Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-11-12
A JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE.
terrible bursting of Natures Gigantic Sub
terranean boiler.


Around Candai all was calm and
peaceful VIII the day dawned on June Is.
Columns of white steam floated dream
lily In the c'ol mountain air, ms the ia-
valids repaired to their early bath, ard
ell around was beautiful on that bright
summer morning when, at 7:30. there oc-
CURED an e rthquake shock 30 violent as
to leave no om for doubt that some mis-
chief was brr wing. Fifteen minutes later
this was followed by second and vt
more severe shock. Another brief inter
val of about ten minutes and the earth
began to heave like tossing sea, rising
and sinking 20 that houses collapsed, To-
tally wrt ck' !, and people We're violently /
thrown down and became actually sick, |
as IL at sea. As standing was impossi- |
bile, they tri 4 To crawl ON all-fours TO !
whatever $ ggested shelter, but they
soon realized that all places were alike
unsafe.
The earthquake was Immediately fol-
lowed by an appalling and unearti!y
sound as of the roar of n thousand thul-
der claps, blending with the shrek Of
all the steam whistles and roaring steam
boilers of earth, and ere the terrified and
deafened human beings could recall their
bcwildered senses they beheld the whole
mighty cone of Sho- Bandaisan blown
bodily into the air, where it overspread
the whole lcavens with "a vast, dense
pail OF ashes and mud spray, blotting
out the light Of day and turning all to
thick darkness. Ere these had time TO
fall back 10 the earth there poured forth
dark clouds of vapor and such sitting
gases as vel nigh choked all living crea-
tures. The leaping tongues of Internal
flame, Grim on and purple, seemed to
flash right u 10 the heavens. and aftrr
appalling earth throcs were succeeded
by showers I red hot ashes, sulphur and
boiling wat r, accompanied by fearful
subterranean roaring and rumblng. and
by a rushing whirlwind of hurricane
force, uprooting great trees and hurling
them afar.
Another moment and there poured
forth floods { boiling liquid mud, which
swept down the mountain side with such
velocity that within n period variously
estimated at from ten To fifteen minutes
the scalding torrent was rushing past
the village of Nagasake, on the brink Of
the Nagase river, having travelled ten
miles from the crater more rapidly than
any express train. Probably much
this fluid mud was hurled direct through
the air, as was certainly the case with t,,o
many hundreds Of millions Of tons which
were blown up at the first explosion.
Evidently the earthquake must have re
some subterranean iissurc, through which
great volume Of waters suddenly poured
into the Internal fires. generating a stu
+. pendous volume of steam, which must
have continued To increase and SO become
more and more compressed as volcanc C
fires and suhterranean waters continued
their awful struggle, converting the
{ foundations OF the mountain into eve p
pean boiler, which finally exploded, with
the result, million times magniiied, of
the most awful boiler explosion ever
= known abova ground.
The COMMISSIONS of the mountain rent
great chasm from which uprose Jets Of
flame ashes md boiling water, and mar =
of the wretc',ed fugitives were caughtr )
: by these aw al fountains aud buried 4
high with rriiic force, to fall back t.
earth all bla"kened and boiled. Some #
these poor carpses were found caught On
the boughs trees scaldcd and mangl- 1
beyond recc milton. Others were ba.
= tered and crushed by the red hot ston g
and rocks wiich had been hurled fr n
. the crater to the clouds, and fell back to
earth with vful violepe.
: The eruption continued for about two
hours. BY 10 a. IN. its violence was
spent. thoug, for hours afterwards the
ground trer bled and quiyered, as well
il might aft SO appalling tit of pas-
sion. But in those two hours the whole
face Of thirty square miles of country In
|, , the form OF vast fan extending 10 a
radius five lies from the central crats ,
! was totally hanged. OF the mounta u
: cone thus .ddenly transformed into a
steam boiler there remains now only tire
back; rag d. overhanging precipice,
rising to "a leer height, variously est :
mated at 900 or 1000 feet above bot
: tomless crat of about mile in diane
ter Thence. with ceaseless roar. rise
dense clouds of suffocating, sulphurous
steam. whc' sometimes clear off suiR-
! ciently To al ,ow adventurous climbers a
momentary glimpse of the seething m"l
below. The . who have assembled that
remnant of the mountain from the sic -
behind it, ar SO have reached the bril- <
Of that preci ice. have beheld such a p r.
ture of des alton as seems scarcely 20
, belong TO thu earth.
All that. vas Little Bandai now LIS
outspreai in = thick layer Of horrid mud,
: varying in depth from 10 to 100 feet
deep enough To efface every accustomed
feature In the whole area-and itself par-
tally coated with layers of pale gray
+, ashes and black stones and rocks, which
seem to haze been elected To such a
height as no; To have fallen to earth un-
til the awfu! mud wave had poured it
self cat Ii Is now described as wild
chaos of ear.h, rock and mud, in some
|, place resembling the concrete blocks of
,, some cyclorcan brcakwater, in others
rather csting raging sea whose gi-
gantic waves have suddenly been con-
gealed. or all that made the scene ~
beautiful AMI pleasant not a vestige re-
, ; mains-not blade Of grass where lately
the mountain was clothed with springy
turf, not a ~reen Leaf, not a sign of life
nothing / I absolute desolation, with
n horrid sm, rising from stagnant sui
phur pools. Gnrnhill Magazine.
Q stanIe,'s Two Visits to Cairo.
. Stanleys sit 10 Cairo recalls the fact
~ /. 4 "a. Il. Al