Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-07-09

Managua, Nicaragua. July o.-The
Democratic of this city reports that
the volcanoes ofNIirad Vale and Rim
cond Nieja. in Costa Rica. situated re-
spectively eighty and sixty miles south
east OF lake Nicaragua, are i'll active
eruption.
Washington, July 9.-Followins the
recent devastating eruption in Martini
ique and st. Vincent islands. in which
it is estimated 10000 persons met death.
there was much discussion of the dam
ger to the isthmus from like disturb
ances.
1t was recalled that there were many
active and extinct volcanoes in Nicara-
qua and Costa Rica. and this fact was
quoted as an argument by the supports
ers of the Panama route for the 18TH
milan canal. 1t WAS held that the great
waterway would be in peril constantly
and that five minutes of violent erup-
ton by one of several volcanoes near
the proposed right of way would undo
all the work and make the canal value
less.
Within the last few years 1T was
shown one volcano near the route Sc
lected throws up a quantity of rock and
lava large enough to replace all the ma
teral that would be eXcavated in the
construction of the canal.
That the earths crust is thinnest on
the strip of land between the two west
ern continents has been admitted for
years by scientists. The thin crust con-
tinues TO the islands SO recently visited
by disaster.
Henry III. Windsor, who three years
ago predicted the eruption of Mont Pc
lee, since that time has declared prob
able a similar and perhaps greater dis
aster in Nicaragua. Mont ConseSuina
is the volcano in that REGAIN most like
ly, in the opinion of Mr.. Windsor, TO be
the agent by which a large portion of
the isthmus would be laid waste.
No longer ago than 1885" said Mr..
Windsor. 1.-The inhabitants fled in terror
from their homes to escape threatened
destruction by Conseguina. Recently
severe earthquakes have been reported
in the vicinity of the volcano.
I'm Nicaragua there are three princl-
pal mountain ranges. The volcanoes
ere between the Nicaragua highlands
and the Costa Rican mountains.
The volcanoes form line of isolated
peaks, beginning at Omotepe, in Lake
Nicaragua, and ending with Consegui-
ria In the Gulf of Fonseeo. $50 miles.
Both of these volcanoes are still shoot
ing, occasionally ejecting ashes"
MIR. Windsor explains how Lake
NJ HOW lint n 4
deposits of lava hemmed it in and final
ly left it as today. He continued:
THE crust of the earth is extremely
thin in Nicaragua and l look for the
next great eruption there. 1t may be
more terrible than anything history has
known; like those the earth expert
enced prior to the age of man. when
mountains and continents We're formed
and obliterated by the sinking and up
heaval of the earth
Professor Robert T. Hill, of the
United States geological survey, in an
article in this months century gives
diagrams and statements to justify
those who effectively used the volcanic
argument against the Nicaragua canal
route
What Professor Hill does is to en-
phasize the fallacy of Humboldt's old
theory of the continuity of Cordilleran
range running like a backbone thru
North, Central and South America. and
binding the whole hemisphere in one
great mountain system. If that We're so.
the extinct volcanoes of the isthmus of
Panama might be regarded as danger
spots, likely to manifest unexpectedly
the same revival of malignant activity
which has characterized the craters in
the Nicaragua group and In the Wind
ward islands.