Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-11-06

hAh'i"i "itiNH Wf"ti ~ NNl - iNANnf
understood.
River valleys are popularity regard
cd ~ evidence Of an earlier stage OF
high water, when the entire valleys
were the channels OF great streams
extending from bluff 90 bluff, several
miles IN width and perhaps 100 feet
IN depth. The fact is that such great
rivers could never have existed They
would either have emptied themselves
Of water or siltod their own channels
lfuli with mud.
, The fact ~ that rivers have cut
their wide valleys by the snme pro-
cess as they are now cutting their
banks. The channels are constantly
shifting IN their valleys. IN the past.
during long ages. the channels have
hcen shifted from ono side OF the
valleys 10 the other. many times, over
and over again. carving the valleys
wider whenever the streams have
CHANGED 90 be thrown against their
bluffs. just think Of the time neccs-
sary for the Mississippi TO cut flat
valley from ten 20 fifty miles wide
by shifting IL channel bnck and forth
between bluffs 40 wide apart The
Father Of Waters" IL evidently very
old stream--eo old indeed. that II Is
impossible 10 estimate its age In
years.
one Of the most conclusive proofs
that our continents are melting away
before the continued process 81 ero-
sion We find In the fact that an riv-
ers carry down slit and sand 90 the
sea. observations made by two en-
gincers, Humphry ana Abbott. hair
a century ago. showed that the guam
tity OF rock material brought down
To the gulf by the Mississippi ~ sur
ficient TO lower the valley drained
hy the river 60 the extent of one foot
In some 5000 years. The GanRes
river works must faster than this.
All rock material carried by rivers
IN not mud or sand Filtered river
water Is not pure. n contains VAR
ipus materials IN solution. These
also count toward the destruction ~
the land.
land BIown Into Sea.
The wind Is also a factor In the de-
struction Of the land over ne con-
lincnts the air Is seldom free from
dust. Some dust Is quite coarse
Much of thia settles 90 wooded re-
glons Of the world. Stll more settles
over the wide cXpanse of the sea. In
deserts, ana In scmi-arid countries
such as the western pl8teaus Inv the
United States, the work OF the wind
D. perhaps as effective in the de-
struction of the land az the rains
are.
That the lands WELD 90 the action
OF the elements h. also most com
clusively shown by the land itself
Reducing this proof To- its simplest
formula. Il h this: Where the ground
Is hardest the land 10 highest. Water
and wind remove soft rock more rai
idly than hard and tough rock
Why should We always find hard
rocks on the hills. lf they were made
in any other way than by erosion?
To ls the valleys that mvc been H,s1a.
not the hills The valleys and the
low places have been carved out
little faster than the hills and ridges,
or the divides The high places have
been lcft, usually because they hap
pen 90 have suffered least from the
general destruction always In prog
grcss owing 90 their more effective
resistance.
This same law is also illustrated in
river valleys ana In the valleys 0f
smaller streams. Valleys are always
widest where the formations are soft
est. In crossing belt OF hard rock,
streams have narrow valleys This
Is true oven of the valleys of great
rivers. In crossing sandstone
country. below Clinton, the valley of
the Mississippi river narrows from
eight miles above this sandstone 90
not more than two miles. Below the
sandstone country the river valley
again widens To nearly ten mii,s.
There is another interesting lesson
60 bee learned from what has teen
said about the general progressive
destruction OF all the lands ~ the
earth. Il Is that what we now sec
on the surface of the earth was once
far down IN the ground Mua: lard
h covered with coil AMI wrh
mantle Of what We sometimes speak
of as "ditG, This may Doe one uT a
hundred feet thick, Il is usually
thickost on the lowlnnds. This mantle
is of recent date. formed yostereJ'
OF within the last 20 GOO years. per-
haps. II Is "a local temporary de-
post, formed by the present streams
in many eases, ana continual =
changing. Under this lies the oed-
rock. the formations which make up
the lands, the continents. Il is those
great formations that We ionk ct
as being removed by the gene 'ui cro-
sion. Long ago, in the far pact, what
now forms the surface Of the J'irock
was covered by other bedrock which
is no longer there. Thousands ot
feet of the bedrock have been ct:r.ed
60 the sea from most of the 'tate 81
Texas our houses and cur roads Dic
really built on formations which
were once thousands. or at least hin-
drcds Of feet under the earhs sur
! face. In the bedrock appearing IN
daylight today We see a part Of what
was once doep-lying strata millions
Of years ago.