Wichita eagle., 1890-01-02

Of ths wdlsd.and Kl7sno aasquz1s S6iadard
Of comraxism.
While walking alag city strest tan
story buRAiAe seems - lsnmsup 10 N i'm
pressive heilhA a church 4hD nppsas3 "a
pisres tlassky, snd the Ei1s1 towsr, WITH II
Thousand fest Of height, Is nerf the world1
wondxx
Yet the White snouufains, . comparatively
magnificent range, are nxfimes as high q
the Eif5el tower, and It 1oula t6ate fNsaty-
nine such towers, one on top OF the othse. to
attain the altituds Of Mount Everest, in tha
Himalsyas.
The entire earth is thus roughened, wher-
ever the ground pDojects from the SEA, with
the exception Of few deserts, and oven then
they do not He perfectly fat. vdsho1t eEnep-
ton, having q tilt Ike tie root At q house.
And then, a II nature intsndsd to equal
Ire matters, the watery portions Of the earth
are depressed, only much more 50. That il
10 say, for every cutdc gard raised above the
earths surface there are at least three cubic
yards exoavated
All over the world rivers, big and little,
are continually sccoping out channels and
lakes from great depFessions, and the mighty
oceans are full Of valleys and abysses in
which mountain ranges could b buried
The Atlantic ocean svsraeesa depth Of II, :
900 feet, quite dssp enough 70 bury the White
mountains, the Blue Ridge and nearly all tho
Rocky mountain range.
About 100 miles east ct New York the At
lantic is 600 feet deep, and then It deepens so
rapidly that 800 miles from ths shore it takes
line 16,0e0 feet long to touch bottom.
On St. Thomas, In the Wese Indies, the bed
Of the ocean lies q, 600 fsst below the surface,
and that depression would certainly hold,
without any trouble, the highest mountain in
the United States, with about 5000 feet to
spare.
But even these depths, stupendous as they
are, cannot compare with the awful abysses
of the Pacific. This great ocean, covering an
area Of n, e0o, 600 square miles, does not shoal
so rapidly as the Atlantic, but when it gets
deep it stays Deep
Along the American coast for perhaps 200
miles cut the depth ranges from nothing to
5000 feet. Outside Of this is strip wherein
the depth reaches u, 600 feet.
The water surrounding the Aleutian islands
Is comparatively shoilow, but with that ex-
ception tho Eastern Pacific averages from
Il, 900 to 5000 feet in depth.
The western half Of tho Pacific ocean is .
complete contrast to the eastern. Archi-
peiagoes and scattered Islands are exceeding
Is In the western half that the greatest depths
occur.
To the east of the Kurile islands and Japan
there lies crescent shaped piece Of water,
which well merits the name Of an abyss. II
extends from 80 degs north latitude to 20
degs. north latitude, or for nearly {, 900 miles,
and the average depth Of this area IS nearly
"a 900 feet.
That is deep enough in all conscience, hut
the Pacific has another abyss still deeper
Lying like ditch across the entrance to the
Sea of Okhotsh Is an abyss, where the
United States ship Tuscarora found a depth
of 1855 fathons, or q, $50 feet, hole pretty
nearly deep enough for Mt. Everest.
As said at the beginning Of this article, we
cannot realize what these depths look like.
There is something awful in the idea of de-
preston five miles deep, and our Imagination
is not equal to the task.
Mountains are within our ideas, and their
imposing heights and pinnacles exercise no
terrors for US; but any opening into the
earth, unless perfectly familiar or very shall
low, makes US instinctively recoil.
So it is quite as well for our peace Of mind
that we only know the depths Of the ocean
by the record Of soundings
It may be interesting to know how these
depths are measured There are several deep
sea sounding machines, some very ingenious
and complicated, depending on electrical and
mechanical contrivsnees for measurements,
but the general methods are the same
Ordinary soundings, that is, where the
depth does not exceed 100 fathoms, are made
by throwing The lead overboard, attached to
a cord, and fairly accurate measurement
may be made while tho ship is in motion
But for deep sea soundings this method
would be too crude The ship must be brought
to standstill as nearly as practicable by
throwing the sails aback, and the line dropped
as perpendicularly as possible.
The line is made Of fine steel wire and the
lead is large iron ball, perhaps 100 pounds
in weight Through the center Of the ball is
run an iron cylinder, and when the ball
touches bottom il is disconnected and left
there, while the cylinder is drawn to the sur
face.
The bottom Of the cylinder is cup shaped
and filed with tallow, SO that particles of the
oceans bed will adhere to the tallow, and
thus give some idea of its formation.
The depth is measured either on the reel or
by clockwork, and sometimes by an electrical
indicator, and due allowance is made for
drift and slack.
Then, by series of repeated measurements,
an average depth is calculated which cannot
differ very much from the true depth