The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-05-26
SEISMIC CALIFORNIA

IL 10 not 30 very long ago that earth
quakes and volcanoes played havoc
vits California when Commodore
stockton anchored In San francisco
hay. On 1876. old Pablo. an Indian. told
nam thar Tn the days Of his srandfath-
81. th- Golden Gate VAS split open %
a great Ahock. letting the waters Of the
s-a f,ow into the valley % the SaeTa-
.nento Before that time. said the In
disn. the river entered the sea some
where beyond the San jose mission
There we're scientists on board the Tag
ship Who wanted TO know whether this
story could b. confirmed by the tsst-
raouy OF the rocks. and. on looking At
the mighty cleavage OF the Gate. they
decided that the opening was OF com
parativeiy late origin. The fact re-
called 60 them that Sir Francis Drake
could not ind any bay where Is now
the port Of San Francisco and was
forced TO content himself with enter
ing Half Moon bay. a little distance 20
one eide. 81 n later time scientind
uren found the old bed OF the Sacra-
zaento near San Jose and also made up
their minds that the islands In San
francisco bay were the crests Of sub
merged hills
John Muir. than whom no one better
knoxs the California mountains. thinks
that the cinder cones OF I4assen were
In active eruption about one hundred
or one hundred and nifty years ago.
He Judges by the age OF trees growing
In the craters together with the fact
that the Eel river Indians date the out
break-~hich their traditions graphi-
ezIIy describe-soue four generations
back
III ws accept the view that volcanic |
eruptious are sometimes caused by
chemical reaction-and there Ia good |
reason 20 do so-then u follows that
California IL not yet out OF danger. At
the Geysers where strange springs boil |
and squirt and where steam blows out !
Of great holes with enormous force. l
there In n marked showing OF chemical
energy. Some OF the chemical waste
sppears In pink terraces like those OF a
famous volcano In New Zealand. All /
over the State hot springs abound and
ihcs- are usually held to have some
relation TO the causes that produce
eruptious IL was the presence OF n
not spring In the crater OF an old vol
-ano OF Japan. supposedly extinct.
which led Prof. Milne TO warn the pub
&c that tbs mountain was not dead
rhe next year It's cap blew on. destroy
ae three townships- shasta. the great.
10 A.. lta1ffnrrIn Il
ias . warm spring In the crater: but
Z 10 n great while since lava came from
hat mountain When IL did. however.
,iaces forty miles away got more than
heir shAre OF "a
In the southern part OF the State
'ixns OF volcanic action abound. espe-
tally In Inyo county where the earth
luakes OF 1888 were no severely felt
rhe Colorado desert. where the remains
~as raised bodily above the waters
hat once covered IL. Sea shells are
CATERED on It's sandy surface A little
urther south. In Mexican California.
here 10 n large area OF active mud
,ryscrs and bubbiIng inky lakes
So IL II far from certain that Cali
ornIa. which now has nothing worse
han earthquakes TO contend with. may
'ot one day zee an ancient crater re-
ume business. Perhaps such n thing.
assuming no catastrophe to follow.
rouid be n gain: for clearly. the i'm
risoned gases under California. and
rhich give 10 80 many seismic shocks.
eed q vent such as an active volcano
My can provide.