Frostburg mining journal., 1895-04-27
MELTING LIKE WAX.
ALL MOUNTAINS WILL VANISH IN THE
COURSE OF TIME.

Notable Elevations That Arc Slowly Crum-
tastrophe That Befell the Village of Elm.
Process of Change.
A French professor told the recent
scientific congress i'll Rome that call
mountains will vanish off tho faco of the
earth in course of time. We DO not
doubt it, fer it is divinc]y foretold that
the earth itself will disappear at tho end
of time. However, tho Frcnchman s
prophecy is already in course of realiza-
tion. The Ardennes, the Pyrcnees and
the mountains of Provence ;.ro going to
peices by degrees in our own age. Tho
mighty Himalayas, as if weary of rear
ing their forms sublime" through SO
many generations, nodded their heads
i'll one place two years ago and hurled
into tho valleys below a mass of debris
which was estimated at 500, 900, 900
tons. The largest locomotive on the fast
trains of the Hudson River railway
weighs only 62 tens. That Asiatic
mountain slide, therefore, caused an ava
lanche equivalent to the tumble of about
5000, 600 such locomotives off bridge
10000 feet high. Little wonder that
"the noise was terrific" and that "the
natives were frightened. Masses CT
rock were hurled a milo away, and
''many blocks of dolomitic limestone,
weighing from 80 to so tons, were sent
like cannon balls through the air ~
In 1881, in the Alps, there was an
immense hill fall, caused by its human
undermining in order to obtain slate for
school use. Tho mining began in 1868.
In 1876 the Plattenberkoph split across
it's crown, and after progressive enlarge
ments for years, which caused comment
and forcbodings, it fell in the year
named. This catastrophe precipitated
about $4,000, 900 cubic yards of rock
1,475 feet downward into the valley.
The debris ricochetted across the valley
and rolled 325 feet up the opposite slope,
where it was canted over sideways, and
then poured like liquid over horizon
tai plano OF about 9,700, 900 square feet
and to depth of from 35 to 70 feet.
Ono-half Of the village of Elm was
overwhelmed, and it was so swiftly
cleft by tho resistless mass that the limo
was sharply defined, and one house was
cut in two One hundred and fifteen
people were buried. One home was left
on the very verge, of which the doors
were open, the fire burned, tho table
was set, tho coffee was hot, but no liv-
ing soul was left. The head of the
household was saved, but his entire fam
lily, who were out looking at the noun
tain fall, were lost. The debris damned
up river, for which a channel was
blasted afrcsh. New soil was carried in
to the valley, and spread over the ruins
where harvests now smile again, and
the people so about their work as if
there were no such thing as an ava
lanche in this humbling and crumbling
world.
Tho process of change in earth levels
III all lands is illustrated in your un-
paved back yard or village street after
heavy rains. Each tiny rivulet no larger
than your little finger has its floods, its
narrower limits where it runs in its
square foot Of harder soil. and is there
by pinched sideways, its sudden shallow
ing and widening where the soil is soft
er, and the panic stricken ants or be-
dragglcd beetles are caught in their
miniature world and routed as men are
ON a larger scale. Ten feet square of
back yard may illustrate the succession
of events which make seas shallower
and mountains lower. Tho surcharged
warm cloud gets u chill as it caresses the
head of some dignified peak, the sudden
condensation upsets the shower out of
the atmosphere's myriad cell buckets,
and the torrent rushos down the breasts
and limbs of the mountains SO swiftly
that the surprised soil catches the spirit
of panic and forgets to obey gravitation
until it finds itself at sea and almost out
of sight of shore. That transfer of earth
leaves the hills thinner and deposits
that which makes the river or bay or
sea somewhat less deep. People live in
the lowlands near their grain and fruits,
and these thrive OH the alluvium wash
ed down by torrents and food. That
theft of matter makes the mountains
bareheaded and puts tho valley under
obligation to the storms which feed the
crops with plant nutriment stolen from
above. Like man, the harvcsts lift their
eyes to the hills, whence their help
comes. Tho mountains are being carried
into the sea, and man demands tribute
as they pass.
The forces of nature and tho elements
i'll battle, like tho gospel, are Jewelers..
They bring down the mighty and lift up
the lowly. One of these days the earth
must be resurvoyed. The aspirations of
the hills will have been reduced; the
depths of the rivers, bays and oceans
will be less. Men who journey by water
may return TO the plans and proportions
that best suited those who built the ark,
and they may see that Noah knew some-
thing about shipbuilding, notwithstand-
ing our Americans, Auranias and Cam
panias. David may have had thought
of all this when he said, 1.-THE hills
melted like wax at the presence of the
Lord. " Isaiah wrote, ''The mountains
flowed down at thy presence. " Ezekiel
said, "The mountain shall be thrown
down, and the steep places shall fall. ="
If those Alpine dwellers at Elm read
their Bibles, they must have thought of
these passages after they recovered from
their surprise. e.-Northwestern Christian
advocate.
The land of Mexico is held in feudal
tenure by about Z, 900 families. Patents
are issued to all who ask for them and