Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-11-30
HUNGER OF TIE EARTH.
Great chu.k. Of tho World That May
BE Eaton Up at Any
Moment.

When one reads or hears of some sud-
den and violent alteration in the crust
OF this planet Ut ours, one instructive.
ly puts 1t down to something In the
way Of volcanic outburst. In most
cases 1t is so. But not always. Mother
Earth has many fashions Of building up
what she likes and getting rid Of what
she 10 tired Of.
One hardly wonders that Indian
tribes who frequented the shurcs Of
the Columbus river used to worship as
the "All-Devouring One" great clih
near the Cascades, which for many
years past has been steadily advancing
upon the river, with the evident inten-
ticn of blotting out its bed end form
ing huge lake above. This will in
eyltably happen. The mountain. which
il 1900 feet high and eight miles long.
has been proved to be moving forward
and downward at q rate Of one to three
feet a year. The railway track which
runs along Its base has to be constaAt-
~ altered. The reason Of this ponder
GUS landslide 10 that the mountain
rests on a layer Of soft sandstone, which
is steadily giving way. TIE village Of
sainte Foy de Tareataise. in eastern
France, seems doomed to be engulfed.
The base Of the hill on which 1t stands
IL being eaten away by the rapid wa
tevs Of the Iseve. The houses, some Of
them, show cracks rivaling those Of our
Cheshire Nolthwich. Some day there
Will be short sharp shock" and
Tarentaise Will no longer exist.
Islands go and come so constantly
that none but the admiralty keep count
81 them. Submarine volcanoes are re-
sponsible for most OF these disappear.
apces, but others are harder to account
for, Metis island, for Instance. In the
South Pacific. bore no sign Of volcanic
action about 1t. It was charted in 1880.
It's highest point being $50 feet. Last
year it had gone-vanished utterly
without leaving q trace. On thu - :. !.
of another small gxano island o1f the
coast Of southern California, recent
soundings showed 50 fatnoms Of water.
Tangter island, in Chesapeake bag, WA
fortified by our aeet Ii the war 81 1919.
y has sunk steadily, till now thoBe tart:
iflcations are under ,ester.
Tie shifting sau6s Of great desert
are ~ hungry as The pitiless sea itself.
Many ct the smaller Gases in the Sa-
hara have disappeared from sight in
an hour or two. buried deep by the
deadly simeon.
Some 400 miles southeast If the old
city Of Kashgar, far out IN the yellow
desolation Of the desert Of Cobb, tn.
great Swedish explorer, Sven Bedin,
sew something projecting from the
smooth s.de Of the long dunes. It was
I!hHss WooSefn e. root Of {. house. EnrtheE
pne Of thousands. A teeming city Of
highly civilized Aryans had long existed
on this spot. until the earth had tired
Of 1t and wiped IT out.
Until December 10, 1911, the eastern
part Of Craighead county, Arkansns,
was one Of the most beautiful and fer
til. stretches OF prairie imaginable, IL
te-spersed with tracts Of lovely wood
land. Pretty rivers ran between Nigh
clay banks. and the country was rar.a
~ settling. On the morning Of Decem.
Der 10, in place of rivers and rolling
prairie. a great lake ri2pled in the sun-
light. In the night the whole vegior,
100 miles long aud 90 wide, had sunk
20 to 10 feet. To-day the weird lakes Of
the Arkansas sunk lands offer the most
beautiful scenery and some of the best
sport in all the southern states.
Nothing is too big or too small to es.
! sape the NAV Of 'ouE hungry glove,
Ruicksands are the traps she spreads
for smaller fry. Probably the worst
and most dangerous in the world are
the "Shotts" o: the Sahara. These are,
perhaps, the dregs OF some prehistoric
sea. Now they are covered over with
q thick crust OF salt and sand. Whole
caravans have walked unconsciously
into these death-traps and been quick.
" swallowed up. Reclus, the great
French authority. declares !yfouEs i aaiNl
sound these 'quicksands too;a depth oil
800 feet without finding bottom.-Lon.
don Mall.