Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-10-01
SMOKE FROM CHIMNEY ROCK.
People Who think there is Volcano in I'll
Blue iRdge.


Blue Ridge.
Some excitement was created Ill west
ern Maryland the past week, writes Bal
timOre correspondent of The Philadel-
phir Times, by reports that since the
earthquake of Aug. 81, Volumes of smoke
have been seen issuing from the crevices
in Chimney rock, near Mechanicstown,
Md, on the Blue Ridge range.
One paper in Baltimore went so far as
to state that a Maryland volcano had
been discovered, which increased the
alarm, particularly in the towns that dot
the sides of the Blue Ridge in Maryland
and the beautiful Cumberland valley.
Newspaper CORES pOndents made trip
to chimney rock and were aided in their
investigation by John d. Miller, the hotel
keeper of Mechanicstown, and who has
lived on the mountain within gunshot of
the mysterious Chimney rock all his life.
Mr.. Miller declared that while there had
not been any particular disturbance no
ticed further that the general vibrations
felt along the Blue Ridge at the time Of
the Charleston earthquake, still there had
been within the past two years phenomena
in the vicinity of Chimney rock which
could not be understood, and had alarm
ed some of the mountaineers to such an
extent that they moved away.
The summit of Chimney rock is very
difficult TO reach. 1t is one of the steep
est and widest of the Blue ridge chain.
The summit is twelve hundred feet above
Mechanicstown, and if Chimney rock
should ever turn into a Vesuyius that
would be. the last of the charming vii
lage III which so many Baltimoreans now
find their summer home. At the height
of eleven hundred feet terrace is reach
ed. After proceeding about fifty yards
along the plateau the progress of Ithe
! tourist is blocked by q wall of bare
| limestone known as table rock. This
wall arises from the plateau fully 220
/ feet on each side like the ramparts of a
! great fortress. II Is here that are to be
/ seen the strange freaks of nature which
/ give rise to the theory that down in that
mountain are vast internal furnaces
/ straining to give vent to their pent-up
1 fires. BY perilous climbing the top of
/ the Chimney rock is reached. There are
| many curious assures in the rock. These
are of an unknown depth. From these
/ assures columns of smoke have been seen
/ to rise from time to time within the last
/ two wears. Landlord Miller and many
/ others have seen this smoke, and it was
/ plainly defnable from the intense, blue
/ smoky haze that always covers the Blue
/ Ridge peaks. It was a dense black smoke
/ forming q strong contrast to the blue
] haze
! Mr.. Miller says that when he first motto
| ed the smoke coming out of the mountain
/ two years ago, il seemed to start up like a
/ jet of high-pressure steam as thick as the
/ trunk of big tree and with crown like
| the spreading foliage of pine tree. The
I newspaper investigators made efforts 70
gauge the depth of the issures, but with
out success. Many of them were
/ partly filed in with timber and
/ huge stones. which had been cast
down by inqui.itiye visitor, but wherever
the view was unobstructed il was easy 70
/ see that they extended far below the visi-
bic base of the table rock itself and pro
/ badly hundreds OF feet into the depths Of
| the mountain. There had evidently been
considerable disturbance of rock within a
recent period In some places masses
/ weighing hundreds of tons hod split away
and sunk vertically, as If TO fill mighty
chasm existing beneath. The sinking
varied from twelve to forty or fifty feet
| and the growth of young brushood IN the
! creyices seemed TO indicate that the
changes had been effected within the last
| three or four years In a few spots light
| penetrated the assures in lateral direc-
ton fifty or eighty feet below, and signs
of burning or blackening on the walls
we're distinctly noticeable. Volcano OF