The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-10-30
SEEING A VOLCANO IN ACTION.
Magnificent Display Of Volcano OF ki-
lauea in Hawaiian Islands-One Of
the Greatest In the World.

| II to the volcano OF k1lauea, but ike
everyone who has been there, hest
tate to attempt a description of what
seems totally to defy all powers OF
written or verbal expression. The i'm
mensity and unapproached grandeur
of the spectacle is almost supplying,
and written words seem fiat and COL
orless when applied to it, in the same
| way that no photograph of 1t has ever
been taken, or picture painted which
Is not disappointment after one has
stood on the brink Of that awful
abyss, and all of ones senses have
struggled to comprehend the titantic
forces and their results spread out
below.
Kilauea is little like the conven-
tional volcano Of our biographies.
There is no towering mountain, such
as of Vesuvius or Popocatapetl. In
stead one makes gradual ascent
from the seaport of Hilo, in a parlor
car of a we'll equipped railway train
for 20 miles, and then continues the
same gentle rise for nine miles fur
| Their by carriage through dense for
est Of giant ferns, to come suddenly
out at the end upon the edge Of q
great precipice some one thousand
feet in height, which is the edge of
the crater. This Is at an elevation OF
about 1000 feet above the sea level
and a very matter Of fact sort of
hotel stands almost on the edge Of
the cliff.
The main crater of the volcano is
simply tremendous pit almost cir
cular in shape and from four to seven
miles in diameter, with almost verti-
cal lava sides Not far from the cen
ter of this great hole is a much
smaller pit In the floor of the main
crater, and 1t is in this pit that all
of the modern volcanic activity takes
place. This crater within crater,
is from 1000 to 1000 feet in dame
ter, and it's depth varies from a few
feet to thousand or more according
to the rise and fall OF the molten lava
lake which forms it's floor.
TO reach Halemaumau, as the ac-
tive crater is known in Hawaiian one
must go down into the main crater
by a narrow horse train cut in the
cliff near where the hotel stands, and
after reaching the lava floor travel
for three miles or more across great
black lava field, which forms most
i fantastic piece of scenery, and re-
minds one of pictures he has seen Of
the surface of the moon, To all ap-
pearances the hardened lava over
which one walks or rides might have
been poured out yesterday, but this
part of the pit has not been in ac-
tivity within historic times. Every
curve and wave of the lava which 1t
had when in molten state, is pre-
: served, and one passes cascades, and
pyramids, and streams of lava on
which he is almost afraid to trust
himself, so strongly do they resemble
plastic flowing mass. But they are
all frozen into glass-like hardness,
and the brittle broken pieces crunch
under foot like dry snow or ice crys-
= tails. The contraction of the lava In
Z. cooling has produced great cracks
running in every direction, like those
seen in dried mud deposits on river
} bank, only on a gigantic scale. Some
of these cracks still give off much
r heat and over these tourists are wont
to scorch cards as souvenirs, or COOK
I meals of ham and eggs and coffee.
But Halemaumau is the great at
traction, and everything else pales In
to insignificance beside it when 1t II
q active. During the past six months
: the fires are said to have been unu
= sually active and the lava rose tt
r within fifty feet Of the top, form
) ing lake estimated at seventeen
J. acres in extent. When ] saw 1t thu
t lake had dropped back probabl!
r three hundred feet, but cannot i'm
o agine any more wonderful displa!
9 under any other condition. The pi
had begun to fill again when | frs
Z, viewed 1t, and sometimes as many al
a dozen fire fountains would be pay
ing at one time from various part
K of the surface Of the lake. Then al
Is accumulation of gases would sudden
o ly explode beneath the surface, ant
= the whole lake would be thrown int
d violent commotion, like some hug
n cauldron boiling furiously.
t The appearance is constantly chang
t. ing. The surface cools within fey
l. minutes after 1t comes in contact wit
re the air, and forms dark brow
10 crust over the molten surface. Thi
| T. tt,0 ND hatnD frl