The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-18
company it would be no surprising
NEW NO. ANOEs.

event.
NEW OItANOES.
New volcanoes are reported TO have
arisen in the states of Vera Cruz.
Oaxaca and in TehuanteDec. The old
volcano of Colina on the Pacific slope
of the republic with its point rising
Il. 600 feet above the sea, has been in
condition of almost uninterrupted ac-
tivity for six years. Rumor has also
associated eruptive phenomena with
the giants of the Mexican plateau
Papccatepetl and Orizaba, but such
runner. except in so far as it IS SUD
ported by the Wredths OF sulphurous
vapor, which from time to time curl out
from the summit cTaters. and which
have in greater or less degree added
scenic features 20 the landscape. lacks
proper confirmation. Yet it is by no
means improbable that these same gi-
ants. now in a condition of almost
peaceful repose. will again before long
shake to its foundations the mighty
plateau which, more than once in the
history of the land. has been rifted
and torn by similar forces. as is evil
denced by the hundreds of thousands
OF peaks. walls and b2ttlements. which
almost everywhere scar the surface of
he countrz-.
DISTURBANCES NOTED.
To the average inhabitant of the
United States it is prsbably unknown
that volcanoes exist IN this country.
IL is true that from time to time no
tees have appeared in the journals that
disturbances of one kind or another
and attributed to volcanic forces. had
been noted in the different states and
territories of the W hut such notices
have usually beer sed of with the
assurance that the .sere not founded
on fact The observlnt traveller, how
ever who has made the traverse OF
the southwestern United States. or Of
the Pacific tier of states. will have
easily satisfied himself that volcanic
phenomena. even if they be not rep
resentative of vitality at the present
moment. have added largely and in
comparatively recent period to the SUI
percrust of the land. In New Mexico
and Arizona vast lava fields. black
and blistered as in the days of their
eruption. roll off from mountain peaks
which are yet perfect in form; the
peaks themselves rise TO 10000 or u, 900
feet elevation. with all that beauty of
shape which indicates a mountain of
recent construction.
VOLCANOES IN THE WEST.
Elsewhere giant walls of volcanic
rock traverse the country in Titanic
grandeur. and towering pinnacles, dis
mantIed EXCEPT as TO their bleak, mar
rowed and nearly vertical sides. add
further testimony TO the vertical y
further testimony to the violence of
former activities. hardly yet exhausted.
In California. Shasta Butte, with an al
titude of 14.442 feet. has the form of the
perfect volcano. So has Mt Hood in
Oregon and Baker or Tacoma or Fea-
nier. in Washington. the last of which
is generally conceded TO be the most
graceful and perfect mountain form in
the national domain, dominating the
landscape from the proud elevation of
II, 444 feet Formerly boiling with mol
ten rock at the summit, il today dis
charges fields of ice, glaciers of no in
considerable magnitude. as the index
of its quasi-peaceful retirement
A NEAR POSSIBILITY.
The question now arises. what is the
prospect or the possibilities of the near
future? Science has its surprises. and
ii would perhaps not be szfe TO predi-
cate the future. Eleven years ago, at a
meeting of the British association for
the advancement of science. presided
over by one of the most eminent Amer
lean biologists. the statement was haz-
arded in the presidential address that
Atlantic border of the United States.
earthquake disturoa OF any note
were all but impossible in that country:
during the reading of the address, while
the arguments in favor of the thesis
were being warmly advanced. cable
gram was handed in the effect that
the City of Charleston had been all but
overthrown, the result of an earth