The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1908-11-20
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funny Old Ear.h
Some RsmorkabIe Treks of 7bn
Weird World


The other day the sea cliff near
Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire. suddenly
turned itself into pretty good imita
tlon OF Volcano greatly 10 the alarm
OF the people living nearby.
me cause was the spontaneous com.
oustlon OF certain infiamma BILE materi
a. and one result was that a large sec.
ton or the cliff tum bled into the sea
with most tremendous crash.
Far away In the Arctic, on the north.
ernmost coast OF Bri fish North Ameri.
ca, similar sham volcano is working
on an enormous scale. A huge cliff
lying TO the east of Cape Bathurst. ia
all ablaze for distance of over 20
miles
The face OF the cliffs is scanned with
ignite, and this appears 10 have been
burning for centuries. How II took
nre, or when. no one knows, or ever
will know. And there 1t goes on blaz.
Ing year after year, covering the ever
lasting ice with a pail OF smoke and
cinders
After years of effort II Is now DOS.
sible to predict the weather. with tol.
cradle accuracy, for "A day ahead. But
as Tor foretelling win at the earth her
might as well attempt to predict where
a fash OF lightning will strike The
forces at work below the earths crust
seem 10 take an almost impish delight
IN playing the madde est pranks. some
OF which ere totally unexplainable.
Some are harmless, some destruc-
tive beyond measure. OF the latter.
the most extraordinary example on
record is undoubtedly the destruct ion
OF St. Pierre
Mont Pelee exploded Such thing
has happened before Volcanoes not
unfrequently blow their heads off But
why that awful cloud Of white, hot
dust should have rushed straight down
upon st. Pierre, killing 40, 900 people
in less than two minutes. is not so
easily expainable The disaster was
so local that Morne Rouge, the suburb
on the hills close above, escaped com.
paratively unchanged.
Lake Vernag Their, a beautiful sheet
or water, the pride OF valley in the
Tyrol, vanished in a night Next
morning the bed was bare mud There
was no earthquake on this occasion.
The lake quietly disappeared as a bath
empties when the plug is pulled out.
Speaking of Swiss lakes recalls TO
mind the extraordinary tidal waves
OF Lake Geneva. They are called
tidal for want Of better name At
uncertain intervals the lake heayes
itself up. and rises five to six feet in
a few seconds. Why or wherefore. no
one knows
Nor can any one tell what is hap
pening in the Caspian Sea For years
past its waters have been failing. and
II has been supposed that the great
inland sea was grad ually drying up
Recent soundings revealed the aston.
fishing fact that the Caspian is at pres.
ent actually deeper than II was cen
fury ago. There is only one possible
hypothesis. The bottom of the sea
must be dropping out
In 1905 petroleum was struck near
the town of Dalton, in Texas. Believ.
ing that an oil deposit actually under
lay the town. a trial boring was made
just outside the city
The result was alarming. AT
depth of $50 feet the drill points fell
into what was evidently a gigantic
subterranean cave, Of which soundings
failed to reach the bot tom.
Presently the earth began to fall
away and drop into the fearful abyss.
A huge pit appeared. which constantly
extended. Then all the water in the
town reservoir poured away, leaving
not one drop in the place
Some OF those natural phenomena
are quite beyond explanation. In the
northern part of Polk county. Wiscnu-
sin, there are five big holes in the
ground, natural wells. varying between
120 feet and 100 feet deep
Whenever rain is coming these
wells 20 crazy. current Of air comes
roaring out, with a sound that can be
heard nearly half mile away. The
air is sometimes so hot that Il will |
boil kettle, and, again, so cold that
IL will freeze water.