Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-15
THE OLCANOINDUsTRY
Recent Eruption of vesuvius
and Its Result.
HAD BEEN GOOD FOR YEARS
The Most Disastrous Outbreak
Known of Record.
KRAKATAU'S RAMPAGE IN 1888
Was Heard 5000 Miles and It's Eff
feet Eneircled the Globe, but
No One Was Killed.
KRAKATAU's RAMPAGE IN 1873;

| When one considers the number of volca-
| noes there are in the world and the destruc-
| ton they cause when eruptions occur, the
| earth seems to be a fearsome, dangerous
| place to live in. The worst of 1t is, tno,
there is no other place to live.
/ When one traces the volcano belt 1t
seems to g:rdle the world about the equa-
| tor. That is, the most of the famous vol
| canoes are scattered in the tropic belt. But,
| as a matter of fact. there is a line of them
/ reaching up the backbone of each hemi-
| sphere. The Andes are full of them. There
| is inc extending through the Rockies; the
| peninsula end of Alaska is like scorpions
tail, tipped with fire, and volcanoes are
| sprinkled through the length of Africa, in
Central Europe and Asia, and in the East
| and West Indies.
| 1t may be good thing in way that the
| earth has so many safety valves. They may
! have saved the old globe from blowing up
| a good many times. But it is seldom that a
| volcanic outbreak does more than local
| damage. 1t depreciates the price of real
| estate in its immediate vicinity, however,
| and makes the local population wonder why
| they insisted sitting on the lid after
| the steam gauge had shown a dangerous
| ue gree of pressure
Noticeable Around the World.
| The only time in recorded history that
| volcano ever went such a wild rampage
| as to make itself noticeable all over the
world was the great outbreak of Krakatau
| Ill 1888 The noise of explosions from this
| eruption was heard at distance of 5000
| miles The disturbance affected the tides
| almost over the whole world. The volcanic
| dust that was thrown aloft was carried in
belt clear around the world, and it did
not clear out of the earth's atmosphere for
tEree years. Curiously enough. the erup-
tlon or hrakatau did no damage, as the is
| land where it stands is uninhabited and
| though 1t was blown up and the whole
lace of the ocean In that region was chang
| ed there was nobody hurt. But the result
| ing tidal waves wiped out 16o villages and
| caused a loss of 5000 lives
| Inc worst of volcano Is that once a
volcano 1t is never safe to trust it as ex-
| tihcl Like Fuzzy Wuzzy, 4" Els all 'ot sand
| an ginger when alive and 'e.s generally
| shammin' when 'e's dead" That was the
| way with Fesuvius. which has been one of
| the most reliably active volcanoes through
| most of the Christian era yesuvius WIS
| supposed to be good and dead when Sparti-
! Gus and his band of gladiators took refuge
| N us crater and made the Roman legion
| aries look like bunch CT Russian reseryists
| charging a Jap battery.
| PesuVius was then overgrown inside and
out with forest of hundred-year-old trees
| and looked about harmless as a eat
| sleeping on hearth rug. But in the year
| OF our Lord 80 she awoke with a jump and
| wiped out Pompeii and Herculaneum kill
| ing Pliny, the elder, whose Unsuitable curl
| osity prompted him to go across the bay to
| learn what was going on. How many others
! persisted in that eruption has never been
| definitely ascertained, but the population
| Of two cities was practically wined out
and the land outside of Naples was a desert
waste for century and believed to be ac-
| cursed by the gods.
The People Forget.
| Then people began to grow careless and
| again they took liberties with the old Sleep
| ing monster. PompeIi and Herculaneum
were forgotten and new villages ard vine
yards were planted on the slopes of the
| mountain and corner lots were staked out
around the base. But Vesuvius was only
| waiting its chance, and at intervals it
walked up and licked it's chops spilIing
| lava over the vineyards and generally max
| Ing the region undesirable as a residence
| section. The last real serious outbreak was
! in 1872, when the noun ain did just about
| what 1t has done in the past fortnight
| killed about 1000 people and rendered the
| surrounding land unfit for cultivation for
| seven or eight years thereafter Dispatches
| say 1t VIII be almost a decade before the
ground around the mountain is fit to plant
! potatoes in, let alone grape vines.
| much more moderately conducted vol
| cano is a close neighbor OF Vesuvius.
| StrOmboH known to mariners the light
| house of the Mediterranean" 1t is on an is
/ land about sixteen miles off the Straits of
| Messna While ii does not cause the com
| motion which vesuvius does, 1t Is overhung
| almost all the time with a cloud of vapor
| against which the internal fires of the
| mountain show red at night natural bea-
| con for sailors coming and going and vis-
| BILE for miles around.
West Indies a Danger Zone.
On this hemisphere the West Indies have
| always been regarded as the danger zone,
| as far as volcanoes are concerned and Mt