Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1894-11-30
ITS PEAK is SHAKY
The Top Of Mount Rainier Has
Changed Its Position.
SMOKE HANGS AROUND THE TOP
Seattle People Awe Stricken at WHAT
They Imagined for Time to
BE an Eruption.

Seattle, Wash, Nov. 21.-Great excite |
ment has been caused throughout the
Puget sound country by what is looked
upon as an eruption of Mount Tacoma
or Rainier, 4,444 feet high and one of
the Hottest peaks in the United States
The mountain has lately been strangely
transformed. The crest of the great
monarch of the Cascades has changed
the cone having fallen in and steam
can be seen rising from the crater.
There is no eruption, it is believed by
those competent to judge, but great
masses of rock seem to have fallen.
The snow capped cone has disappeared
and a sharp pointed peak has risen in
its place to the east of the crater. The
changed appearance of the mountain
is evident from the streets of Seattle
80 miles distant, and thousands of peo-
pie have watched the great peak all
the afternoon. But few people have
ever assembled the mountain and at
this season ascension is an absolute
impossibility, so there is no way of
making a thorough investigation of the
phenomenon.
the sky and the air being remarkably
clear. clouds of black smoke We're curl
ing from the southwestern part of the
peak where the crater is located, com
ing at intervals of Is seconds. The
domc-like top had disappeared and had
been replaced by fiat top with large
crevasse extending down the side,
while in the center of its summit a new
peak had appeared on the northern
side. The snow was all gone from the
summit as though melted off, and fall
ing masses of rock, stripped of their
white covering, could be plainly dis
cerned.
The mountain is a cone shaped peak
and stands slightly to the west of the
main Cascade range, 65 miles southeast
of Seattle. 1t rises fully 1000 feet above
the range. 1t has three craters of
which the principal and most perfect is
the scene of the present volcanic dis
| turbances. This crater is half mile
across, with walls of rock so feet high
and thousands of jets of hot air and
| steam issue from this rim. The inside
Of the crater is filled with snow and ice,
in which the smouldering volcano and
caves, one of which has been penetrated
| by explorers to the depth of 100 feet,
while they have used the steam jets for
| cooking.
| 1t is supposed that the walls of the
crater, having been gradually weak
ened at the base, have fallen, leaving
| the peak composed of rock on which
the snowy cone named Columbia crest
had formed and that the internal fires
| thus free have burst forth in new vigor
The eruption became hidden by cloud
| soon after a. M
TACOMA is SKEPTICAL.
Tacoma, Nov. 21.-The story of Noun
Tacoma or Rainiers changed appear
ance is regarded here as having little
| foundation, though Tacoma looks a
the mountain from different point of
| view than Seattle. No steam or fires
have been observed from here, but the
side nearest the city, which is COW
cred with the largest glacier in the
| world. seems to be covered with snow
to a greater depth than usual. Most
! always in the summer time on a cleai
| day some steam can be seen arising
| from the mountains crater and it il
| thought here that this phenomenon has
| given rise to the story. Persons have
slept in the crater for few hours al
a time, but can not remain long or
account of the dense fumes of sulphurio
gases which are constantly rising and
which have led some travellers to sus-
pect that the interior of the mountain
was in close proximity to the place
known in literature as hades.
Tonight at $50 O'Clock several Sigh
shocks of earthquake were felt here
The windows We're ratified throughout
the city. The first shock was most
severe, being accompanied by rumb
ling noises, as of a distant explosion
and simultaneously a sheet of flame
was observed in the eastern heavens
Inquiry tonight develops the fact that
several persons here saw the smokc
arising from Mount Tacoma this morn
| ing.
Professor +. F. Plummer, a local sci
enlist who has made a special study
of earthquake phenomena in the north
west says: "Old Nation, the oldest
Indian ON the Puyallup reservation
said through an interpreter before the
| Tacoma Academy of Science in Febru-
airy, 1892, that he had many times seen
fire and smoke coming out of Mount
Tacoma This was when he was a boy
| General John c. Fremont reported In
November, 1854, that Mount Tacoma
was in eruption. According to Profes-
| sor Holden of the Lick observatory
a violent eruption of the mountain oc-
CURED in 1873. In May, 1885, volumes
| of smoke We're observed issuing from
| the crater. On June IL, 1884, jets OF
steam We're observed shooting upward
| from the mountain at intervals of one
| minute.
1T is interesting to note says Pro
| fessor Plummer. that several of the
| planets, including the earth, are in line
| fact which bears out the theories OF
Professor Alexis Perry and others that
| such conditions are favorable to earth
quakes and volcanic phenomena. There
have been 50 far % large earthquakes
| throughout the world during the months
of October and November of the pres
ent year"