South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-01-11

~ ACfll \ - 4 IN L. 10 jon. ~
After more than a month OF un-
precedented activity Maura Loa is
now .make'-dead." writes Mrs. Shir-
ley Foster Allen. in a communica-
zion TO the National Geogra phic So
ciety
IL seems as If Hawaii though
small. must have just so much at
tent;on and so every so often she
eNplosively projects herself into the
arena of the worlds happenings
Not content with her share in the
big show in Europe, she decided TO
stage "a first class side show all her
own and the two volcanoes. Mauna
Loa and Kilauea. have certainly
0one their best 10 make it the big
gest show on earth
Just a word about the geography
OF the place. In the first place so
many people seem 10 think the
word Honolulu embraces all there
is 20 the islands and in the second
place. the general conception seems
Honolulu's backyard, as it were
and that we Honolulans take our
daily exercise by running up TO the
crater every morning before break
fast Honolulu is located ON the is
land of Oahu. third island i'm size in
the group while the volcano, or
rather volcanoes. are located on
Hawaii. the largest and youngest is
LAM. with an area Of more than
1000 square miles. which lies near
~ 200 miles southeast of Oahu.
might add that after making the
trip from Honolulu TO Huo Cthe
largest town on HawaiD in one Of
the small inter-island steamers. one
would be ready 10 aver that the big
island was much farther removed
than this
Ahead Of Schedule.
Although scheduled for per
Torrance every nine years. Mauna
I.oa took the volcanologists by sur
prise and gave her celebration sew
eral years too soon Heralded by
earthquakes and accompanied by "a
seyies of tidal waves and quakes
she has proceeded to give us the
most spectacular exhibition within
the memory of the oldest kamaainas
cold residents
The first indication Of volcanic
activity was the presence OF pc
Culiar caulihOWer-S shaped cloud
81,
days later. on Sept. %. the whole
heavens were lit up with an apricot
glow. from a huge vent in the noun
tains side. a flood Of molten lava
was belched forth. Spreading out
into a great shallow stream, it came
roaring down the mountain slope.
burning forests, carrying huge trees
and immense boulders on its sur
face-sweeping everything before
it, With a speed varying from one
TO 90 miles an hour, according to the
country it was passing over. it
broadened out until it was nearly a
mile i'm width After wiping out the
government belt road. razing tele-
phone poles and destroying a vast
amount of property, the red hot lava
tumbled over a high precipice and
plunged kissing into the sea.
ON Western slope.
This outbreak was on the west
ern slope Of Mauna Loa, occurring
at the 6.5OO-foot level. less than
halfway to the top of the mountain
whose rounded summit rises majes-
tically 1855 feet above the sea.
This flow reached the ocean on the
Kona coast of Hawaii near Alika,
the small village for which it has
been named. I'm its downward
course. it followed the general di-
rection of the 1916 flow but was
much more rapid i'm its progress as
il was only some % hours from the
time of the outbreak until the first
lava poured into the ocean I'm the
case of the earlier flow, a period of
more than a day of apparent mac
tivity interviewed between the gas
explosion which tore the great hole
I'm the mountain and the actual APP
pearance Of the lava
Glow Visible For Miles. 90.
"A number Of excursions We're
made i'm October from Honolulu.
and. i'm approaching the flow from
the sea i'm the early evening. the
glow from the lava was visible for
many miles before Alika was reach
ed Drifting within 200 yards of
the point where the liquid rock was
rushing into the sea. the scene
stretching before one was awe-in-
spring Slowly the smoky haze.
from the burning forests which
hung over the source %. miles away.
lifted and the river Of fire stood out
in its fun glory holding one speech
less and speHbouud. Leaping from
paH to valley. rushing uphill and
roaring down. the fiery flood thun-
dered down the mountain slope.
carving ON its bosom rocks as big
as houses that were tossed about as
if they were mere pebbles AS the
stream of blazing lava neared the
coas-1ine. it appeared 20 gather
more speed. taking the final plunge
over "a I00-foot cliff ar "A terrific
rate. and looking for all the world
like "a fiery Niagara. As the red
lava came iu contact with the wa
ter great columns of steam and
gas like huge waterspours. We're