The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-06-16
TAPPING A VOLCANO.
The Results That Followed Well.
Digging in Texas.
Joseph MuIhatton Makes Another Won
derful Discovery Throwing Red Balls
of Fire from the Bowels
OF the Earth.

~
The citizens OF our quiet little city are
all thrown into a great state OF wonder
ment, and the question IL every ones
mouth is, What is it:'' To give a proper
description TO the reade of the Herald
your correspondent is not able, and as for
technical terms, more scientific pen than
mine will have TO take up the work to
crafty a scientific world and give the
causes which lead to this wonderful vomit
from mother earth. 1t viii have to suffice
for me, therefore, to give an account of
that which has led to the discovery of
this wonderful furnace that Is now throw
ing out from the bowels Of the earth far
into the heavens, red balls of fire.
About two months ago our enterprising
townsman, A. e. Epplin, undertook to
bore for water in the rear of his place of
business. He bored down four-inch hole
some sixty feet, and finding good indica-
tions of water, he concluded he would sink
q well of regulation size. He accordingly
engaged men and set them at work, and
told them to prosecute the work down
ward until they found plenty of water,
even should they have to invade the King
dom of China. Accordingly, each
day found the men at work, with
out any interruption until last Thurs
day, when the late rains interfered
with them. This mo ming the work was
again resumed. AS the work progressed
nothing of a very peculiar nature was OBJ
served in the different stratas of clay, sand
and rock that were passed through. At a
depth of about five feet the workmen
struck strata of limestone which, by
blasting, they got through in thirty six
feet. At this depth (fOrty feet) they struck
a rather curious formation, which par
takes of the nature of a concrete, rather
of conglomeration of pebbles, shells and
clay, cemented together by some internal
furnace. This was got through after
blasting some twenty feet. The next
formation reached, and the one in which
the men were working at the time of the
bursting of the crater, is a kind of a soap
stone of a beautiful pink color. The stone
is soft and easily cut, but soon as ex-
posed to the air and sun it becomes quite
ha and partalzes of about the substance
of marble, and is capable of a fine glossy
polish. A ledge of five feet of this forma
ton was gone through when the last
blast was made. Your correspondent
thinks if it did not bring the well-borers to
China, it brought them close in the neigh
borhood of Limbus.
After the last blast was touched off,
which was about 5:30 O'Clock this evening,
a loud, roaring noise followed the echo of
the blast, which was heard for miles. So
great, indeed. was this that vibration after
vibration followed, that houses in the vi
entity of the well shook. and everythin
seemed to shake, earthquake-like; chickens
that had gone to rOOst on adjoining trees
left their rOosts; housewives who were pre-
pairing the evening meal ran to the doors:
men in their workshops took to the street;
stores were deserted; dogs barked; horses
dilated their uostrils and seemed restless;
everything endowed with reason seemed
terrified aSL awe-stricken. The roaring
sound abates not in the least. People are
afraid to go within a block of the place.
And now oh, horrors! from the mouth of
this well great red balls of some sort of sub
stance are thrown far up into the heavens
until lost sight of. What becomes of
them no one can tell, as none have
yet been found or seen to fall.
These balls, at regular intervals of ten
minutes, illuminate the heavens for miles
around. The roaring from the well only
stops as the balls are emitted. The balls
when passing through the air, look like
sky-rockets, only that they do not burst,
but pass right ON out OF sight. 1t is hard
to estimate their size, but I should Judge
they are as large as twenty pound cannon
balls.
What scientific men we have here are at
a loss to account for this wonderful fur
mace, which is located near Cisco. Drs.
Stout, Vance. Mancile, Fisher and Prof.
Mcconnell concur in the belief that a crater
has been tapped. If such is the case a vol
canic eruption has been avoided, perhaps,
and we have been saved dreadful calam-
ity by the boring of a well.
The town is grandly Illuminated; the
roaring still keeps on. The people are
frantic; some are crying, others are pray
ing The streets are crowded with country
people. Nearly every one asks the ques-
ton: "What is it?'' and your humble SER
want is waiting for developments.