The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-01-18
THE LATE ALASKAN EARTH
QUAKE.

A Display of Seismic Power the World
Has Seldom Seen.
For weeks preceding the violent vol
canic eruption in the island Of Hawaii
severe admonitory earthquakes were
felt all along the western shores Of the
North American continent from the
| IsthmuS of Panama to Puget Sound
| Along the coast of California numerous
| shocks of uncommon severity occurred
| and continued until the outbreak OF
| Mauna Loa on the morning of July 4
last, when they appeared to subside
The quietness was only temporary
however, though the scene Of disturb
ance was transformed from equatorial
to Arctic ATTITUDES. Alaska was the
theater for display Of seismic power
| such as the world has seldom wit
messed, which, had it happened in re-
| giona less remote or had been popula-
| ted by others than a few scattered
! bands of ahorigines, would have been
a catastrophe at which the world
would have grown pale at the bare re-
cital. Fortunately the dreadful up
heaval had witnesses among white
| men, and what would have been an in
| cident of horror to be preserved among
| the traditions OF few terror-Stricken
| Indians was cerefully observed by men
| whose probity places their recital be-
| yond the suspicion Of a doubt. The eff
| feet Of the shocks were noticed far at
sea by navigators, from which the
enormous extent OF the disturbances
can be easily calculated.
The Puget sound country was coinci-
IDENTIFY shaken and from all accounts it
would appear that with Mount ST. Eli
as as a center the region affected by
the shocks was fully four thousand
miles in diameter. The effect has been
to permanently change the contour OF
portions of the Alaska coast. Many
well known islands have been swal-
lowed up and others risen in their
places. Landmarks well defined and
known toSevery navigator of the coast
have disappeared, and every glacier
from juneau and vicinity, including all
those known to tourists in Glacier bay
and elsewhere, have suffered mutila-
ton. which destroyed their wondrous
beauty and leveled their mighty ram
parts FOR thousands of feet back from
the sea. In the northwest territory
volcanoes are reported to have been
seen in ranges where they We're never
before observed Puget sound was vio-
lently shaken, and in the distant is.
lands Of the Alaska archipelago severe
earthquake shocks excited intense
alarm Along the coast near Mount st.
Elias the upheaval was accompanied
by huge and devastating waterspouts,
while enormous tidal waves rushed In
from the sea with overwhelming pow
err Great rocks fell from the sides of
the mountains and crashed into the val
leys below. The earth moved with the
awful velocity and undulation of the
waves of the sea, shaking mountains
from their bases and prostrating the
huge forests that covered their slopes
The date of the earthquake was Sep
TENDER 10. though warning shocks had
been felt for some time previous.
Three white men were prospecting on
the shores of Disenchantment bay,
which lies at the foot of Mount st. Eli
as and contains the great Hubbard gla-
cier, which has been observed only by
scientists and explorers lying, as it
does, far beyond the route of tourists.
and about fifty miles west of Yakutat
bay. The prospectors were camped on
ridge separating large fresb-water
lake from the ocean, A violent shock
threw down the obstruction, and the
great flood from the lake swept down
the bank, carrying the three men along
with it, Concurrently, great tidal
wave swept into the bay, which washed
the men back again and left them high
and dry upon the side of a mountain.
They describe the oscillation of the
earth as terrific, and were witnesses to
the destruction of the whole front of
Hubbard glacier, with its face of solid
ice extending several hundred feet |
above the tide. For a mile from the
sea the glacier was fractured and |
thrown into the bay. The men fled to
Yakutat bay, fifty miles distant, and |
reached that point after a journey be- |
set with peril At Yakutat bay, Rev. |
Sheldon Jackson, educational superin-
tendent of Alaska, happened to be visit
ting. He graphically describes the tire
nendous commissions accompanying the
shocks, the undulating shores as the |
earth wave swept back and forth, to-
gether with the enormous tidal waves |
which rushed into the bay and were en-
quilted in the crevasses which opened
along the shores. The terror inspired
among the Indians at the Yakutat mis-
sibn was unspeakable, though no lives
were lost.
The most disastrous and permanent
effect of the earthquake is seen among
the glaciers. Foster glacier, near Ju-
neau, has had it's beauty almost de-
stroyed. All that portion of it fronting
IN Taku inlet, which the sun had sculp-
tured into wondrous and enchanting
forms, had been thrown into the sea,
and rumor asserts every glacier on
Glacier bay, including the Great Muir,
1as suffered the same catastrophe.
Tourists in Alaska can never forget
heir first impressions of the mighty
Muir glacier 1t extends landward for
over forty miles, frozen river with
'ver twenty lateral branches, 1t fronts
Upon the sea for two miles and a half,
vail Of ice from two to three hundred
eet in height. Soundings give it
lepth of seven hundred and fifty feet
below the tide, so that from base to
base it is one thousand feet high
from this wall Of ice every minute
here drops into the sea forty-five !
thousand tons of ice, or every day no |
ess than two hundred million cubic
re, hat 1,n 1,n1n fro, | l