The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1905-06-28
GROVE OF ST. PIERRE
THICK BED OF SAND ABOVE UN.
FORTUNATE CITY.
Destruction That Blotted Out Gay
Paris q. the Antilles Now Almost
Forgottcn-Nature Covering Her
Work With Tropical Luxuriancs..

There is no better instance of the
,orgetfulness resultant upon con-
slant reading of the daily newspapers
han the almost complete lack of in
crest to-day in the appalling disaster
that overwhelmed the city of St.
Pierre only short time ag> A dis
,ster almost unprecedented in the
history of the human race-a city Of
Eore than 10000 Inhabitants buried
beneath the fiery food of Mont Pelee
the impression made upon the mind
of the people has in its turn been
buried beneath the daily food of what
passes for news-the details Of as
saults, divorces, scandals, fires and
foods, 80 that to-day the mention Of
the disaster of two years ago causes
moments perplexity as the listener
tries to remember when he had heard
of it before. Those upon whom the
impression made by the awful erur
ton has not yet been effaced may I've
I'M crested in the following brief des-
cr:ption of the present aspect of the
city, given by Colin Mckay, who has
lately returned from a visit paid to
the scene Of the volcanic horror at
Martinique.
fourished," he said, there is thick
bed of sand. which is already ass,lm-
ing the appearance Of a vast gray
granite rock About nine years ago
| passed close by st. Pierre in the
evening and saw its white roofs its
towers and cupolas cleaning between
the frOnded crests and 1.-the gray
trunks OF the royal palms and heard
the crash of bands in it's squares and
the tinkling of the mandolins upon
the French ships lying in the road
stead. But now the SCARED mass of
lava covers completely the gay Paris
of the Antilles, with all it's life and
color and music, as though it we're
buried under massive mauso1eum
OF granite. There are no rulns-noth-
ing at all to indicate that city of
$4,000 people had once flourished
there
Before you rises the gaunt and
i IL
awful head yelled in lazy and pestifer-
GUS vapors, its scarlet lava streaked
slopes rent with gigantic assures and
wild gorgss, and at it's base, piled up
in primeval confusion. masses of the
blown-out crest and sides. The i'm
preston which the sight of ilont
Pelee. brooding in its uncleanly
clouds of smoke ;-bove it's hideous
and awful work. makes upon you is
difficult to define.
You are awed, but hardly horrited.
In the presence of such evidence OF
natures forces you ar so impressed
with the grandeur an- majesty Of her
efforts that you do II think of the
plotting out Of such an Insignificant
thing as a city of men and their
works.
ITO the southwark, where the sub
urbs Of the city stretched over a level
plain, the earth washed down from
the mountain sides by the rains has
formed a soil in which grass and
trees are beginning to grow in
patches. In a few years, no doubt,
the tomb Of the city will be covered
with the vegetation of the tropics and
the now giant and SCARED sides Of
Pelee covered with forests of green.
All the rest of the island has emerged
from it's covering of ashes in new
beauty and greater luxuriance"-
Montreal Star.