The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-06-20
FLOOR OF THE PACIFIC.
ROUTE OF THE HAWAIIAN
CABLE.
Why the Line From Monterey Bay
to Honolulu is Considered the
Best

oil lane 900 miles WIut ONGI tue IloOI
of the Pacific Ocean between the coast
of California and the Hawaiian Islands
has been one of the most interesting
scientific tasks ever undertaken by our
Government Up to date nothing has
been allowed to be published respecting
the results obtained The purpose Of
the work was to determine the best
route for a submarine cable. Two
lines of soundings were run by the
United States Fish Commissions
steamer Albatross from Monterey bay
to Honolulu This path has been
decided as preferable to road con-
Meeting Point Conception, Cal, and
Hilo Bay, Hawaii, which was laid out
with soundings by the steamer Thetis,
u. S. n. The way selected will require
the smallest length of wire. 1t will
pass over an even bottom of soil favor
able for the protection and preservation
of the cable, avoiding submarine
mountains
The cable following the route chosen
will start from Salinas landing in Mon
terey Bay. At that point deep gully
leads out into the ocean, and through
it the wire will plunge to a depth Of
1000 feet within three miles from
shore At distance Of fifteen miles
from the coast it will reach a depth Of
a mile and a half From there the sea
bottom shelves very gradually until at
about 200 miles west of California the
floor of the Pacific IS reached with a
regular depth of little less than three
miles. From thence on the cable will
pass over a vast level plain SO smooth
and uninterrupted by irregularities of
contour that one could traverse it
comfortably in a carriage if the water
were taken away However, when
$40 miles out from Monterey Bay, a
huge mountain is found rising to a
hight of two miles and a half The
cable will avoid this elevation by run
ming to the southwark of it,
The presence Of this obstacle would
never have been discovered save by
soundings, mas much as water flows
over it half a mile deep. Such drowned
mountains occur in all the oceans, but
this one is particularly gigantic,
Doubtless it is of volcanic origin.
Beyond its western slope the sounding
line finds the floor of the sea again at
its normal depth of somewhat less than
three miles. At about 600 miles west
of the great submarine elevation de.
scribed the water begins to deepen
gradually until the bottom of the ocean
is nearly three miles and half beneath
the waves on its surface. Two hun
bred miles east of Honolulu another
hill is discovered the top of which is
only a mile and a half under water.
Beyond that it deepens very quickly to
three miles and over, and this great
depth is found up to within a short
distance of the Hawaiian Islands,
which are simply gigantic extinct vol
canoes uplifted precipltousy from the
bottom of the Pacific.
For the purpose of discovering
drowned mountains the soundings were
taken at alternate intervals of ten and
two miles, experience having proved
that such elevations are best revealed
by this method. incidentally, speci
mems of the bottom were brought W
and examined. The most common bot
tom deposits were of "glObigerinf
ooze." This is the material with which
the floor of the deep sea is chiefly
paved. Its consistency is that of thick
mud, and it is composed of fine de
trtus brought by rivers from the lane
into the ocean, mixed with the almos
microscopic shells of a kind of foramini
fera, to which the name globigerina ha
been given. These foraminifera ar,
little animals that live in counties
numbers near the surface of the ocean
from which, in dying, they descend il
a continuous and gentle rain to tn
bottom. It is of their shells that al
the chalk beds of the word are largel
formed. Different species Of them hav
various beautiful shapes, under tn
microscope, resembling ornamental
plates with perforated designs, younI
mushrooms, pineapples, soap-dishes
breakfast rolls, pretzels, fremen's hats
and all sorts of fantastic freaks of tn
glasSmakerS art.
Another sort of ooze brought to tn
surface by the sounding apparatus c
the Albatross and Thetls was mainl
composed of the shells Of animals Gale
"pteropods. These are single-shelle
mollusks and attain length Of as niue
as an inch. Yet another kind was a
ooze consisting chiefly of remains {
diatoms - almost microscopic plan
which have glass-like shells, The bodit
of all these creatures, falling continual
to the bottom, form sort of organ
slime, which was mistaken a few yea
ago by scientific dredgers for an e.
tremely low form of life-in fact, for S
much protoplasm. They called
"bathy bus" or depth life. But tn
deluSion was exploded by the discover
that the stuff was simply a primordin
pap spread out in a thin layer over II
entire ocean floor, SO that the livir
animals feeding there need only re
around to find all the substance the