Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-02-07
The Bottom of
the Ocean Only
Unknown Place

/
plot Of the birdmen, we usually ask
What will they be doing next?" mean
ing how much further in the line of
transportation will our present accom-
plishments carry us.
When we stop to consider the avail.
able fields Of transportation we are
keenly startled to learn that the hui
man family has but four fields open to
the endeavor of its genii. The magni-
tudue Of operation in water and land
transportation has partially blinded us
to the view of yonder horizon, the hui
man limit of endeavor. With all the
bounty of great and extravagant ma
ture we are bound down to but four
avenues Of travel. These are on the
land, on the ocean, in the air, and last
ly to come into commercial use, under
the ocean.
We safely operate fast trains over
the surface Of the earth Likewise, we
plow all waters of the globe in secur-
ity. Like the babe no longer content
ed to crawl when he can walk, we no
sooner acclimate ourselves to water
and land, until the airship and flying
machine appear asking for recognition
in the commercialism of the world. At
present in its infancy, navigation of
the air with attending comforts and
protection, will soon be an established
affair in the third cycle of human trav-
el After this novel means of trans
portation through the atmosphere be-
comes common, the human spark of
inventive genius, forever uneXtinguish-
de since the world began and never to
be eXtinguished so long as humanity
remains, will seek new fields. Here
genius will find it has entered the last
lap of variety. After we have nego-
tiated submarine travel we must turn
back for the first time in this history
and content orsolves with perfecting
our exhausted limitations.
Aerial navigators interest us with
their descriptions of beautiful scenes
observed from the sky-craft. Rapidly
passing over mountain and fertile val
ley the hand of Master Workman is
seen whose works lie silently and
peacefully at rest. No motion save
the mighty winds in the forests and
the occasional yawn of the sleepy vol
cano, disturbs the inertia of the sta
tionary beauties of nature.
On the restless sea all is motion, in
contradistinction to the peaceful still
ness of the land. The play Of the
waves Of the calm sea draw our at
tention to the mighty roar and thun-
derous laugh Of that wild gigantic
waste concealed beneath purling crests
of dancing green, decked in whitest
foam. Fickle like the thoughtlessness
of youth, sombre like that Of old age,
mighty like the power of a good man,
terrible as the merciless hand Of a
Blue Beard, old ocean gives the travel
er food for sober thought. Surface
travel upon the ocean frequently draws
upon our melancholy nature, so great
is the waste of endless water, yet later
refreshes us with its invigorating air
and sublime inspiration.
With all that we have welded our
rails Of steel over the entire surface of
the inhabitable globe, and have driven
our ships to every quarter, yet the
story they tell is all present day. Land
travel tells us nothing of the secrets
Of ages that lie buried under the quI-
escent surface Witnesseth the discov-
cry by Prof, Charles Hallock of that
ancient city of Enoch, built by Cain,
at klamath, over which the new South
ern Pacific cutoff would have run for
years without the slightest intlmation
that 1t was travelling over sacred
ground. II Prof. Halock is correct
all passengers via klamath cutoff
Will have to ride with their hats of.
Even the monster ocean tells us moth
ing of the story Of years gone by ly-
ing at the bottom Of her depths.
The past ages lie at the bottom of
the ocean. Hermetlcally sealed the
record Of centuries will open like a
book to the submarine traveller. What
stories await us from that unknown
world? Marvellous tales will come,
casting into shade the Arabian Nights.
Some fresh arrival will tell us of the
accumulation Of hulks, helf-eaten
ships with their scattered debris Here
lies one whose raklsh masts tell the
story Of the plraucal quest for gold,
There another whose passengers we're
seeking the new country away to the
west Hidden away in these awful
depths are more gold Jewels and pre-
cious stones than we have on the sur
face of the earth.
Other travellers turning from these
pitlful wrecks Of human endeavor, will
look upon the beautiful botanical gar