The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-04-16
The Ashes From yesuyius.

Not the least remarkable feature of
the tragedy which has just been en-
acted in the vicinity of Naples is that
practically all of the loss of life which
is reported was caused. not by lava,
but by ashes. The quantity discharg-
ed was not comparable with that
which buried Pompeii eighteen CEN
turtles ago. On the slopes of the vol
cano itselfs the depth attained proba-
bly, did not exceed four or five feet,
and in Naples the fall seems to have
been measurable by inches. for the dis
patches say, that in certain streets of
that city it was "ankle deep" Yet
scores if not hundreds of roofs within
Il radius of dozen miles collapsed
under the unusual burden gently de-
posted upon them. At least two of
the buildings SO crushed-a church in
San Giuseppe and a market in Naples
contained large numbers of people
at the time. and a considerable pro-
portion of them were fatally injured. -
The smaller particles of dust from
the main crater were lifted to a great
height-something like five miles, it
is asserted-and they may have drift
ed a hundred miles before reaching
either sea or land. Those which caus-
ed most of the damage to property
and which blockaded both city and
country highways might not have
been much bigger than grains of sand.
A part of the material elected was in
the form of red hot stones, but as most.
ii not all, of these must have assembled
in an approximately vertical line, they
cannot have fallen at a great distance
from the crater. Still, shower of
cinders alone is capable of making a
vast amount of trouble. Aside from
the harm which 1t might do by reason
of its weight. it would also constitute
a serious obstruction to traffic. In
New York five inches of snow will Of
ten paralyze the surface railways for
half a day and cause no end Of delay
to carriages and trucks. In some re-
spects volcanic ashes are worse
impeachment to travel. They will not
melt, and the complete removal OF the
nuisance must require time, especially
in localities where no provision has
been made for dealing with any such
difficulty.
A striking illustration OF the vio-
lence of the forces at work in and I'M
der Vesuvius within the last few days
is afforded by the rumored disappear
ance of the uppermost seven hundred
or eight hundred feet of the volcano.
Should the statement be verified,
part of the loss might be attributed
to the sudden removal of a cone of
loose cinders which had been built up
from the level bottom of the crater in
recent years. There is strong pro-
liability. however, that the rim of the
crater has been wrecked, and that
large mass of solid rock at the top of
the mountain has been shattered. A
possible explanation of the phenom-
enon-if it has, indeed, been observed
is that the passages through which
the steam and lava might have been
expected to escape had in some man
ner become partially clogged. New
outlets in the sides of the mountain
appear to have been opened, but these
might not have relieved the pressure
sufficiently. Perhaps an adequate
vent was found only when several hun
>dred feet of The volcano itself had
been blown off. At any rate, it is an
interesting coincidence that this
change. and a marked abatement in
the severity of the eruption were re-
ported almost simultaneously. 1t is
quite conceivable that the one Incl
dent is related to the other