The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1893-03-18
IT sPoUTs SIXTY FEET.
A CURIOUS PHENOMENON OF
MATURE.
Geyser OF Salt Sea Brine. Cutting Its Way
Through Racks During the storm
Strange Freaks OF Nep-
tune Under the Beach.

One Of the .strangest things to be
seen at Santa Cruz these days is a
queer spouting rock, or rather tun-
mel and rocky aperture, through
which the sea water boils and bub-
bles furiously. Hundreds of people
have been out 10 see it. The queer
spouting rock was developed during
the recent great storm. Every two
or three minutes, alternately, a vol
ume OF water sixty feet high shoots
into the air. To view it wholly from
the surface 1t appears to be a gigan-
tic geyser, compared with which
those of the Yellowstone Park are at
times insignificant, says the San
Francisco Examiner.
The water, which Us thrown up in
such great volume, is salt brine
from the Pacific ocean. For a thou
sand years possibly, and may be more,
for nobody knows, the waves of the
ocean have been playing such an
earnest game of hide-and-go-seek with
themselves and the rocky shore that
they have worn great chasms and
tunnels into the land.
1t is rock-bound shore, but the
rock for the most part is not very
hard. 1t is mainly an ilicious or
micaeious sandstone OF light yellow
hue, and If you walk over it while it
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 al
ready fallen, or partly so, and one
may peer over the edge and look
through queer circular holes so feet
down into the blue seething waters.
The tunnels, open cuts and this
strange squirting rock are two miles
south of Santa Cruz, not far from the
and in full view of the
crescent bay, the mouths of the Sa-
linas and San Lorenzo rivers and the
white shaft erected to the memory of
the Franciscan friar, Junipero Seara.
The azure of the ocean, the faint blue
of the two wings of the Cascades and
the varied colors of the sky, with the
other surroundings, make the place
one of singular beauty.
1t was odd to see such column ex-
out Of what appeared to be
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. Throngs
went to see it and wondered at it's
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
thereapouts revealed novel things.
1t was found that long, narrow
groove or cut led into the shore. 1t
was widest at the sea end, like a
wedge, and grew narrower as it
reached into the land. 1t extended
about eighty feet.
Into this the waves thrashed and
as they rolled in from to-
wards 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 above. At
length the waves extended far beyond
the weak portion OF the roof, and
there was a rebound which was very
powerful. Gradually it ate away the
roof.
Suddenly during the storm it burst
through, making an aperture about
two feet square and looking much like
a hopper to grain mill. 1t appears
to have been at point where a
peculiar strain was put on a portion
of the caprock, which cracked and
fell. When this occurred the water
was partially freed from the queer
underground prison, and as the waves
played back and forth it sent the col
umn skywards.
A loud sound accompanied it like
the roar of artillery. The bending Of
the lythe eucalyptus trees, the incom-
ing of the many white waves, the
falling of the sheets of rain and the
fury Of the tempest made up scene
inexpressibly grand. AS the waves
died down the lofty column OF water
ceased to appear, but as they in
creased in power with the storm it
again shotup into the air.