Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1897-01-15
Uncle SANS NEW LAND.
aome That Has Been Gained in
an Extraordinary Manner.


Discovery.
Uncle Sam acquired some new terri
.orv in the Pacific few weeks ago in q
royel manner. 1t was not acquired by
conquest, annexation or purchase, but
Gas a gift from nature herself, who
nmshed it up from the depths of the
pacific ocean and gave it unasked.
New Jersey is gradually losing terri
tory along the coast, while in other re-
o;ons new land is being added to the
area Of the United States. But the
usual process is slow.
Once in awhile q 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-five 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 off the coast of
California, in about the latitude OF Los
Angeles. The island Of San Miguel, to
which the new island has been added,
is one of the smaller islands, and is
owned by Capt. w. g. Waters, who has
big sheep ranch on it. The only peo-
pie living on the island are Capt. Wat
ers and his sheep herders and laborers.
Capt. Waters was ON the island when
the earthquake, eruption, or whatever
it was, occurred. He 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 shiver, but,
as earthquakes are not uncommon
thereabouts, 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 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
and three hundred feet in
aand, were the boathouse and sheep
corral which the previous evening had
been right on the waters edge,
On reaching the boathouse ne 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
ly 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-
tion.s
The buoy to which his sloop was
moored when in harbor was formerly
four hundred feet from the sandy
beach. Now it was about one hundred
feet from the abrupt face of the new
cliffs.
The new land thrust up from the seq
Is mass of rock one thousand feet
dong by three hundred feet wide. Its
and the deductions drawn
from soundings and other observations
seem to show that the mass was
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 q singular APP
pearance. Long streamers of seaweed
hang from the face of the cliffs, and
shellfish 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
flowers, and all the odd things usually
hidden from the sight of man on the
sea bottom, or seen only in On aqua
rum.
While Capt. Waters had gained a con-
siderable slice of real estate without
cost, there is feeling on the island
That the curious caper of nature is
more comfortably interesting in scien-
Llhc folk living at distance than to
residents on San Miguel.
An Interesting Bandis.
Manuel Garcia was q curious char