Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-01-08
This Funny Old Earth.

The other day the seacliff near Lyme
Regis, in Dorsetshire, suddenly turned
itself into a pretty good imitation of a
volcano, greatly to the alarm of the peo-
PIE living nearby.
The cause was the spontaneous com
bustion of certain intiammable material.
and one result was that large section
of the cliff tumbled into the sea with a
most tremendous crash.
Far away in the Arctic, on the north
ernmost coast Of British North America.
Il similar sham volcano is working on an
enormous scale. 4 huge cliff, lying to
the east of Cape Bathurst. is all ablaze
for distance of over twenty miles.
The face of the cliffs is scanned with
Ignite. and this appears to have been
burning for centuries. How it took fire.
or when, 10 one knows. or ever will
know And there it goes on blazing wear
after year, covering the everlasting ice
with pail of smoke and cinders
After years of effort il is now possible
to predict the weather, with tolerable
accuracy. for Il day ahead. But as for
foreteling what the earth herself will do
the next minute, You might rs well at
tempt TO predict where a flash of light
ming will strike. The forces at work be-
low the earth's crust seem to take an
almost impish delight in playing the
lliduutSI IFdIkS. some oil winch are to-
tally uneXplainable.
Some are harmless. some destructive
beyond measure. OF the latter the most
extraordinary example on record is un-
dOubtedly the destruction of St Pierre.
Mont Pelee exploded. Such a thing
has happened before. Volcanoes not I'M
frequently blow their heads off. But
why that awful cloud of white hot dust
should have rushed straight down upon
st. Pierre, killing 10000 people in less
than two minutes. is not SO easily eN-
plalnable The disaster was so local that
Morne Rouge, the suburb on the hills
close above, escaped comparatively I'M
damaged.
Lake Veruagther. a beautiful sheet of
water, the pride of Il valley in the Tyrol,
vanished in night. Next morning the
bed was bare mud. There was no earth
quake on this occasion. The lake quiet
~ 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 ''tidaI'
for want Of a better name. At uncertain
intervals the lake heaves itself up and
rises five 10 six feet in a few seconds
Why or wherefore no one knows.
Nor can anyone tell what is happening
in the Caspian sea. For wears past It's
waters have been falling, and il has
been supposed tlidt tnE great inland sea
was gradually drying up. Recent sound
iugs revealed the astonishing fact that
the Caspian is at present actually deeper
than it was a century ago. There is
only one possible hypothesis. The bot
tom of the sea must be dropping out
In 1905 petroleum was struck near the
town of Dalton. ia Texas. Believing that
an oil deposit actually underlay the town
a trial boring was made just outside the
city.
The result was alarming. At a depth
of 2JO feet the drill points fell into wha,
was evidently gigantic sulterrane1n
cave, of which soundngs failed to reach
the bottom.
Presently the earth began 10 fall
away. and drop into the fearful abyss
4 huge pit appeared. which constant
~ extended. Then an the water ia the
town reservoir poured away, leaving not
one drop in the place
Some of those natural phenomena gro
quite beyond explanation In the north
ern part If Polk county Wis. there arn
| five biz holes i'm the ground. natural
| wells varying between 10 and 800 feet
! deep.
Whenever "A rain is coming. these we IS
| go crazy 4 current Of air comes roa Pc.
1 ing out with q sound that can be heard
/ nearly half q mile The air is sometimes
/ so hot il viii boil kettle AMI. az "a.
/ 50 cold that it viii freeze water.-Pi-t,-
| burg Dispatch