Omaha daily bee., 1892-12-18
sPoUTs SIXTY FEET.
4 Curious salt water Phenomenon In Cal
iforuia.

One of the strangcst things to be seen at
Santa Cruz, Cal, these days is queer spout
ing rock, or rather tunnel and rocky nper
ture through which the sea water boils and
bubbles furiously, Hundreds of people have
been out to see it, says the San Francisco
Examiner The queer spouting rock was de
velopcd during the recent great storm
Every two on three minutes alternately, n
volume of water sixty feet high shoots into
the air To view it wholly from the surface
1t appears TO be gigantic gcysor compared
with which those of the Yellowstone park
are at times insignificant.
The water, which is thrown up in such n
great volume, is salt brine from the Pacific
ocean For a thousand years possibly, and
may be more, for nobody knows, the waves
of the ocean have been playing such an
earnest game of hidc-aud-go-scek with them
selves and the rocky shore that they have
worn great chasms and tunnels into the land.
1t is Il rocl-bound shore but the rock for
the most part is not very hard, 1t is mainly
silcious or micacious sandstone of light
yellow hue and if you walk over it while 1t
is wet YOU must be cautious for it is almost
as slippery as soapstOne In this curious
stone the waves have cut long avenues and
dug out caves far inland over which people
walk and never mistrust that if the top
should fall they would be precipitated into
the sea.
In some places the tops have already
fallen, or partly so, and one may peer over
the edge and look through queer circular
holes fifty feet down into the secthing blue
waters. The tunnels, open cuts and this
strange squirting rock are two miles south of
Santa Cruz not far from the lIsplanade and
Ill full view OF the Crecent bay, the mouth OF
the Salinas and San Lorenzo rivers ana the
white shaft erected to the memory of the
Franciscan friar Junipero Sierra. The azure
of the ocean, and faint blue of two wings of
the Cascades and the varied colors of the
sky, with the other surroundings, make the
place one of singular beauty.
"a AI 70 ctt.shn ..g1ttt tnn inf
out of what appeared to be a level stretch of
land, covered thickly with grass, which for
much OF the year was redolent of wild
flowers. Very fantastic the water appeared
| Day and night, at intervals of two and three
minutes. the column would shoot up, and as
| suddenly fall, only to appear again as before.
| Ihrongs went to see it and wonder at its
! fantastic colors. The wilder the storm the
loftier the column. 1t varied from forty to
sixty feet high according TO the force of the
| waves.
An examination of the grounds thercabouts
| revealed novel things. 1t was found that a
| long narrow groove or cut led into the shore.
| 1T was widest at the sea end, like II wedge,
and grew narrower as it reached into the
| land. 1t extended about eighty feet
Into this the waves thrashcd and ham
mered as they rolled in from towards the
mountains across the bay which border the
| Salinas river AS the waves crashed against
the end of the tunnel they kept wearing
| away the soft sandstone which composed it
| and portion of the roof, and there was Il
| rebound which was very powerful. Grad
| ually it ate away the roof.
! Suddenly during the storm it burst
through, making an aperture about two feet
square and looking much like hopper to a
| grain mill. 1t appears to have been at a
point where peculiar strain was put on a
portion of the caproclI, which cracked and
| fell When this occurred the water was par
| italy freed from the queer underground
| prison. and as the waves played back and
forth it sent the column skywards.
a loud sound accompanied it like the roar
of artillery. The bending of the 1.-the euca-
lyptus trees, the incoming of the many white
waves, the falling of the sheets of rain and
the fury of the tempest made up n scene in
eXpressibly grand. AS the waves died down
the lofty column of water ceased to appear,
but as they increased in power with tho
storm it again shot up into the air. Alto
gether it is a new attraction for this part oi
the beach