated to be league
lonr 600 feet broad, and 100 feet thick,
sI;rned down into the valley below, over
,vhelminc the villages of Goldau, Bussingen.
and Rothen and part of Loverz; the rich
nasturages in the valley, and IN the slope of
me mountain, entirely overwhelmed BY il and
ruined. were estimated TO be worth gi5O. coo
three houses and more than 200 sables and
ohale,s were buried under the debrh of rocks,
which Of themselves form hills several hun
dred feet high. More than $50 human beings
nerished and whole herds of cattle wert swept
away. Five minutes suficed to complete the
work of destruction. The inhabitants o. the
neighboring towns and villages were irst
reused by long and grating sounds like thu
-. -. LID tn,,.,rlls lin amt from whic.