Fergus County argus., 1892-04-14
VANISHING OF A CONTINENT.
There Was Once A Real Atlantis About
Which the biologists Tell Stories.

"Atlantis-the suppositious cont
nent in the midst of the Atlantic
ocean, OF which so many remarkable
stories are told-ls undoubtedly a
myth, but it is entirely certain that
there was once a real Atlantis said
Prof. Magee, OF the geological survey,
to writer for the Washington Star.
during that ancient epoch which we
call the paleozoic, nobody knows how
many millions of years ago, there was
a great and lofty continent in the
middle OF what we now know as the
North Atlantic ocean. Ii was about
a thousand miles long from north to
south, and nobody knows how wide
1t was. All that we can tell is that
its mountains were very high, and
that on its western slope it had long
and large rivers. 1t was a mighty
land mass, and we have reason for be-
ing sure that it endured for ages be-
lore, at the close of the paleozoic, it
had sunk to the sea. Subsequently,
through further sinking, it became a
part OF what is now the level plain OF
the Atlantic.
"How do we know all this, you ask?
BY the traces OF its former existence
which this geological Atlantis has left
behind in the shape OF sediments de-
posted by it's rivers. Where are these
sediments found? Well, the Appala-
chan mountains are entirely COM
posed OF them. In that distant age
Of which We are speaking the eastern
part OF the United States had not yet
been lifted up above the ocean. When
this portion of the continent did
emerge from the sea the sediments ]
have spoken OF came up with it, FORM
ing the Appalachian range among
other features of what is now the land.
We know that the rivers OF the van
ished continent must have been long
and large, because no small streams
could have transported such sediment.
"You may well imagine how inter-
esting it must be to the geologist to
explore, hammer in hand, the Appa-
lachian hills for fossil remains OF lie
which existed upon this ancient and
mysterious land mass so many thous-
ands of centuries ago. OF the climate
of the geological Atlantis this much
may be said: 1t was very warm and
moist, the air probably so laden with
carbonic acid gas that mammals, had
there been any, could hardly have
breathed with comfort. Malaria and
other miasmatic diseases were afioat
in the atmosphere. Conditions were
more unfavorable for human life than
they are now in that dreadful region
known az the Delta of the Ganges,
where Europeans are unable to sur
vive.
'The land of the vanished CONT
nent was covered with rank and gi-
gantic growths, notably with huge
pines and giant mosses- the coal
plants destined to furnish fuel even
tually to mankind. These plants
grew more luxuriantly near the sea.
1t was great time for insects especi-
ally cockroaches. The paleozoic, you
will remember, is called the age oi
cockroaches because of the enormous
numbers OF them found in fossil shape
in the strata laid down during that
epoch. Ages were yet to pass by he.
fore mammals could appear upon the
scene. In the seas around about the
continent gigantic sharks and ar
incurred fishes disportsd themselves
together with marine reptiles, big and
small. The time which has elapsed
since then is so vast that science does
not attempt to make any estimate re-
specting its duration. So many mil
millions Of years have passed since
the real Atlantis sank out of sight be
meath the ocean that the period is an
eternity compared with the brief span
OF a single human life"