The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-03-04
MELTING LIKE WAX.
ALL MOUNTAINS WILL VANISH IN THE
COURSE OF TIME.

Notable Elevations That Are Slowly Crum-
bling and Becoming smaller-Awful Ca
Process of Ch&nge.
A French professor told the recent
scientific congress in Rome that '.all
mountains will vanish off the face of the
earth il course IF time. We do not
doubt it, for it is divinely foretold that
the earth itself will disappear at the end
of time. However. the Frenchman' s
prophecy is already in course of realiza-
ton. The Ardennes, the Pyrenees and
the mountains of Provence are going to
peices by degrees in our OWL age. The
mighty Himalayas, as if wearyof rear
ing their forms sublime" through so
many generations, nodded their heads
in II place W o years ago and hurled
into the valleys below a mass Of debris
which was estimated at 500, O00, 600
tons. The largest locomotive on the fast
trains of the Hudson River railway
weighs only 90 ons. That Asiatic
uOuutdiu siluc,t ileISlOEc, CduScu al ava
lanche equivalent to the tumble of about
13, 600, 600 such locomotives off a bridge
10, 900 feet high. Little wonder that
''the noise was terrific" and that 1.-The
natives were frightened" Masses of
rock were hurled q mile away, and
"many blocks Of dolomitic limestone,
weighing from 80 to 90 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. The mining began in 1868.
In 1876 the plattenberkoph split across
Its crown, and after progressive enlarge
ments for years, which caused comment
and fo~rehodings, it fell in the year
named. This catastrophe precipitated
about ~, 600, 900 cubic yards Of rock
1,475 feet downward into the valley
and rolled 325 feet up the opposite slope,
where it was canted over sideways, and
hen poured like liquid over a horizon
tai plane of about 8, 700, 900 square feet
and to . depth of from 35 to 20 feet.
One-half of the village of Elm was
overwhelmed, and it was SO swiftly
cleft by the resistless mass that the line
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, the table
was set, the 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 q river. for which a channel was
blasted afresh. New soil was carried i'll
to the valley, and spread over the ruins
where harvests now smile again, and
the people go about their work as if
there were no such thing as an V a
lanche in this humbling and cruInbline
world.
The process of change in earth levels
in all lands Is illustrated i'll 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 1t 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-
draggled 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. The surcharged
warm cloud gets a chill as it caresses the
head Of some dignitied peak, the sudden
condensation upsets the hover ont of
the atmosphere's myriad cell buckets,
and the torrent rushts 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 1--we in
the lowlands neal their grain and fruits,
and these thrive on the alluvium wash
ed down by torrents and food, That
theft Of matter makes the mountains
~bareheaded and puts the valley under
obligation to the storms which feed the
crops with plant nutriment stolen from
above. Like man, the harvests lift their
eyes to the hills. whence their help
comes The noun inns are being carried
into the sea, and man demands tribute
as they pass.
The forces of nature and the elements
In battle, like the gospel. are Jewelers.
They bring down the mighty and lit up
the lowly One OF thee days the earth
must be resGrveyed the aspirations of
the hills Will have been reduced; the
depths Of the rivers. bays and oceans
will be less Men who journey by W 'rr
may return TO the plans and prOport ,lS
that best suited those who built the ark,
and they may see that Moan knew some
thing about shipbuilding. notwlthstaud
ing our Americans, Auranlas and Cam
panlas David may have had a thought
OF all this when he said, The hills
melted like wax at the presence of the
Lord. Isaiah wrote. The mountains
flowed down at thy rrt-.ure E1.Elei