The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-12-31
LAND Q i R CHES.

"A Tia Nd Z R u CHES.
HAWAII THE GEM OF THE
PACIFIC OCEAN.
It's Natural Wonders Are In q Glass by
Observation-Disclosures Extend to the
Bottom of the Sea and Are There
u fore Really $4,000 Feet In Height.
In acquiring Hawaii the United
States has gained besides one of the !
most fertile and rich islands in the
world, some of the finest mountain
scenery presented anywhere in the
universal district which, could it be
transplanted with all it's grandeur of
scenery and climate, would make the
fortune of an American hotel keeper
In year. The mountains are all
volcanoes. They are class by them.
selves. They are not only the tallest,
hat the biggest and strangest in the
whole world. Considering that they
reach from the bottom of the Pacific
ocean d8y000 feet deep there) to over
$4,000 feet above, sea level, they really
stand $4,000 feet. from. their suboceanic
base to their peaks. The active craters
on the islands number 900, but the
dead craters, the ancient chimneys Of
subterranean lava beds, are numbered
by the thousands The islands are of
lavic formation. Evidence of extinct
volcanoes are so common that one
seldom notices them after few weeks
residence on the islands. Ancient lava
rs present everywhere. The natives
know all its virtues, and while some
ancient deposits are used as a fertil-
fzer for soils, other lava beds are blast
ed for building material, and for ma
cadarnizing roads. Titanic volcanic
action is apparent on every side. Every
headland Is an extinct volcano. Every
1sland has its special center eruption,
which, beginning at the unfathomable
bottom OF the sea, has slowly built up
a foundation and then superstruc-
'ture OF lava. On the Island of Hawaii
and On Molokai. are huge cracks sew
'eral thousands of feet deep and many
yards In width, which were formed by
the bursting upward of lava beds ages
! and ages ago The marks Of the I'll
tanlc force are plainly visible. Mark
Twain I: wall !. is authority for saying that the
two great active volcanoes, Mauna Loa
and Kilauea, sare the most Interesting
in the world. Certainly they are the
most unique. Mauna Loa is ), $4,000
!. .feets.ah hove ssasIeY Every six or;
seven years there is an eruption from
Its sides, and several times the flow
of lava threatened theSruin of the
town of Hilo, thirty miles away. The
crater on Mauna Loa is three miles
In diameter and 800 feet deep. Over
the crater hangs an Illuminated vapor
which may be seen at night over 200
miles distant. When Mauna Loa is in
violent eruption a fountain of molten
lava spouts every minute over $50 feet
In the air, bursting into ten thousand
brilliantly colored balls like a mon
strous roman candle pyrotechnic. Then
there is Kilauea-a shorter and fiatter
volcanic mountain, sixteen, miles dis
tant. It has the greatest crater known
one nine miles across, and from 800
to 500 feet deep. And such a crater!
In it is little lake of molten lava
all the time. At times the lava is
over 100 feet deep, and at other times
it is oTAr 200 feet deep, according to
the pressure on it in the bowels of the
earth. Signs Of volcanic activity are
present all the time throughout the
depth of the molten mass in the form
of steam, rocks. jets of sulphurous
smoke and blowing cones. The crater
itself is constantly rent and shaken
with earthquakes. Nearly all the
tourists in Honolulu go to see the mar
.@velous eruptions on Mauna Loa and
!; Kilauea. Hotels have been built on
. the mountain sides for the accommo-
dation Of sight-seers, and there are
/ scores of guides about the craters.
One of the many places of interest
lin Oahu outside of Honolulu is the
z Punchbowl. It is an extinct volcanic
rising few hundred feet above the
sS"A' @aAAoSASA ASoCA 10 tuC dill, Lu0
highest point in the pass through the
range of mountains that divides Oahu.
1T is the fashion, and a very good
fashion it is, to see the Pail and praise
its charms. It is the Yosemite of
Hawaii. Z The view from this height
sweeps the whole island from north
to south. In the direction of the cap
ital the land SLOPES to a level two
miles from the sea and then spreads
fatty to the shore. The hillsides are
n not, as a rule, in a state Of cultiva-
tion, although the soil is fertile. The
land is now numbered with the wild
guava, which bears fruit as big as the
/. lemon, and with the lantana, the seeds.
.sof which are scattered broadcast by an
imported bird called the minah. On.
the lower ground small farmers, most
ly orientals, make their homes, and
these are several cane plantations.
Turning the other way the sight-seer
gets one Of the famous views Of the
b world. Rrom the apex Of the pass
I'd it's nOrthWard drop is a sheer to