The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-02-11
SEEMS LIKE A MERE
SPECK IN THE SEA
WAKE ISLAND AND ITS PEcU-
LIARITIEs.
It Is Certainly the Freak in Our New
Possessions---Is Often Completely
submerged---Life on 1t Not Likely
to Be Wildly Exciting.

From the Washington star
In many respects the freakiest of the
more than 400 islands of which I'm
Gle Sam has come into possession as
result of the war is Ecucil, of Halcyon
or Wake island. a. ii is more commonly
known.
Presto. Change! You sec it! Now
you don't
So saycth Prcstidigitateur Neptune.
For. alas, this new possession rs an
island one day, another treacherous
reef hidden beneath an cnticinC sea.
Needless to say it has never beer IN
babjted by human beings, at least not
within the memory Of mariners or eN-
plurers. How, then, Can any one dwell
there FOR the protection and preserNa-
ton Of Uncle Same interests. That
is the question which only Yankee IN
scnuity can solve. To make human
hah'tation possible, not 10 say comfort
able, upon this lonely spot there must
be sort of rcversior to the primitive
state of affairs which Dr.. Gushing late
l. found to huxa existed down ir the
Florida keys The extinct inhabitants
of the keys were pile dWellers.
LITTLE KNOWN ABOUT IT.
When it was announced the other day
that we would claim Wake island there
was to be found in Washington no one
who could venture any information as
to its history. The photographic office,
the government bureau of information
concerning islanGe, has naught but Il
few lines giving latitude, longitude and
sailing directions. Since then, however
nt "a =
sacked libraries and old records with
some success. In an old volume of
charts kept in the library of congress
was found a map Of the disappearing
island Moreover, the war department
contained among its records brief
description of 1t in n letter written by
Brigadier General =. V. Greene, who
planted an American flag there last
Fourth Of July. Accompanying this
letter is a rough sketch of the southern
part of the island drawn from a COM
pass survey made by two army ofl-
GERS. Compared with the chart in t.
congressional library. this sketch sug.
gests that Father Time must have
wrought many changes in the outlines
of the dot Of land.
Wake island was first discovered
from the deck of the British shr
Prince William Henry in 1896 There
is d tradition that it was christenet
Wake in honor of a British naval off,
Ger Of that name, but all the Wakes
in the official list of the British navy
flourished a generation or more sube
quent to the date of discovery. II
1S4l the United States exploring expe
dition under Captain Wilkes sighted
the little sand hill and explored it
The old French charts call it "Ecueil,
which means rock" while some En-
glsh charts label it "Halcyon." But
according to come authorities, HalcyoI
was discovered by an American cap
tain. yet the two seem to be identical
since Wilkes and subsequent explorers
state that Wake island is the only spo
Of land to be found near Halcyon'
assigned position.
WORK OF CORAL INSECTS.
In fact, there would never have beer
any point of land H. this lonely spo
had natures original intentions becl
carried out. The coral insect is respOa
sible for the uphuilding of the sea bot
tom there. The very highest spot i
only fifteen feet above sea level. Thu
is required only q moderately rougl
sea to Gubmerge IT, Therefore ou
new cable station will have to b
mounted upon structure similar t
the skeleton light house towers erect
ed upon more treacherous shoals alon
our Atlantic coast. Those in charge }
the edifCe will finG It cafe 10 ventur
below when the sea is normal; bu
when it rises they will have TO clim
to the top oi their little perch. Her
they must sleep, lest sudden storr
brew in the night and cngulf then