Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-24
V0LCANI; ERUPTION is
INCOMPATIBLE SCENE
MOUNT MAUNA LoA VoMlTS
GREAT SNAKE OF FIRE
Hawaii Witnesses Grand Spectacle as
Fiery River Of Lava Reaches Sea,
Raising Clouds Of Steam and Killing
Every Living Thing in Boiling Water
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
HONOLULU, Jan. t6, via San Fran
CISCO Jan. 23.--At midnight. Wednes-
day. January 9. the people of nearly all
parts of Hawaii awoke to the realiza-
tion that the splendid spectacle of an
outbreak of Mauna Loa was before
them In Hawaii volcanic activity Is
never dreaded; it is always welcomed
1t means a spectacle. as long as 1t lasts
-inCOmparable. magnticent-and so far
as the experience of the hundred Years
of historic time goes, without danger to
life. almost without danger to property.
From the summit of Mauna Loa, a
vast dome which rears itself from a
base fifty miles in diameter and in
cludes almost half of the island of Ha-
wall. to height of 1855 feet above sea
level, a great glow began to be seen. 1t
rose in an immense column of light, re-
flecting from the oVerhanging clouds.
and seeming to spread out over Il large
area of the zenith. Where the column
left the mountain ii seemed almost
white i'm the intensity of light AS it
rose and spread out in reflection on the
clouds it assumed a deeper, redder
tinge.
The great column of light did not
burst suddenly into view, but quickly.
The column of light, a shaft at first
grew in size and brightness for several
hours. To those who have seen erup-
tions of Mauna Loa it told it's own
story. Somewher near the summit of
the great mountin the molten lava had
broken out in fiery stream forming
first a cone, and then bursting through
the side of this, started as a river of
fire and lava down the gently sloping
side of the mountain. Then it began
its descent to the sea, a stream of LIQUID
fire. forming it's own banks as it moved.
~, 1nn II
rapidly than in the middle of the
stream, but ever forced on by the
weight of the molten mass behind.
hurled from the underworld by titanic
forces.
In the distance it is a spectacle only.
Nearby there is the deep surging of the
molten mass hurled in great pillows
from the depths below.
Visible for Hundreds of Miles
This wonderful spectacle was visi-
BILE, as it has now been ascertained
FOR distance of a hundred miles in
every direction, except where great
cloud banks piled by the trade wind
on some parts of the mountains shoul-
der intercepted the view. Where not
thus intercepted it remained a pillar of
glory until the first light of the dawn
began to pale its splendors, to turn
them, as the light in the east strength
ems, into pillar of smoke by day.
AS yet no one has gone up to the
| source of the outbreak. That source is
distant from human habitation The
way to it leads up through jungle and
tcrest covering incredibly rough and
broken country, ever rising higher as
the mountain is asCended until the
timber line is reached, and then over
desolate and barren lava fields, rough
and broken, full of holes and pitfalls,
the remains of ancient outbreaks, the
dangers of these upper regions now
made doubly dangerous by snow which
covers the upper portion of the noun
tain and hides the dangers of the trail
from view.
But though no one has gone to the
source of the lava flow, the lava flow
Itself has come down to the view of
men. -Four days from the time of the
outbreak the stream of lava found its
way into the sea. In a brilliant cata-
ract of fire it plunged over a cliff into
the wtaers of the Pacific, at first hiding
itself in a great mass of steam and
killing every living thing in the waters
which it set a-boiling. But as the sea
area of the water heated by the molten
lava increased, there seems to be less
intense steam at the actual point of
contact between water and molten
lava, but a greater area from which
steam rises.
The point at which the stream of lava
reached the sea on the southerly coast
of the island of Hawaii near the bound
airy between the districts of Kona and
Kau, only the stream has so far reached
the sea- There are three or four
streams. Whether they are all from the
identical source or not is not known.
In reaching the sea the lava stream
crossed the government road, which
runs along the whole western and
southern slope of Mauna Loa, at an al
titude of about 400 feet. 1t flowed
mainly through Kahuku ranch, a do
main of $4,000 acres, though much of
it is barren and useless. Some pasture
lands have been destroyed but the dam
age is not great.