The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-09-10
The Hanging Terror of Ice.
rrom the springaeld RepublIcan.

Blanc, and the smaller villages of Favet
and Blonnay, in the valley of the River
Arve, have suffered so terribly, turns out
to be one of the most remarkable in that
long series of avalanches that make the
human history of the Al ps so thrilling and
so painful 1t seems, by the careful and
scientific study which Professor F. A.
Forel, of Morges, has made, that high
glacier on the Tetes-ROusses, so called, at
an altitude of more than 10000 feet, let
fall glacial mass of more than 30, 0OO,-
600 cubic feet down height of at least
5000 feet; that this enormous mass of ice
and rock disengaged so much heat by Its
fall as to melt as we'll as pulverize the
acknowledgment, which was further melt
ed by contact with the warm surfaces and
substances it encountered in its way, was
thus converted into viscous mud, and, IN
that form. rushed suddenly down on the
unlucky villages The result was shock
ing. Professor Forel thus describes it
The molten mass was fluid enough to
slip down slope of 10 feet in 100; it was
dense enough to overthrow everything in
its passage. | estimate that it spent about
half an hour, perhaps little more, In
reaching the Arve, from the point Of its
fall. In Il few minutes everything had
gone by, and there remained only coating
of mud. covering all the ruins with its in
fected and viscous slime. In this enor-
nous fall from so great height, extending
horizontally more than eight miles, | find
the most gigantic example know of
glacial avalanche Avalanches of 1000 feet
fall, extending four and a half miles, have
been known, but all others are of much
smaller dimensions. The condition Of the
muddy channel in which the substance ran
shows that it was viscous and not fluid
mass; for, alongside of heaps of mud, which
| saw drying slowly, flowers were to be
seen only from two to four inches off and
ears of wheat that had not been wet nor
soiled by the mud. Again, in the houses
flooded but not destroyed-in house at
Blonnay, for instance, used for school,
the floor was covered with mud, but few
| inches higher up the scholars desks were
not soiled by dirty water, the walls were
dry, etc. Now, dirty water, in order to
deposit layer of mud Il inches thick,
must have been six or eight feet deep; but
here the sheet of water did not much rise
above the mud, as | saw it, three days
after it had been deposited.
What adds to the singularity of this
disaster is that no such avalanche has been
known to occur in that region, nor was this
huge and distant glacier at all dreaded by
those who lived near it. Prof FOrel says
Neither at st. Gervais nor at BlOnnay did
any one know of any such calamity before;
but it is likely that this glacier did detach
few avalanches each year, only being
small, they did not reach the villages
In the three villages more than 100 per-
sons seem to have been destroyed The
( houses that remain are mostly uninhabi-
/ able. Where the soil has not been swept
away the crops are choked up with a thick
| LAYER of mud The small animals have
persisted. Happy are the families, says
one writer, that have been annihilated
with all that they possess. The question
is now raised whether the disaster could
not have been prevented. Prof Forel
says
We know that the glaciers of the Mont
Blanc group are at present all increasing
and | find in this event mOurnful illustra-
ton of report addressed by me last spring
to the Government of the Canton Falais
in which | set forth that all the catastro-
Plies of the high Alp are due to an ad-
vance of some glacier. also called upon
the authorities of that Canton to have
their glaciers inspected, since all Of them
were beginning to grow and move forward,
The Cantonal Council attended to the re-
quest, and gave the matter in charge to the
Inspector of Forests. | did not expect,
however "a confirmation so speedy of my
fears But could this calamity have been
foreseen, and would it have been possible
for an intelligent supervisor to have given
notice to those in danger? In the present
case | think not; under other conditions it
, would be possible. But here no one, as
l think, could have suspected IA danger so
; remote and yet SO awful
} 1t seems that the particular glacier re-
t sponsibie for this accident is not that of
Blonnay, nearest to st. Gervais, but a
/ more formidable one higher up, beyond the
/, little village of Houches, the first in the
vale of Chamouni, not far from which, but
s still higher up, under the rocky peaks Of
r the Tetcs- Rousses, in the best region foI
o the channels hunter, was this hanging ter
). ror known chiefly to these hunters, which
: suddenly slipped from its perch, slid down
p a declivity of 20 feet in the hundred, pass
n ed to the right of the glacier of Blonnay
h and then, following ravine of the noun
h tain torrents, fell upon the Inflated villages
r. which became its prey, Few could hav,
e guessed that such would have been it
l. course. even had they known its situation
If or its condition.
$ 1t should be added that the villages dc
g stroyed, although in French territory, ar
but few miles from the border of tn
Swiss canton of Valais, which lies on tn
headwatePs of the Rbone and the stones n