The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-04-04

o'ANSoll TCICDCus Jncn l11tSs 10
the plateau upon which Pillar noun
tain is located Tho plateau projects
from tho mountain midway between
the base and summit of the latter. It's
surface is irregular, and the big bunch
OF basalt shoots it's ashcn columns fifty
feet into the air from an carthen mound
on its highest spot. The basaltic de-
post is i'll the shape of an cllipsc, and
is very regular III it's construction. It
has the appearance of having been
thrust UP through the earth by an in
tcrnal CONFUSION, and its gray pillars
contrast oddly with the surrounding
hills, which arc sandy, ovcrgrown with
sagcbrush and dotted with an OCCASION
al scrubby pine. The blackcncd. gray
stones are radically different in aspect
and formation from the lodges of quartz
and granite which como to the surface
in broken seams here and there.
In the main the basaltic columns
stand side by side SO closely that ut n
distance the mound. from some points,
looks like mass of solid stone marked
from base to apex with regular paral-
lei lines All the upright pillars, even
where occupying regular perpendicular
postures, arc separated into segments
by cracks which traverse them hori-
zontally. The scgmcnts are from six
to fifteen feet in length, and the whole
segmcnted column approximates six
ty feet. AS the compact points
of the mound are approached the cx-
terror columns are observed to incline
inward ut the top, which gives them
the semblance of strips of stone over
lying each other.
The mound has something of the ap-
pcarancc of great oblong amphi-
thcatcr, with crumbling walls where
the columns have broken away and
fallen outward to it's base. At the
places where the columns are broken
they lie in confused masses or rear
their colossal heads singly at various
angles 1t is ut these places that the
pondcrous nature and the symmetrical
proportions of the columns are dis
played to the greatest advantage. They
are principally hcXagonal in shape, al
though many threc-sidcd, four-sided
and fivc-sided examples arc in evidence.
Some of the broken and displaced col
umns standing upright, alone or in
groups, have the appearance of huge
monuments, and Il man standing be-
canoe. Most of them weigh many tons.
The observer is chiefly impressed by
their massivcness and clean-cut SYM
metry. They look as if they had been
carved by giants out of the solid rock.
and 1T is difficult to conceive how ma
turc could have nodded them with such
regularity and precision.
1t is now Il generally accepted theory
of biologists that basalt is of volcanic
origin. 1t is composed of three dis
tinct clements: iron oxide, pyroxine
and feldspar or some kindred compost
ton. When fcldspar is component it
is called fcldspathic basalt; when that
element is replaced by an affinity it
takes the name of the affinity. Miner
ais occur in busalt, as shown by analy-
sis, but their presence is due to the per-
collation. of water through the basalt
after its formation. The doubt con
nectcd with the origin of basalt springs
from the water. which analyses have
proven il to contain.
Some gcologists have claimed that if
it were OF volcanic origin the water
would have been expelled while it was
In molten state in the course of the
eruption which brought it to the sur
face. This view has been ovcrrulcd,
however, by other students of geologic
conditions, who point out that steam
and hot water are often cast up by
volcanoes, and that basalt is sufficient
~ compact to have resisted the OK
pansivc force of the steam imprisoned
within it.
On the top of Pillar mountain there
cavity IN 4, ion, l,
bottom, which several local wiscacres
OF Il geologic and scientific turn of
mind have pronounced the crater of n
volcano The shape OF the depression
and the character attributed to the
rocks lend color to the theory.
Basalt either occurs in the form of n
dixie or in q horizontal sheet The DO
sitions of the columns vary according to
the character of the deposit. Wien il
is in the form of a bed the columns are
erect. In the dixie formation they are
horizontal.
The regularity of form displayed by
the columns is accounted for by a
theory resting upon impcdcd contrac-
ton. When mud dries out ii network
of cracks appears on its surface. In
vcstigation reveals that the shapes in
the mud are generally hcxagonal, and
show the operation of governing
force which determines their form. In
theory this principle controls the for
nation of basaltic columns. The theory
may be correct and simple enough, but
the uniform shapes of the columns
never fail to strangely impress the lay
mind, Notwithstanding San Francisco
Chronicle.
hn