The record-union., 1899-09-24
IT'S AN AMERICAN VOLCANO.
The One We Have in the Philip
pines is a Great Snoutar


Those of us who have been felicitat-
Ing Uncle Sam upon having acquired a
real live volcano, Mauna Loa, in the
Hawaiian Islands, were not all aware
OF the fact that our armies in the
philippines are trying to annex an.
other mountain that frequently shows
signs of volcanic activity. 1t is known
as Mayor, and one of it's most trenen-
dous and destructive outbursts occurred
in 1897. Father Jose Coronas. desiring
to preserve a record Of the principal
phenomena connected with the erup-
tions, secured all the accounts of eve
witnesses that he was able to collect.
and has recently brought them to-
gether in pamphlet published by the
Manila Observatory. ~
This volcano is in the southeast part
of Luzon, 200 miles from Manila. It is
one OF the most symmetrical noun
tains in the world, rising in regular
con1cal form to a hight of S,274 feet
above the sea. The view of the i'm
mense mass is very imposing, for its
surroundings are comparatively low
and nat. There are no secondary cones
on its Hanks, and all the lavas that
form 1t seem to have been poured from
the solitary chimney at its top. The
nuld elects that built it up was spread
quite evenly over its sides, and its base
now has a circuit of about eighty miles.
When Jagor and Won Drasche. with
great difficulty, reached the summit in
1876 they could find no trace of a era
ter, properly so called For many years
before 1897 the volcano had elected
very little lava in its frequent erup-
tions, but had covered the surrounding
districts far and wide with quantities
of ashes
Before describing the recent catas-
trophe Father Coronas briefly reviews
all the eruptions previously recorded.
giving special attention to those that
have occurred since 1884, when the Of
flee for the observation of meteorologi-
cal and seismic phenomena was estab-
lished at Manila The first record of an
eruption is that of 1916, which Spillber-
gen mentioned, but few details are
known of it. The most memorable erup-
ton, both on account of it's magnitude
and its destructive effects, is that of
1914, when the town Of Daraga was
buried deep under ashes and the streets
and buildings of Manila were covered
with elected matter waited thither by
the wind. The outburst of 1882 was
remarkable for its duration, but since
1914 no single eruption has equaled in
magnitude that which forms the sub
ject of Father Coronas' pamphlet.
Several of the outbursts of Mayon
have been preceded by earth tremors,
and this was the case in 1897. There
were rather severe shocks, with oscil-
lating movements, throughout the pro-
vince of Albay in which the volcano is
situated, and the center of action was
in the Island of Masbate, south of that
province. This was on the night of
May 18th, but no signs of unusual ac-
tivity in the volcano were observed un-
til June 22d. and then the phenomena
gradually increased in violence until
June 25th
On that day, and especially after
noon, the mountain presented a terrible
aspect. 1t was INCREASINGLY sending
into the air dense columns of smoke
and ashes, and a large part of the sky
was turned to inky blackness. The
most violent period of the eruption
lasted seventeen hours, and during this
time an enormous quantity of lava and
volcanic bombs were poured out of the
summit. 1t was during this period that
the greatest destruction was wrought
Lava streams poured down the steep
slopes of the mountain, particularly on
the east and southeast sides. and It
was in these directions that the largest
damage was done. With great swift
ness they overf1owed the whole or parts
of seven villages and hundreds of peo-
pie lost their lives in the red-hot cur-
rents. The large town of Libog was
only partly destroyed.
While most of the lava spread to the
east and southeast, the laphill. or small
stones and the ashes and dust fell prin-
cipally to the northwest of the volcano
The quantity of them discharged was
remarkable. The ashes overspread an
area of southeast Luzon measuripsr
about 200 by 100 miles.-Chicago
Chronicle
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