The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-11-15
BURNING MOUNTAIN" IS
NO MOUNTAIN
AT ALL
MERELY LEAVES ON FIRE
Give Off Impression Of a
Big Hill Igaited

Professor Gould, the geologist at the
state university. who recently return
ed from a trip in the Arbuckle noun
tains has the following to say espeoi
ally for The Leader regarding the
famous so-calIed burning mountain
near Dougherty:
THE Burning Mountain. about
which there has recently been Sd
much in the papers, is in reality No
mountain at all Neither is it burn
ing. 1t is located about three miles
southeast Of Dougherty and little
more than a mile north of the upper
end Of the Washita gorge The coun.
try here is quite rough. and is covered
with scrubby jack oak timber so that
a person needs a guide to locate the
mountain A small creek is cutting
into'a hill made up of shale and ebert
This shale-chert formation, which is
| known by geologists as the Woodford
/ Chert. is found on all sides of the
| Arbuckle mountains. The shale is
soft and the stream has succeeded in
cutting back into the hill forming an
oyerhanging clin over 100 feet high
and 100 or more yards long. The de-
bris from the Cliff falls down and
forms a steep talus slope at its base
Tmbedded i'm the shale is a consid-
cradle amount of iron pyrite, or fools
gold AS The cliff is worn back this
iron pyrite weathers out and falls
down the slope until in time a large
amount of it accumllates i'm the talus
al the foot of the cliff. When the iron
pyrite comes into contact with the
air it Is oNidized ANA it's chemical
composition is changed This chemi
cal change generates heat but it is
only when large amount of pyrite
has accumulated that this heat may
be noticeable.
Leaves and other rubbish which
have fallen on the slope some times
catch fire and burn, and if there is
enough rubbish smoke may perhaps
be seen ascending from the hill.
This is the real explanation of the
burning mountain There are doz-
ems of similar cliffs in the Arbuckle
mountains where shale is exposed and
which occasionally burn but this cliff
happens to be higher than the others
and so larger masses of iron pyrite
accumulate and the burning is more
noticeable
OF course there is no connection at
all with the subterranean heat of the
earth anG this mountain is in no sense
volcano, For that matter there is
absolutely no evidence Of any volcanic
action whatever in the Arbuckle
mountains. The whole mountain
range co miles long and 30 miles wide
was elevated at one time it is true,
hut the elevation was probably ac-
complished by a series of slow and
gentle oscillations such as have been
at work throughout all geological
time, and not by rapid vigorous
movement such as a volcano There
is data 20 prove that at one time the
mountains stood 10000 or 10000 feet
above the plains and have since been
brought 10 their present level by
erosion, but no evidence of yolcanl.
action has ever been found
Newspaper accounts of volcanoes fin
the mountains are either due TO iguor-
ance or are prompted by "A desire TO
make news. The greater part cf these
accounts are simply flakes" sent in
by space nllers
So-called burning mountains such
as the one near Doueherty are not
particularly rare. One Of the most
famous IN America is along the bluns
of the Missouri river near Ponca in
Nebraska When Lewis ANA Clarke
ascended the river in 1904 they motto |
ed a clif that was smoking and it has
been burning intermittently ever
since The conditions at that place |
are not very different from those near
DOugherty, viz, "a cliff of shale, con-
tanning iron pyrite. which oxidizes on |
exposure to the air and generating |
heat This clin is being cut away by |
the Missouri river Last year this hill /
known locally as the Iouia Bluff. was /
smoking and newspaper accounts |
stated that volcano had broken out l
When visited by the state geologist,
however. it was found that the neat
was caused by the dlsintegration Of
iron pyrlte
The same process takes place when
a mine damp catches fire Iron
pyrIte which IS often present in the
shale in large quantities is oxidized
on exposure 10 The air and sufflcient