Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-07-26
UNCLE SANS NEW LAND.
Some That Has Been Gained in
an Extraordinary Manner.
An Earthquake Develops New Island
In the santa barbara Group Par
ticulars of Its Recent
Discovery.

Uncle Sam acquired some new terri
tory in the Pacific few weeks ago i'm
novel manner. II was not acquired by
conquest. annexation or purchase, but
was "A gift from nature herself, who
pushed it up from the depths of .he
Pacific ocean and gave II unasked.
New Jersey is gradually losing terri
tory along the coast, while in other re-
gions new land is being added to the
area Of the United States. But the
usual process is slow.
Once in awhile new island is lifted
suddenly out of the sea by volcanic
action, and this, practically, is what
occurred off the coast of California.
when about thirty-tve thousand square
yards of rock was added TO one of the
Santa barbara islands with a sudden
ness that surprised the people living on
the island.
The Santa Barbara group of islands
lies about sixty miles OF the coast of
California, in about the latitude of Los
Angeles. The island Of san Miguel, TO
which the ncW island has been added.
is one of the smaller islands. and is
owned by Capt w G.. Waters, who has
a big sheep ranch on it, The only peo-
pie living on the island are Capt. Wat
ers and his sheep herdcrs and laborers.
Capt. Waters was on the island when
the earthquake, eruption. or whatever
it was, occurred. lie took the infor-
nation to the mainland, and the San
Francisco Examiner sent a correspond
ent TO san Miguel TO get all the facts
and some pictures of the new territory
of the United States.
On the night when the disturbance
occurred he was sitting in his house
reading. He felt the earth SILVER, but,
as earthquakes are not uncommon
Whereabouts, he took little notice of the
occurrence.
The next morning he started out
around the beach toward his boat
house to look for his sloop, which was
due from the mainland. When he
neared the harbor and the place where
his boathouse should have been he had
to stop and rub his eyes because of the
remarkable appearance of the sur
roundings
The beach had disappeared, and
where a bay of placid water had been,
rose huge mass of broken cliffs. He
climbed up on the high ground over
looking the bay, and there, on the
plateau, forty feet or more above the
waterline and three hundred feet in
land, were the boathouse and sheep
corral which the previous evening had
been right on the waters edge
On reaching the boathouse he found
another surprise. The building stood
as firm as ever, but whereas it had
faced seward it was now
turned almost completely around and
faced almost directly away from the
bay.
He walked out on the top of the new
~ formed cliffs toward the water, and
found the great mass of rock still trem-
bling and swaying. There was a sound
of grinding and churning and every
now and then a chunk of rock would
settle little The mass was evident
ly still adjusting itself in its new posi-
ton.
The buoy 70 which his sloop was
moored when in harbor was formerly
four hundred feet from the sandy
beach. Now 1t was about one hundred
feet from the abrupt face of the new
cliffs
The new land thrust up from the sea
Is mass of rock one thousand feet
long by three hundred feet wide It's
appearance and the deductions drawn
from soundings and other observations
20
wrenched from the basis of the island
and pushed upward and shoreward.
While the land has been elevated the
sea bottom has been greatly de-
pressed, and in some places where for
merly there was only six fathoms of
water no bottom could be found with
the lines available on the exploring
boat.
The new land presents singular APP
pearance. Long streamers of seaweed |
hang from the face of the cliffs, and |
,hellfsh of all kinds are clustered /
about it. The surface Of the rocks is |
covered with marine growths, includ- |
ing Holsters, mussels crabs, large and |
small fish of various species, weeds and |
towers, and all the odd things usually |
hidden from the sight of man on the |
sea bottom, or seen only in an aqua
rum.
While Capt. Waters had gained con-
siderable slice of real estate without |
cost, there is feeling on the island |
hat the curious caper of nature is
more comfortably interesting in scien-
life folk living at distance than 20
on Snr, Nfirr,,n1