The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1891-05-16
OLDOCEAN'S DOWN-Y BED.
AWAY DOWN. TIVE MILES BE-
MEATH THE WAVES.
Almost as Level ms q House Floor. Execpi
for the small Volcanic Moie1fiils
from Three 60 Five Miles
High. or So.

the great seas OF TIE. world were un-
known and unexplored. and the abys-
ses beneath their water remained un-
fathomed. Such sounding as were at
tempted were made with ropes and
crude apparatus and away from the
shadows, mo bottom was the record
upon the charts. Il remained for the
ingenuity OF this generation Of man.
kind TO map out the deeps. with their
mountains, valleys and even streams.
The mighty caves of the ocean have
been 20 some extent surveyed and the
very creatures that dwell in them have
become newly familiar to science.
II the ocean water should be affected
by miraculously low tide. so az TO
sink by as much as the height OF the
Washington monument an astonish-
ing alteration would be made i'm the
shape OF the North American CONT
nent the line OF the Atlantics breakers
receding SO far that New York city
would find itself more than 100 miles
from the sea, as would Boston likewise.
and Savannah, Ga. IL would be dis
covered that the present shore OF the
Atlantic Is not the edge OF the CONT
nent at all, but that this edge is away
out 10 the eastward, so that IL il form
cd the coast this country would be
enough bigger TO make room for four
or five new states. On the Pacific side
II is quite otherwise. There the con
tinents edge is marked pretty closely
by the shore line, and SO abrupt ard
precipitous is IL that enormous depths
are found close TO land along the coast.
great submarine valleys lying along
the very margin Of terra firma.
In starting TO take walk over the
Moor OF the ocean perhaps il would be
a. much fun as any other plan TO set
oht from san Francisco for view OF
the Pacifc's bed. For the first twenty
nine miles of the journey westward
you will proceed over level plateau
formed OF detritus, which the river
water has east ont through the Golden
Gate for a thousand centuries. The
depth Of the sea for that distance is
only about POO feet. but at the end OF
IL the bottom drops suddenly 20 two
and a half miles. TO get 10 the foot
OF this tremendous hill is likely to be
difficult inasmuch as you must climb
from a greater relative altitude and by
a much sleeper incline than that by
which the traveller passes from the
summit OF the Sierra Nevada range
10 the valley OF California below ut
Sacramento. As you go down you win
experience a cold that becomes steadily
more intense, and the pressure OF water
from above. which makes the cold.
grasps you with such mighty grip
that you would be crushed TO jelly in
It's fluid embrace were you not protect
cd by an armor OF intense resisting
power. Without suck AN equipment.
M well as store OF air and "A power
full lig {. ~ 're Il no use i'm your
attempting TO explore the oceans
abysses.
At the foot Of the great declivity you
will find IA seemingly interminable
ming Of the floor OF the Pacific. which
's for the most part so wonderfully
| level that you could drive over IL with
the utmost comfort In light carriage.
were the water all taken away. AS
! you proceed westward. though the
slope Is SO smooth and gradual that
| you do not notice 1t. the bottom de-
seconds AT IA slight incline until. at 500
miles from the land. the surface of the
ocean is three miles and quarter
above your head. This is the normal
depth OF the vast Pacific plateau
You travel over IL for another 500
miles. when you come upon gigantic
mountain which towers up from the
ocean floor TO the height Of nearly
/ three miles. Its existence has only
been ascertaincd by soundings. because
half mile OF sea-water flows over IT,
Beyond the mountain is the plain
again. II Is daad level Of shelly
ooze, such as covers pretty much all
the oceans floor The mixture. some
times grecnish and sometimes brown
ish. il partly dctritus washed by rivers
from the land. and partly shells OF al
most microscopic animals called
''feraminiforu. which fall upon the
bottom in gentle and continuous
rain. All the chalk-bcds In the world
are formed of such shells. and the very
stones Of which the pyramids OF Egypt
are built are composed almost wholly
OF them. There Is certain mOnotony
about the aspect OF things in these
enormous depths. One may well be
oppressed. too. by the absolute
silence which rcigns. Frightful storms
may be raging on the surface, but
here. three miles and half beneath,
all Is as still as death and not even the
murmur OF "A wavelet reaches the ear.
Everywhere II you close your lantern.
Is the darkness OF absolute bLack--u
liquid darkness tina, makes itself felt
by pressure OF two tons 20 the square
inch The wnfor is 40 cold na 10 be