The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-11

ever since. IL is now called the sunk
Country The area OF sinking was
about seventy-ive miles long by thirty
wide. In some places the earth rose in
sreat unoulations: lakes miles in extent
were formed, while others We're drained:
extensive assures In the earth opened
from which columns OF water. gravel and
mud were elected 10 a great hight: new
Islands appeared in the Mississippi and
extensive bluffs sid down and were en-
CURED IN its waters. The first shocks
We're the most violent: the water in the
mississippi river near New Madrid rose
IN few minutes twelve or fourteen feet
anu then fell like a tide" Evidences Of
thls earthquake are even now frequent
~ met with in the shape Of earth cracks
single ana in groups. often several hun
ured yards long. and in some cases trace.
aole Tor mile or more. Reelfoot lake
IN northwestern Tennessee. and Big lake
DetM 1--we MISSOURI and Arkansas, are the
result OF this subtcrranean action.
The cause Of the earthquakes. Of the To-
car elevation and depression OF the earth's
surface, OF mountain chains and contorted
strata, are now attributed TO the contrac-
non OF the earth's crust. The earth Is
SIM cooting, and as il is not HOMOGENEOUS
IN structure. 1t is cooling unequally. pro-
uucing great horizontal pressure. For CEN
turles the strain accumulates until the
rocks gives way and shocks or lars are
Leil over a greater or less extent OF sur
race ana an earthquake is the result
sometimes the pressure on the plastic
mass Is slow and uniform. gradually eleva-
ting or depressing the surface over a con-
siderable area. In some regions the lat
eral pressure has produced huge waves
eaied mountain chains, extending the
length of a continent
ne yielding OF the earth's crust occurr-
Gu al various stages of its history, and
therefore the mountain chains are not
OF the same age The Appalachians are
venerable with years, as they were form
ca at the close of the palaeozic era: the
Sierra Nevada range was elevated mucb
later, at the end Of the Purassic period.
while the youthful Alps and Rocky Noun
tains received their full DEVELOPMENT IN
tho Tertiary Mountain chains have not
been located promiscuously, as might by
cursoFy glance be supposed. but seem to
take form and direction according to a
hXed law. We may not be able Just now
10 solve the problem and define the law.
but the results are apparent; the outlines
or continents and the direction and ad-
vance of civilization, with all its attend
ant blessings. have been determined by
the position and direction of these eleva-
tions.
Had. for example. the lofty Rocky
mountains and the comparatively low Ap-
palachian chain exchanged places what
a check woulr have been given to the
westward advance of the Star of EN-
pire! The Mississippi would have emp
tied into the Pacific. and our fathers.
prevented from further advance by the
impossible mountains, would have been
confined to the narrow strip OF land be-
tween Il and the sea, and the Mississippi
Valley, so rich I'm mineral and agricultural
products, would have been slow in de-
development and cut off from direct COM
municated with the old world. Had the
slight elevation which divides the head
waters of the Saskatchewan and the Mis-
sissippi been a few hundred feet higher
the valley Of the latter would have had
the temperature of the tropics and British
America would have been as bleak and
barren as Siberia: while now the cool
winds from the Arctic, unobstructed in
their southern course mingle with the
warm and moist winds from the gulf,
giving our great valley a mild and equa-
BILE temperature. map of either of our
continents will show that the highest land
is not, as might be supposed, in the center
with a slope on every side to the ocean,
but on the contrary. we find a BASIN
shaped depression in the interior, with the
mountain ranges forming a rim along the
shore. and in general the higher and wild
er mountain chain borders the wider and
deeper ocean. In our own country the
great range of mountains which extends
unbrol1en from Boring Strait to Cape
Horn, borders the Pacific, while the small
er Appalachian and Brazilian mountain
are found on the Atlantic coast
In the economy of nature, mountains
have their special use and the change
produced in our state by the elevation of
the Alleghenies was emphatic. From
the low marshy prairies of the coal form
ing period which covered nearly all of our
continent, great waves arose which in
creased in hight towards the east till
the main chain was raised 900 feet The
Alleghenies greatly affected the climate,
and with 1t as a natural consequence the
fauna and fora. They changed the direc-
ton of the winds. cooled the atmosphere.
condensed the moisture, and precipitated
the rains which formed the rivers The
rivers in their turn eroded the rocks,
formed the soil, carved the surface, and
provided the beautiful and picturesque
scenery for which our state is noted.