The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-29
INSECTS AND FLOWERS AT ST. PIERRE
In the Destroyed
Obelisk, Natures
Dead-How the Volcano Oorked.

upon the edge OF the great crater.
Everything was gray within-not ST.
Tent, however, for avalanches of rock
We're being precipitated and tumbled
ABOUT IN ruthless manner, and an oc-
casional ominous roar told that the
spirit Of the mountain had not en-
tirely departed. For the better part
of ix%hours we vainly. strove to pene-
trate. the sea OF cloud and fog that
hung ahead of us. Each coming gust
seemed to give us the chance for
which we were waiting, but the rising
crater vapors kept the basin full, and
even under a clear sky they allowed
only memories of landscape" to
escape. Altho in no way unbearably
not, l found the crater rim uncOmfOrt-
ably warm and humid, it seemed to, me
more so than on my earlier visits. The
actual temperature was only IS de-
sgrees, however.
Shortly before o'clock, the oppor-
tunity for which we had so impatiently
waited seemed finally to have arrived.
Clouds and vapors died down to one
side, and. the great tower, it's crown
hanging at a dizzy height above, be-
gan to unfold. Piece by piece was
added to it-purple, brown and gray
until satS5la last 1t stood abreast Of us
virtually uncovered from base to sum-
nit The. spectacle was one Of over
whelming grandeur, and one can
hardly conceive Of it's terrorizing as
to the 10000 dead who lay in the
silent city below, it rises up a huge
monolith, $50 feet above the newly
constructed summit of the volcano.
and 5000 feet above the Caribbean
surface. Nothing of this kind has
ever been known to science before,
and felt--altho not the first in the
field to observe it-that my footsteps
had been guided to an unknown world.
None of the grandest scenes of nature
which had before seen-the Matter
horn, the Domes Of the Yosemite, the
colossus or zPopocatepetl rising above
the shoulders of Ixtaccihuatl, the
Grand Canyon Of the Colorado
seemed to impress me as this one did;
and r. am certain, at this distance from
the field Of observation, that none was
more sublime. More restful scenes
there certainly are.
The Volcano Corked.
In its geological conception, the
Tower of s-Pelee' means the extru-
sion vertically Of mass of solid lava,
which in it's nonf1uent condition has
been forced out in this way. by the
volcanic stress reacting upon it's base.
The entire tower, 30O,350 feet thick
"4ASAS LIS Oe1SS ID A1Ap1dutSu, 11Au Will
a height twice that of the Washing
ton monument in Washington, is still
being pushed up bodily, and at a
rate that is all but incredible. Dur
ing four days of my residence at Vive
the rise, as determined by the French
scientific commission, was tWenty-One
feet, and the rate of ascent was far
greater still in the preceding month.
On the side where the great obelisk
has pressed hardest on the encasing
rock, the surface is smoothed, almost
,, polished, and shows parallel: lines Of
growing. The other sides are shaggy,
and bear evidence, especially on the
side directed to Saint Pierre, of re-
current periods or episodes of erup-
ton. These, have not yet ceased.
The great volcano Of Martinique is
now plugged or "corked." How
long it will remain in this condition,
or how soon it may pass thru an
other paroxysm, the future alone can
| determine. For the present the noun
tain presents alike to the tourist and
the scientist an object of supreme In
! terest. Angelo Heilprin.