The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-07
A RIVER oF.FIRE.
Graphic Description of Mauna Loa'.
Eruption in 1880.


Early Friday night, November 6, 1880,
. bright, light was reflected from the
clouds above Mauna Loa that increased
in brilliancy until morning All day Sat.
| urday great clouds of smoke could be seen
| at Hilo, fifty miles away, rising from the
| mountain as from a city that had been
| swept by great conflagration. Saturday
evening the mountain was wrapped in
clouds, but toward midnight they scat
tered, revealing spectacle that was mag
nificent beyond all description. The sum
NIT crater was emitting dense smoke,
lighted up by the molten lake of lava.
Below, on the mountain side, was an en-
brasure from which the lava was run
| ming down like Il river. Not break
could be seen from the outlet to the very
head of the fiery mass. 1t was Il contin-
uous stream of glowing lava, heated to
incandescence, moving steadily down the
mountain side. 1t was like a living crea-
ture gliding out of its fiery prison house
| all aglow, "Squirming and gliding in the
mountains blaze, like a great serpent
with skin of gold.'
Its progress was rapid, considering the
distance of the point of view, and subse-
quent observation along the line of the
flow proved that the velocity must have
been tremendous.
David Hitchcock, who was camping on
Mauna kea at the time of this outbreak
saw spectacle that few human eyes ever
beheld. 1--WE stood" writes he, ION the
very edge of that flowing river of rock.
Oh, what sight it was! Not twenty feet
from us was this immense bed of rock
slowly moving forward with irresistible
force, bearing on it's serface huge rock
and immense powders of tons weight as
water would carry toy boat. The whole
front edge was one bright red mass of
solid rock necessarily breaking off from
the towering mass and rolling down to
the foot of it, to be again covered by
| another avalanche of white hot rocks and
| sand. The whole mass at its front edge was
from twelve to thirty feet in height
Along the entire line ,of its advance it
was one crash of rolling, sliding, tumb-
ling red-hot rock. We could hear no ex-
| plosion while we were near the flow, only
tremendous roaring like ten thousand
blast furnaces all ut work at once This
was the most extensive flow of recent
| years, and its progress from the interior
| plain through the dense forests above Hilo
and out to the open levels close to the
| town was startling and menacing enough
| Through the woods especially it was a
| turbulent, seething mass that toppled
over mammoth trees, and licked up
streams of water, and day and night kept
up an underwriting cannonade of eXplo-
sions The steam and imprisoned gases
would burst the congealing surface with
| loud detonations that could he heard for
| many miles. 1t was not an infrequent
thing for parties to camp out close to the
| flow over night. Ordinarily lava flow
moves sluggishly and congeals so rapidly
that what seems like hardihood in the
narrating is in reality scalm judgment,
for it is perfectly safe to be in the close
vicinity of lava stream, and even to
walk on its surface as soon as one would
be inclined to walk on cooling iron in a
| foundry This notable flow finally ceased
within half mile of Hilo. where it's black
form is II perpetual reminder of a marvel
Gus deliverance from destruction.