The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1906-09-06
'THE EARTHQUAKE ZONE
South America Has Had Many
Disasters In the Past.

Disasters In the Past.
VALPARAISO OFTEN DEVASTATED.
City Inaptly Named "valley Of Para
disc" Twice Before shaken by De-
.tructive OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Sack
ed In Its EARLY Hisfory-American
Dluejackets KILLED There In 1901,
Almost Causing War.
The region which has suffered 80
heavily by the recent earthquake In
South America Is the center of a vast
area which for centuries has been
visited periodically by earthquake
shocks. The frequency Of these shocks
IN the Andes Is expressively told by
the name given this region by the In
dians, says the New York Sun. They
call It Cuscatlon-"the land that swings
like a hammock"
One OF the most terrible of South
American earthquakes was the one
which entirely destroyed the city OF
Caracas, Venezuela, In 1872. 1t lasted
less than one minute. In Ecuador, In
1850, the city of Quito was almost
wholly destroyed.
For three days In August, 1868,
the whole south Pacific region and
Hawaii, Japan, Alaska and Peru
were shaken by an earthquake which,
among the atolls or coral reef islands,
lifted steamships clear over the coral
reefs and left them inside the dough
nut-like barriers The same shock
caused a tidal wave along the west
coast Of South America fifty feet high
In places At africa, seaport OF Peru,
which had been often before nearly
destroyed by earthquakes, every house
was leyeled, $12.OOO,OOO worth Of prop
erty was destroyed and 900 lives were
lost
The tidal wave which swept inland
from the sea at africa carried with 1t
the United States steamer Wateree
and other vessels and left them strand
cd high and dry three miles inland. To
this day the hull Of the old Wateree Is
used by Peruvian poems ns summer
resort and boarding house. The shocks
lasted for two days. occurring about
every half hour. Among the curious
results Of this earthquake was the
opening Of broad fissure in the
earth, disclosing large number Of an
cient mummies which had been buried
IN the sand facing the sea. The forti-
fed island OF Alocrav, which defends
the port Of Aricn, was submerged three
times, all the garrison being drowned.
Valparaiso has been twice sacked.
thrice has 1t been racked BY earth
quakes, thrice has 1t been scourged by
fire, and once has It been drowned by
flood. No city of South America has
received 80 many visitations Of evil as
this "valley Of Paradise" inaptly SO
named by a Spanish discoyerer in the
sixteenth century.
Don Juan de Saavedra, a captnin un-
der Almagron. Spanish yoyager and
soldier of fortune, sailed into the cres-
cent bay where the city afterward
stood In the year 1892. He was struck
by the beauty Of the spot and imme-
diatcly christened this new bay on the
little explored western coast by the
name that It has borne through much
tribuiat.on since. Pedro de Valdiyia
visited the place In 1543 and formally
affirmed the choice Of the name given
the then struggling colony by Its foster
father. Don Luis de Avala, one OF the
early, governors of New Spain. made
the settlement municipality under
royal charter in 170r after 1t had been
sorely tried by many years OF misfor
tune.
In 1873 Sir Francis Drake sailed into
the harbor Of Valparaiso and lombard
ed the town, afterward sacking 1t OF
it's treasure and putting many OF its
inhabitants to the sword. Sir John
Hawkins. gentleman slave trader and
pirate, visited the Spanish settlement
later. and again the town was given up
to pillagc.
The year 1870 witnessed the first
oreat earthquake that shook Valpa-
T0lSO. IrHCliCuAAy lHC WAoAo So''e
destroyed In this CONFUSION ana only
after many years Of slow progress did
It recover. In 1922 second eartn-
nuake came to shake down what had
been rebuilt. In this catastrophe many
lost their lives. A great fire swept the
city in lS43, destroying SlOOO,OOo
worth of property. Hardly had the
fortunes OF the community begun to
mend when second fire licked up five
times MS much wealth as had the hrst.
This was In 1858. !.
When the Spanish made the last
futile attempt to destroy the republic
Of Chile In 1860 they sent n fleet Into
the harbor Of Valparaiso and the town
was mercilessly bombarded. What
with the damage wrought with the
shells and the flre that followed $lO,-
100000 was the loss counted up. Tne
last great disaster preceding the one
which the Chilean city has just SUI
fered came In 1883. when large dam
back OF the city burst and q portion
OF the business district was washed
away with great loss Of life. The city
had at the last census population OF