The Savannah morning news., 1900-09-24
GREAT TIDAL WAVES.
cALAaITiEs ~ woRLD's HIsToRl
SIMILAR To GALNE>TON's.

WV VIZ" tAaH ''A
20 ths hone. ~ thousands reesiis similar
calamitIes For f-ea,fu as ass this
great ris.rs of trc SEA AGAINST ire laui.
such catac.s-rs have 0ecurrel before. 10
fact thfy artsl4.e ths birth of man. as
geological study proves
There ls that oi stou ~ t1c i1st Az
lanus wh.eh Tho world. even after the
lapse ~ centares bis uot been able 90
dsbslege More fhau hlH th, woriI bee
lleves there is q iost Atlantis. TIE Egyp-
tlars believed 60 long before Patos
day. u De- in tre mouth ~ an Egyptian
priest talking o. solor. mat Plato puts
the description q the yaugu.shei island
That description makes of Atlantis lana
larger tnan the Texas az TO-DAY TIE
Greek philosopher located it OF the shores
Of North Africa. uttie 90 the southwest
Of Gibraltar Tire Platon.au description o.
the Interior % the Atlantis 90 ancient
time is surpr.slrgly beautiful hut not
more SO than the rare imlgina ite power
with which Plato writes. W tho country
and o. people q most ffhuious AMI enc
eaging history. Other spe. ulators have ip-
Gated the iost Atlantis near the canary
islands and these isisnds ave. % tAet.
supposed 90 b. he remnants 81 the 'ost
continent There ls positively nothing tan
gible upon which % hang ine story p me
Loot Atlantis But like most traditions
which persist IN living on. after the world
has grown TOO practical 90 have ans use
for them II ha- ioae;}eFs a foundation
Ia SOM important fact Of olden time the
tragedy 81 which wac Boz that sacfiuce %
the EARN 60 the waters Of the deep Wnich
had become familiar even 10 the ancicnts.
Coast Disturbance.
That the coasts o. England have been
visited b. many ana disastrous tdal
waves there b. abundant evidence. IN
fact. the ocean bar. which surrounds
nearly the whole ~ England ana Scot
land Is evidence enough that the entire
shore lire o. 81 exists to-day IS itself me
result o. a great submersion. or series
Of suhmerslonH which ages ago over
flowed the old coast rushed iushoremade
new land lines and. h0il0Wing ouf be-
tween the new line and the Oh new
ocean bed. leaving what had been callel
the coast line % be- forever after called
The bar" The bar Is % b. found iu near
Is every port q England. eloquent te~fi-
rnony 20 The udsl waves Of the past But
there is comparatively little % other tes-
tlnony save such as has been preserved
in the records 81 seaport towns.
one Of the greatest catBclysms ever oc-
curing On the British coast was that on
the coast u Lincolnshire. IT, la5l. THIS
has been commemorate IN verse ~ Jean
Inzelow In the Poem emitted High Tide
on the coast OF Lincolnshire The LIN
colnshlre coast BE- almost uniformly low
ard marshy-Fo low. in fact. az some
places that the shore requires the defense
Of an ernhanknent 20 save u from the en-
croachments OF the sea a sea wall had
been built when the great tidal wave ~
1871 came but IL appears 10 nave been
absolutely useless as a defense OF the
country ana the people 40 that time AZ
the present day the fens 81 Lincolnshire
ere defended from the North sea hy some
OF the finest engineering works ~ me
world. ana yet IL is much 70 be doubted
whether they would prove effective
against such invasions az that which has
just overwhelmed Galveston.
rides and Earthquakes.
Many Of the most fatal tidal waves Of
which W have any history have been &C
companied By earthquake, adding 20 theif
horrors. but making 81 impossible - say
whether the earthquake 81 the inundatioh
has been the more fatal ana destructive.
The great earthquake Of Lisbon. io 1863,
was accompanied by tidal wave which
rolling no the Ta9us river from the ocean.
submerged 81 the lower parts % the ciif
end destroyed Thousands of lives which
might possibly have escaped the earth
quake shocks when the earthquake came
IN Caracas ~ isi2. there was tidal wave
81 Ia Guyra. fhe enfrepoTt OF Caracas.
which destroyed many lives Five years
ago . series % tidal waves. accompanied
b o. alternating with earthquake shocks.
visited some 81 the most populous ISLANDS
81 Japan The tldal waved reached from
sftesn 20 twenty miles inland. being 81
such hight force and volume ten miles
-.
stricted 20 narrow valleys, a. 10 b. cap
able of destroying much life The mum
Der - human lives lost AZ that time has
never been stated ln an English newspa-
per bat thaf IL ran far into the thousands
there g. no room 10 doubt.
Many m.morabiy great inundations have
occurred Ia the United States during the
last half century. The earliest Of these
Of which there o. ang accurate record oc-
CURED IN 1914 when the Mlsslssipp reach
% higher point than it has az any other
tine New ENGLAND. Pennsylvania and
SeN YORK suffered great damages by
floods Ia January. is.6 That was the year
81 which Moutreal had iis memorable IN
undation. in which 80 persons were drown
81 and g.. yp0oo0 worth OF property destroy
ed The Montreal calamity occurred. how
ever. three months later than the floods
IN the United states just mentioned. The
most destructive freshct OF isss though
took place IN TeNaE. on Aug. ~. In which
many houses IN Galveston were blown
down BY the hurricane which accompanied
the HOOD The loss N that city and neigh
borhood by wind and water were thirty
eight lives and S.co.eo worth OF prop
erty.
Mississippi Floods.
The spring rise Of tho Mississippi IN
1855, carried the river IN some places 20 a
hight not touched before In many years
In Illinois the destruction was great
especially a. Quincy and Hannibal The
highest point Of that years freshet was
reached on May u. Mexico had heavy
rains and destructive flood a month la
ger than this In which the loss Of life was
put a. 1880 By some accounts and the loss
Of property st s3.eo0oo
on May 81. isse. the bursting % a res
ervoir a. ConemauQn lake caused the well
remembered food AZ Jamestown Pa The
wall Of water sraversed the eighteen
miles between the reservoir ond Johns
town IN seven minutes. The Pennsylvania
Railroad bridge az 1ohnstown held some
Of the water back and collected a mass 81
debris which caught me and increased the
destruction Revised figures put the loss Of
life ~ 2ifg. and the loss OF properly al
100000 About 81 0oOo0 was received
from contributions throughout the world
ana distributed among the sufferers.
In March and April. 1890, the Mississippi
and several II sc tributaries OVERLOOKED