The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1897-09-04
STRANGE HOLE IN GROUND.
Torrents OF sea Water Have Goae into
1t in Years Past.

u III ears hot'
One is reminded Of the pretty fable
about Arethusa and Alpheus by a curl
GUS story in the current number or
Casters Magazine. But in the ancient
narrative it was a fresh water river IN
to which the pursuing lover was
changed, and the fountain which rep
resents the metamorphosed nymph mas
been Identified; while in the less ro-
mantle tale now told a salt water
stream disappears into hole IN the
ground, and all the rest is profund
mystery, says the New York tribune.
On the coast of the Greek island OF
CephalCnia, near the town OF Argos
toll, there are two little fumes, or ca
nails, leading inland from the sea TO
the distance OF about leo feet, anu tneA
discharging their contents into
Tudely eXcavated pits through whose
badly fissured. rocky bottoms the wat
er Immediately loses itself. At least
as long ago as 1885 a mill was run by
power from enc Of these fumes, and
second mill was built beside and OPP
Grated by the other a little while alter
ward. The mills themselves are now
IN ruins, but the flow continues. MS
remarkable state of things has existed
for over sixty years, ana very likely
for century. One cannot help asking
| in amazeMent where all that water
goes to. The Messrs. Crosby, who fur
nish the account which Casters prints,
estimates that the fow in each channel
amounts to 900 cubic feet per minute,
or 10000 cubic feet per day IN both.
Two smaller passages OF a similar
character have been Observed in The
same neighhorhood; and it is added
that along the shore, lat all points be-
tween the two mills, and for an I'M
known distance beyond each, the wat
er is everywhere peTcOlating through
cracks and assures of the lime
stone and sinking into the
earth. The openings in the sea
bottom are no doubt mainly
closed by weeds and gravel, yet no in
considerable amount of water must
find its way to these mysterious depths
through such an extent CT beach, lying
on a rock that is practically as porous
as G sieve. 1t is difficult to
decide which is the greater marvel,
the sea mills themselves or the fact
that they have remained practically
unknown to the scientific world up to
the present day, although described by
several authors, mentioned in the guide
books, and visited by admirals, gen.
erals, bishops and distinguished civil
/ ians.
/ Almost the only explanation hither-
to offered assumes that evaporation
( goes on rapidly in some subterranean
! cavern and thus disposcs of the water.
! But az it is admitted that the remain
! ing salt from the two mill streams
alone would amount to 4S,600 cubic
! feet year it is hard to understand
why the su5tCrrapCan cavern, if there
| be one, does not fill up The Messrs.
/ Crosby offer a different hypothesis.
/ They ask the reader to imagine two
/ grcat assures descending into the earth
/ and meeting below like the sides of
letter Y or U. Then they suggest
that perhaps one arm is shorter than
the ether and that there is Ions, very
gently rising passage leading from the
bottom Of one to the bottom Of the 9TH
er, so that the subterranean heat can
/ get a good chance to act On any stream
! passing through it. 1t then becomes
/ easy to suppose that a cold current of
sea water comes down through one
/ branch of the system and is forced up
ward through the other by thermal in
Euences. The rocky island Of Cepha-
! lonia, like some of its neighbors, be-
trays the effect Of earthquakes iunrm-
cradle in times past, Astounding in frac-
lures and faults, cayerns and subter-
rancan rivers. None of the spring on
CephaloHia contains any large Guanti-
~ Of salt, However, and it is difficult
to regard any CT them as the overflow
Of the food which disappears at Argos
tell. Bat it is possible that. as AL
pheus is said to have done. it tales 4
dive beneath the sea and comes I'd ca
some far-off island