The Saint Paul globe., 1897-09-06

ment was hazarded in the presidential
address that, from the peculiar con-
struction of the Atlantic border of thu
United States, earthquake disturbances
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, a cablegram was handed in
to the effect that the city of Charles
ton had been oVerthroWn, the result Of
an earthquake of remarkable inten-
sity and extent of passage With pleas
ing grace it was admitted that, while
the theory of the thesis may have
been sound, the practice was contrary.
and did not support it.
Protracted periods of inactivity form
part of the history of the greater num-
Der of the volcanic mountains of the
globe, and many of the most violent
catastrophes are such as have followed,
after long intervals, upon such pc
riods. So long as the mountain main
tains the dominant form of the struc-
ture which 1t represents, so long must
its potency be considered only partial
ly, if at all, impaired. Only after it
has been in the main dismembered or
dismantled can it's energies be safely
looked upon as having passed. Many
of the volcanic mountains of the ma
tional domain still retain their perfect
ready been mentioned, and the geolo-
gists would in no way be surprised if
at any time the activities which built
them UP would reassert themselves
and further convulSe the region of their
birth.
ERUPTIONS OF THE CENTURY.
Even during the last forty-five years
the true spirit of volcanicity was still
extant. An eruption in Plumas couIr.
ty, California, appears to have taken
place in the early part of 1850, while,
as is we'll known, Mount Hood has
been for many years feeDly active liz
the emission of vapOrs. Mount Baker
has had periods of activity in 1854, III
1870 and again in 1880, and others of
less marked degree several times be-
tween and since these periods The
occurrences of October, 1883, on the
Island of Johanna Bogoslawa, lying off
the coast of Alaska, with rearing up
of the new cone known as the Hague
or ''Grewingk," with the almost stimuli
taneous eruption of Mount ST. Angus
tine, in Cooks inlet, Alaska, in 1883, in
dicate the possibilities along the range
of mountain heights, which are studded
with hundreds of active, partially in
active or fully exhausted rents, the
lineal continuation of which is carried
through two continents for upward Of
1000 miles.
1t is not alone in the region of its
present high mountains that the vol
canic forces have been active in the
United States At close and distant
intervals between the Atlantic and Pa
cific, and between the Canadian boun-
Diary and the Mexican frontier, the
country gives testimony to the rents
and disruptions which have fallen in
cident to the work of the realm of Vui-
can. over the placid landscape of the
Hudson river the towering wall of the
Palisades is one such fragment from
volcanic history-history that was
made probably not less than 100000
or 100000 years ago. The pillars
of the Connecticut, Mount Tom and
Mount Holyoke, are a second, and the
Orange mountains of New Jersey, q
third. In many of the cliffs of Lake
Superior the traveller reads the same
epitome of history and further West,
along the Eastern ramparts of the
Rocky mountains, in the scattered
"chimneys," such as the striking Mato
Tepee of Wyoming. the same history
is brought many pages nearer to US.
In how far the occurrences of the
past may repeat themselves in these
regions is something that only the
future can determine. Yet it would
occasion little surprise to the student
of natural phenomena if the events OF
the past were again to be the events
of the future, and of a future that may
we'll be compassed within the events OF
our own day.
Heads are peculiar, some hats won't
fit them-hurt somewhere. Try Cor