The morning call., 1892-09-30
VOLCANIC DISTURBANCES.
An Eruption Lasting Several Days
Occurs in Alaska.
A SEA CAPTAIN TELLS THE STORY.
S Fell on Vessels Hundreds Of Niles From Shore.
A Probable Change in the COuntry's
Topography.
Special to THE MORNING CALL.

SEATTLE, Sept. 29-An account was re-
ceiyed here tonight by the sealing schooner
Dennis of great eruption aud volcanic
disturbance in Western Alaska along the
shores of Bering Sea. The news comes by
letter from Captain Off NJ. Olsen of the
schooner Clara. now stationed near Sand
Point. Alaska. whose vessel, it appears. was
the nearest to the eruption of any yet heard
from. His graphic description of the won
derful phenomenon was as follows:
On August % an eruption took place.
The Clara was lying at anchor in Chignk
Bay, abreast of the canneries, when we OBJ
served a most beautiful cloud. for such we
took 1t to be. arise. 1t first made its ap-
pearance at o'clock in the morning. The
writer has seen many pretty sights in differ
ent parts of the world. but none SO strange
as this. Myself and crew and the people on
shore all wondered what the meaning could
be. As near as can l will try to describe the
phenomenon, for so guess 1t can be called.
The cloud rose straight in the air from
behind the mountains in the southwest un-
til it reached an angle of about 81 degrees,
when it lost its beautiful color, which was
blue as blue could be, and seemed to burst
lightly. It so remained until the afternoon,
barometer was all the time steady at 5000.
and | expected fearfnl gale from the
southwest, from which direction the wind
was blowing a nice breeze. Otherwise it
was beautiful day. About II o'clock the
earth was shaken heavily. and accompany
ing the shock were thunder and lightning,
which continued all that day and
all the evening.
I'm vub
ON deck what a sight | beheld, and
not alone did l see ii, but l felt it
also. My mouth and nose were filled
with some sort of stuff that fell heavy
and thick about US. The air itself was full
of sulphur smoke. which permeated even to
the cabin. The decks were covered with
fully two inches of black sand. Nothing
could be cooked on account of it. 1t pene-
trated everywhere. We could not change
the position of the schooner on account Of
the smoke and darkness, which prevented
our seeing about US.
Later in the forenoon, or rather at noon,
when the stuff was getting thinned and we
could see the cannery, We went on shore
and found everything one color. black. We
enjoyed hearty laugh over the dogs, who
could not make out why daylight would not
appear, and | was told that during the night
they we're fearfully frightened, and scratched
on the doors to be let into the houses. The
wild geese came in big h0cks from the
northeast, and made fearful noise. To
describe the vessels appearance l will not
try only to say that if she had been lying
inside Of an iron foundry for a period of
fifty years our white-painted Clara would
not have been looking any worse. We our
selves looked like chimney-s at
work. Lights were burning all day on
board and on shore.
The schooner Nellie of Sand Point coming
from Vossnessensky, reported that the
storekeeper, \. Twain, had seen rocks on
fire thrown in the air Oh the day of the
eruption at an angle of twenty degrees in
tile direction OF And0ver Portage Bay
which seemed 10 be mass Of fire and
flames.
The Alaska Commercial Company's
steamer St. Paul had the same shower of
sand 250 miles off shore that day. 1t
must have been between Port Moller In
Bering Sea and the Chignik canneries.
On Monday afternoon when we went out
hunting wild geese some stuff different from
what fell on Us the night before came down
from the direction OF the mountain Known
as Black Peak. between Chignik aud
Oonangashk. 1t was also quite different
llOlH NHdt TIC uiSHt pclOIts II
appeared more like burned paper and was
closely observed on the white bread we had
for lunch.
The following day. Tuesday, another
light shower fell during the whole after
noon, but it was nothing 10 speak of COM
pared TO what had been.
Chignik Bay itself had a muddy appear
ance, and all the creeks looked more like
outlets of a coffee boiler than like streams
of water. All the high grass was knocked
down by the heavy sand. and it will take
some time for the glaciers 10 get back their
natural color.
Captain Olsen also sent down bag full
of the sand that had fallen on the Clara
during the disturbance, in order to have 1t
examined and discover its ingredients.