The Saint Paul globe., 1897-09-06
VULCAN NAY WAKE
EARTHQUAKE LIKELY TO SHAKE
THE UNITED STATES ANY
DAY.
UNUSUAL VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
IN THE SOUTHWEST
RECENTLY THAT CAUSES
UNEASINESS.
BURNING
NEW
MOUNTAINS
Reported to Have Appeared In Va
rious Mexican Stntes-Present
Condition of Peaks.

Is the United States on the verge of
great volcanic upheaval?
Recent reports from Mexico indicate
an unusually active revival of volcanic
phenomena, says the Chicago Chronicle.
Some of the largest of the cones are
in a state of eruption and new volcanoes
are forming. Outbursts in New Mexico
and Arizona have been frequently
chronicled. Reports of similar occur
rences have been received from Idaho
and Wyoming, although they are of q.
more doubtful nature. Earthquakes
have been felt quite frequently of late
in various states, and If the record Of
little more than score of years is TAX
en- into account a continual succession
of eruptions and quakings can be quok-
ed. There seems, in fact, to be sub
stratum of unrest underlying the sur
face of the United States, and the feel
ing in scientific circles seems to be that
the sudden uprising of the God of Vul-
can and all of the earth quakings that
would accompany it would be no sur
prising event.
New volcanoes are reported to have
arisen in the states of Vera Cruz, OAK
aca and Tehuantepec The old volcano
of Colima on the Pacific slope of the
republic with it's point rising 10000 feet
above the sea, has been in a condition
of almost uninterrupted activity for six
years. Rumor has also associated erup-
tive phenomena with the giants Of the
Mexican plateau, Popocatapetl and Ori-
zaba, but such rumor, except in SO far
as it is supported by the wreaths Of
sulphurous vapor which from time to
time curl out from the summit craters,
and which have in greater or less de-
gree added scenic features to the land
scape, lacks proper confirmation. Yet
it is by no meayb improbable that these
same giants, now in a condition of al
most 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 evi-
denced by the hundreds or thousands
of peaks, walls and battlements which
almost everywhere scar the surface of
the country.
RECENT VOLCANIC PHENOMENA.
To the average inhabitant of the
United States il is probably unknown
that volcanoes exist in this country.
1t is true that from time to time notices
have appeared in the journals that dis
turbances of one kind or another and
attributed to volcanic forces had been
noted in the different states and ter
ritories of the West, but such notices
have usually been disposed of with the
assurance that they were not founded
Co. h. oh, o,,4 al 1,Or
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 a
comparatively recent period, to the SUI
pcrcrust of the land. In New Mexico
and Arizona vast lava fields, black and
clustered as in the days of their erup-
ton, roll off from mountain peaks
which are yet perfect in form; the peaks
themselves rise to 10000 or IL, 900 feet
elevation, with all that beauty of shape
which indicates a mountain of recent
construction.
Elsewhere giant walls of volcanic
rock traverse the country in Titanic
grandeur, and towering pinnacles, dis
mantled except as to their peak, mar
rowed and nearly vertical sides, add
further testimony to the violence of
former activities hardly yet exhausted
In California, Shasta Butte, with an
altitude of 14,442 feet, has the form OF
the perfect volcano. So has Mount
Hood in Oregon and Baker and Tacoma
or Rainier. in Washington, the last Of
which is generally conceded to be the
most graceful and perfect mountain
form in the national domain, dominat-
ing the landscape from the proud ele-
walton of 14,444 feet. Formerly boiling
with molten rock at the summit, it to-
day discharges fields Of ice, glaciers of
no inconsiderable magnitude, as the in
dex of it's quasi-peaceful retirement
THE CHARLESTON CALAMITY.
The question now arises, what is the
prospect or the possibilities of the near
future? Science has it's surprises, and
it would perhaps not be safe to pre-
dict the future. Eleven years ago,
at a meeting of the British Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Science,
presided over by one Of the most emf
nent American geologists, the state