Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-21
A WRECKED MOUNTAIN.
Eject of an EaExhquake Upon San
Jacin{ Cal.

"0AASs ShAs
San yneinto Corresponding sa9 Francisco Can,
followed the recent eriesS of earthquakes
One Of the giant splk OF San Jacinto peak
has, moved its milliorl Of tons of earth, and
rock into the valley kneath There it lies,
eleven miles southeast of San Jacinto, a
tumbling mass of earth. six hundred acres
of trees and rocks with immense crevasses
and cracks running 7jgzegNreaif directions
There are damned pe$ks:oasandstone where
hills were torn asundf ra II ere are slanting
precpices4 where md ENTAILS parted COM
pany. In other PLACES arg great funnel
shaped holes where the soil was sucked into
SIX feet across run through with crevasses
whose depth the eye cannot fathom
The news of this great mountain slide was
slow sl in Teaehlng town; The peak vas Wis
forest supervisor and formerly clerk.of the
supreme court of California, together with
Forest, Ranger. Rouse Their horses-were
tied at an elevation of 1900 feet to a man
zanita tree, and Rouse proceeded to blaze a
trail across this identical GOO acres to be
utilized in caseeof mountain fires
The terrific seismic shock that levelA San
Jacinto brick buildings occurred at % on
Christmas morning. At 10 o'clock these
forest officers saw the peak trembling and
vibrating constantly with internal rumbling
DuI az tStQDlOES tldu Ueeu constantly reCur-
ring since morning the men.were not
alarmed. They left that particular spur
after an hours work. Mr.. Rouse lives about
two miles below the mountain and although
shocks were as, frequent as six each day he
did not remember any except one which
occurred six days later at Isl pm. At
that time great booming as of blasting
came from the spur above him. and every
dish in his house was shaken from the cup
>board shelves He is of the opinion that
this was the date of the collapse. for clouds
of dust could be seen Issuing from the di-
rection of the mountain. The great Christ
mas earthquake must have caused the roof
of the subterranean cavern to split, and the
constantly recurring temblors caused the
mountai peak to slip'into the cavity
Mr.. Rouse did not revisit the spur until
Few days ago, and when he sought his man
zanita tree at the head of the trail to tie his
horse to. he found that the tree lay uprooted
fifty feet below. over the edge of wide
crevaSse, and the gently sloping mountain
sides lay in jumbled mass of roots, rocks
and deep assures. The southeastern edge, a
half mile away, stood intact but long
slant efHblue shale. smooth as glass. at an
angle of forty degrees, showed just where
the great mass of earth had moved into the
suddenly opened abyss to the northwest
The temblors still occur weekly, and one
occurred last night. On Sunday everybody IN
this city drove To the foot of the spur, and
on horseback completed the steep ascent
on narrow. preciptous bride path to the
scene. It's like climbing the Alps. - So
Z,
tanned well repays the visitor for his weary
trip. What was once a gentle incline, run
ming from ridge to a small valley Is now
cavern. separating the ridge from the val
ley. There are crevasSes every few feet in
the earth, some wide as six feet and
over twenty feet deep. Bushes and small
trees have been torn up by the roots and
hurled down for many feet In one place an
oak tree about fifteen feet high and three
feet in diameter was moved a distance of
nifty feet. The soil is so broken and cracked
that every few steps one is apt to sink I'D
to the knees. For three-quarters of a mile
all that can be seen is mass of upturned
pushes and broken banks What were once
the lowest basins are now the highest
But the most remarkable thing to- be seen
on the tract is the half mile wide stratum
or elected material The composition is
black and of very fine grain 1t shines and
Is even CLASSY. Beneath the surface of mis-
crystalline rock mica is found. This is no
doubt igneous rock. A short time ago it
was surely molten, for beneath the barden-
Ing crust 1t is soft enough to be nodded into
any shape with the, hands Two or three
1eet below this is an intruded rock. coarser
grained and probably granite. This cOndi-
non or the earth was first discovered on
March by D. w. Rouse.
There was some great heat connected
with the disturbance. for the earth on the
Wnole 'to acres has been rendered almost
Identical to ashes, and every sign of nIant
life has been visibly affectedNin fact in
most cases killed AZ