The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-01-11
PECULIAR UPHEAYAL
PUZZLES BIOLOGISTS

the area Of western Skamanla county.
What is that force which can cut
slice out Of the massive mountains?
W hat is that mysterious power which
can split the solid ground and twist
and Tend aud wrinkle the smooth plain?
What is the agency OF nature which is
today cieaving d section Of skamania
county -cleaving il irTesistibly, dis
turbing forests, streams, lakes and
bottom lardsY
Here lies the scene where once the
finger Of nature traced fantastic fig
ufes on the hills. At the Cascades,
familiar to every iuhahitant Of the
Pacific northwest. visited by thousands
Of tourists yearly. there are evidences
newly discovered, that some strange
power is still at work that it is not
set through with its task Of altering
the world and that it's greatest energy
is displayed along the banks of the
Columbia river.
great irregular crack is opening.
running from near the Washington
side Of the Cascades, back across the
bottom lands, through the foothills and
stabbing deep in the side Of Red noun
tain, This long crevice Is widening
steadily all the time and from the
standpoint Of natural change with ex-
treme rapidity.
The crack was first noticed less than
year ago when some pr0speetor or
hunter scrambling up the steep sides
Of Red mountain, discovered that the
old trail was changed. Timber noted
before did not seem TO be IN exactly
the same position it had held in the
past. Fallen logs had shifted their
positions and finally a deep chasm had
opened where there had been none be-
fore Investigation proved that this
split insthe hill extended for a long dis
tance, wide in some places, narrower
in others, varying in depth, torn
through the hill side and extending
down the mountain and disappearing
into the lower lands toward the river.
Since that time, some 10 months
ago, this crack has been growing. cut
ting deep, working wide and extending
farther all the time. Ii runs with
few breaks for perhaps seven miles,
terminating near the rapids below the
locks. Its other extremity is far up
in the side Of the cliffs and is not yet
! fully determined. Each new inspec-
ti0n finds it penetrating farther and
getting wider and deeper all the time.
1t is not an old erevice worn and en-
larged by the melting SHOWS Of spring (,
it is new cleavage entirely, and one
which is growing now and growing
fast, And the agency behind it caus-
! ing it, is something tremendous 1t is
| just as If some enormous hand is tear
ing loose a great section Of earth and
rocks comprising a number Of square
miles in area and Of unknown depth
and showing it il relentessly down
| toward the Columbia.
The evidences Of the effects Of this
crevice- forming power are so numer-
Gus that it is difficult to make choice,
aud it would be impossible to catalogue
them all. Perhaps the most speetacu-
lar of all is found on Red mountain,
where the crack is largest. In one
spot this gigantic hand has torn the
mountain side open right under the
base Of a large cedar tree. The roots
of this tree were widespread and are
now clinging to the banks of the crack
As the power tears the earth apart it
is splitting the tree through the heart
and .,lit - NH I,a,'o e'J tto
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the Columbia. Already the tree Is
ripped open until the two halves Of
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