Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-06-22
DELUGE is NOW DUE.
THE DAYS OF NOAH MAY SOON
RETURN.
A Great Aquatic Cataclysm-Not Very
Likely, However. to Disturb the Peace
of Those Folk Mt Present Living on
tho Earth.

tuiS dltiSie, says tne NEW fOrk 1eic-
graph, says that the days of Noah may
return. Following is what he has to
say in demonstration OF his idea: The
great food occurred 4,003 years ago.
There have been several deluges
recorded in history besides that one.
as that Of Ogyges-which we read over
flooded almost all Attica-and that Of
Deucalion, which drowned all Thessaly,
in Greece. I state these facts so that
you may be quite prepared to hear that
another great deluge, according to
many learned and modern geologists,
threatens the earth. We are told this
may come at any moment, bIrying the
greater part of the continents OF
Europe, Asia and North America under
millions OF tons of water, and probably
replacing them with new continents in
the southern hemisphere. This new
deluge is to be brought about by the
melting of the great antarctic ice cap
which now. so some scientists contend,
holds an enormous quantity OF water In
its frosty grasp. Once released, this
vast liquid volume will rush north
ward, submerging continents as 1t
flows. Now. this is important II true,
and interesting even II only an erudite
vision. II we examine q map of the
world We shall recognize that the sur
face of the globe is unequally divided
into land and water; about one-fourth
is land. The largest share of the land Is
in the northern hemisphere. where the
proportion Of the land to the water Is
as, 1t is computed, AIS to 1000, while
in the southern hemisphere the proper
ton Of the land to the water is as only
100 to 1000. In proof Of the transla-
tion OF the oceans southward and the
consequent drainage Of the northern
continent, consider the relations Of the
hemispheres, when the pull" of the
antarctic ice cap will be evident. At
one time all the existing lands OF the
northern hemisphere were covered by
water.
At the points nearest to the north
pole which have been reached the
soundings have never been more than
800 fathoms. The depth Of the German
ocean and the Irish sea may be put at
forty fathoms. These oceans were much
deeper in earlier times; the ice cap has
drawn or pulled" the waters toward
Itself. With respect to the mountains
Of ice really in existence ut the south
r,le, as all geologists agree in saying,
It follows inevitably that many huge
icebergs must be constantly breaking
off from its outer edges and drifting
away to the northward. Such is found
to be really the case. Reports from an
expedition now exploring the south
polar regions confirm the theory that
the warmth is now increasing there.
II so. the change would favor the
breaking up of the ice cap and the dis
solved waters would flow back and find
their level on territory now occupied
by man, but which in long ages past
was the bed of oceans. recent report
said: I'VE had comparatively high
Temperature during our voyage-a
higher than Sir James Ross ex-
perienced, and higher than those OBJ
served last year by the whaling fleet
south of Cape Horn" Proofs OF the
coming deluge seem to be afforded
again by the frequent recurrence OF
large boulders-further evidences of
past cataclysms. Innumerahle blocks
of rock of all dimensions have been
torn at various periods from regions
presumably near the north pole, and
transported along every meridian down
to the fifty-second parallel, and raised
to attitudes exceeding. in many cases,
500 yards above their starting point
The nearer they are to the pole the
more considerable are their number
and dimensions. Some of these huge
boulders weigh thousands of tons, and
their displacement and translation
could only have taken place through
the agency and strength of powerful
cataclysms. Adhemar states that a
great deluge recurs every 10,50O years,
and there have been fourteen such. To
go back again to the antarctic ice cap.
AS soon as this began forming, it be-
gan pulling" the waters of the ocean
across the equator into the southern
hemisphere. At various points all over
the southern hemisphere there are an
cient sea margins which indicate be-
yond cavil or question that the ocean
once stood at the height at which we
find these markings, or more than a
thousand feet higher than at present.
AS this great antarctic ice cap grew
and grew, it of course gradually dis
placed the center of the earth's grav-
ity to the southwark, until it is now
two or three miles from the position it
occupied before the sinister growth be-
gan forming. The situation then, of
the whole question resolves itself into
this: The development of the great
glacier at the south pole has reached
the point which Immediately precedes
its sudden breaking up into fragments.
1t is computed, therefore. that at any
day or hour the abrupt disintegration
of these millions OF cubic miles of ice
may let loose all the accumulated