Seward weekly gateway., 1907-06-01
WHEN ALASKA WAS TRoPlc

WHEN ALHoINN "TS
 Scientific knowledge aHrms that re- markable climatic changes have passed over the earth since it was without form and void" in the Archae- an age. Scieucs also asserts that while che earth has been gradually cooling during aeons ot time this pro, cess ha, been irregular, thu, alter mating periods of intense heat and comrawuye cold have rycurred in persistent succession Somuch science claims ro know and supports tts claim bv wctgh,y c.rcum,.au,ial evidence. I,nrove, tts case by geological to,ma- ctou and tos,t, remains, both animal and vegetable
 Er. science can only guess at the cau>. which suddenly embedded ,ropt- cal monsters s5 deop in ice or frozen ground ,ha, the bodies have been perfectly preserved through uncertain ara,. Tha, a'wos. instantaneous cuwa.t, disaster buried these uonic animals where ,ue remains have been ken, uu.mna.ret until their kinds have become gN..uy. species is the only reasonable solution of the anomaly
 Mos, O. ,h.-, remains have been fouua in Alaska and Siberia, ind,- eating ,ha- the carac'ysm was most uo,ea. .u those regions. No natural cause for ,he phenomenon can be con- cetved, leaving che subject one of curlog, speculation. Several bizarre ,he9..., have been promulgated and <. N. Craudal. offers rhe latest, which f, an ingenious as any. He suggest, that tvemendo.s comet, or other uomadtc heavenly body, passed in irs wayward course so near the earth as Co leave in its wake vacuum iastau,aueousIy productive of intense cold.
 The defect in this theory is that come, approaching the earth so closely might be expected to cauterize all animal and vegetable life on the planet
 Several years ago Henry Neidig, a scientific writer of Seattle, now dead, propounded the theory that a displace- meut of the earth's adjustment upon it's axis once resulted from some eX- traordinary disturbance, effecting a wide removal of the equatorial line and the pole. His guess at the cause was spacious and based upon the as- sumption of a piling up of ice weight until it caused the earth 70 roll over suddenly. The interesting feature of the theory was the assumption that before this disaster the equator ran along the earth's present volcanic belt including the western coast of ] the Americas. This would place Alas !. ka jus. above the equator.
 Netdig argued that when the earth ! jerked over, the seas, being fluid, stood . still while the land rushed under them. . This hurled a great wall of water toward the present north, inundatiug Arss..,, and adjacent regions and . drownfne every living creature. He argued also that wave QI intense cold followed the disaster freezing the water and ground m short space of time 70 great depth. The re-arrauge- ! men, of latitude placed Alaska near the north pole, where it has remained ever since.
 This theory receives some Plausl- !. bili,y from the fact that all primitive :. peoples had atradition ota tremendous ] deluge, similar to that described in !. the book of Genesis.
 Of greater interest is the apparent fact that the earth is now approaching one of it's warm periods. and that a few thousand years Of this progress ! sion will give Alaska a far milder climate than it now has. The rapid recession of it's glaciers attest the in- creasiag heat of the region. Much evidence is available that the earth has been growing warmer for a considera- ble time. In the late Tertiary or early Quaternary period a huge glac- ial wall extended down to the Ohio river scientists say. Roman history tells of deep snow 2OOO years ago in Italy on fertile plains where now it seldom falls.
 Palm trees may yet again flourish in Alaska.
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