The San Francisco call., 1905-02-03
VOLCANO
NAY BLAST
LEON CITY
Inhabitants Of Mica
ragua Town Flee
in Terror.
Mount MomOtOmbO'S Crater
AWakeS and VOmitS Great
Masses Of Lava.
Fire-Spouting Summit Cleans Like a
Flaming Torch That May Be
Seen Far Out at Sea.

1t is possible that Central America
once more has been the scene of a vol
cano horror such as scared the garden
lands of Guatemala and buried her peo-
pie in ashes when Santa Maria burst
into sudden and fearful activity a few
years ago. This time the scene is laid
in Nicaragua The volcano is Momo-
tombo.
News of the awakening of this vol
cano from a long sleep was brought
here yesterday by the steamship City
of Sydney, which arrived from Central
America late Tuesday nSght. Mono
tombo is situated thirty miles inland; ;
means of communication in that part
of. the world are crude and slow. The
demands of commerce prevented the
liner waiting for details, but from ap-
pearances when the liner left Corinto
on January 16 the latest eruption of the
volcano caused great damage to a wide
territory
Three years ago Momotombos sum-
nit began to steam and for q while
those living in the vicinity of the noun
tain watched the vapor with alarm.
There was no eruption, however and
Until the morning of January 16 the
volcano appeared to be sleeping serene
ly. Early that morning thick vapors
were seen arising from the cone-shaped
top of the mountain. AS the day wore
on the vaDor increased in density. and
by noon the volcano was vomiting thick
clouds of black and yellow smoke. Sud-
denly flames burst forth, and that
night Momotombo's summit was blaz-
ing torch, lighting the land as far as
the coast and casting the glare of its
fire far oNt TO sea.
Before the City of Sydney left Corinto
word was received that the inhabitants
of the villages at Momotombo's base
were flying for their lives and that for
miles around panic ruled the land
Fears were felt in Corinto for the safety
of Leon, the largest city in Nicarag qua
having $4,000 inhabitants and situated
about eight miles away from the vol
cano. When the Sydney reached La
Libertad cable was sent to Corinto
asking for details of the damage done
by the volcano, but no information
could be had
The country surrounding Momotombo
is thickly populated and many valu-
able coffee flncas lie within the shadow
of the mountain. News travels slowly,
even bad news, in that easy-going land.
and it may be that not until the next
steamer comes up from there will the
outside world learn the extent of Mica
ragua's aff1iction.
Momotombo is 6150 feet high, and it's
base forms a promontory in Lake
Managua. which runs into Lake Mica
ragua. Momotombo was in active erup-
tion in 1882 and again fifteen years ago.
Once upon a time the missionaries bap-
tized the burning mountains, but the
ceremony came into disfavor when
some monks who undertook to place
the cross on Momotombo never re-
turned. Nicaragua has many volcanic
mountains and has been the scene Of
some fearful eruptions. In 1885 the sum-
nit of Coseguina was blown to atoms,
day was changed to night for a space
of several hundred square miles, the
sea was covered for distance of twen-
ty-five miles from the volcano with
ashes and scoriae in layers so thick
that navigation was impeded. all YER
dure disappeared under a bed of dust
sixteen feet deep and the very shore
line encroached on the ocean and the
Gulf of Fonseca- The crash of the ex-
plosion was heard on the Bogota up
lands. 100 miles away. The eruption
lasted forty three hours, but the people
of the surrounding plains had time to
escape. with their domestic animals,
followed by wild beasts. birds and rep
tiles.