The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-30
BIG EARTHQUAKES
Overturn Mountains in
Alaska.
New Islands and Peninsuias Form
Phenomenon of Recent Days

JUNEAU, Alaska, Sept. Il, via Sc
attic Wash, Sept 2O.-The Alaska 7
Commercial Company's steamer Dora. |
Captain Johansen, arrived from the |
westward last night with news of an
extensive and terrible earthquake ex-
tending from Bituya Bay, 80 miles be-
low Yakutat 500 miles northwest into |
the Cook Inlet country. 1t was the
greatest phenomenon witnessed in
Alaska since a similar occurrence in
the early days of the Russian traders.
After short period of darkness the
earth literally sank down into the sea
and new islands and peninsulas rose
up like huge leviathans showing their
backs above the surface. Mountains
were shaken down and their tops slid
into the ocean. The whole was ac-
companied by several tidal waves, one
of them fifteen feet high. The shocks
occurred every day for a week, from
Sunday, the Sd inst, to Sunday, the
10th inst, and were felt last Sunday
at Juneau.
Three very hard shocks were felt
here. One early in the morning and
another about o'clock in the after
the afternoon. Buildings were badly
shaken and people ran out into the
streets in their fright There were
minor tremblings all day long. The
large buildings, such as the Occidental
Hotel, Stannis Hospital and the
church. shook and ratified like crazy
ship in gale. No damage to property
was done here or elsewhere. The noun
tains are all in place around Juneau
The shocks here continued steadily
from thirty seconds to two minutes. A
gale was blowing at the time. The
earthquake seemed to be travelling
south and taking plenty Of time to
shake up the country as it passed
along.
The most severe shocks. were felt at
Yakutat and Kayak At Yakutat there
is large Indian village and several
traders stores. 1t is headquarters for
miners prospecting in that section of
Alaska and up the Alsek river. Around
the point of Ocean Cape, at the en-
trance to Yakutat Bay, is an island
named Kanak. This island sank twen-
ty feet into the sea. At high tide only
| the tops of the trees are visible. Huge
| assures opened in the earth of the
| mainland and steam is said to have
poured forth. Some of these assures
were three feet across. Captain johann
sen says that in two minutes the ocean
rose twenty feet above high tide mark
and almost as quickly subsidized.
The natives took to the high ground
| in terror, and fell on their knees be-
seeching the great Father to save them
| and their village. This high water
| caught up all manner of drift wood,
| logs. canoes, etc, and these raced back
and forth and across the bay carried
! by strong currents which swept in ev-
ery direction. When the Dora arrived
at Yakutat a few days ago on the re-
| turn trip the Indians had deserted
their houses near the beach, and were
living in tents on the high ground.
They were still in great alarm.
At least thirty Yakutat Indians are
now in Juneau, having deserted their
| homes and all their property in seek
| ing safety in flight.
| A good story is told on the two Swe-
| dish missionaries at Yakutat, Rev. Mr..
Johnson and Rev. Mr.. Hendrickson.
They wanted to leave, but the Indians
would not let them go. The natives
told them that the Maker of heaven
and earth had his back up and was
angry, and they wanted them to stay
and "Skookum Wah Wah,' which
means big pray, to pacify the AL
mighty And they had to stay.
DR.. C. w. Chamberlain of Tacoma, a
| dentist who has been copper mining
in the Prince William Sound country,
was a passenger on the Dora. He says
that at Kayak, about IT'S miles west OF
| Yakutat the shocks were so severe that
the tops of several mountains rolled
| and tumbled into the ocean at their
| base. This is a sandstone range and
| great clouds of dust were raised by the
detachment and the slide. The Dora
| in running along her usual course be-
| tween Yakutat and Bituya, where
| there has been heretofore fifty fathoms
of water, stirred up the mud with her
wheel. 1t was reported that her keel
had found the bottom, but Captain Jo-
| hansen denies this. He says that the
| stuff the Dora stirred up was as thick
as cream gravy, while the water on the
| surface had the usual clear appearance.
Captain Johansen says he feels certain
| there had been a violent disturbance
of some kind beneath the ocean there.