The Washington times., 1921-01-09
Today
The Fire Beneath Us.
Chance for Mr.. Rockefeller.
One TrllIlon Years.
What Will They Bring?
ARTHUR BRIsBAN
lcopysisht. is?i.)

Underneath the city OF ocrsh-
ton, five hundred feet down, u rag
ing fire spreads over fifty acres.
The remaining coal and timbers
in abandoned mines are burning.
People living above the fire worry
but unnecessarily, according 10
the firemen. We forget we all live
over q fire that, II we could real
ize Il, would make Pennsylvania
little fifty-acre fire seem Ike
smouldering match end.
Volcanoes tell us what hres
blszo beneath us, as they spout
liquid stone, melted by the intense
central heat. -,
How deep down earth's fires
are, from what depth the lava
flows, we do not know.
The deepest hole ever dug. ncar
Paramount, w. Va, was only q
mile and a half deep. II would
have TO be four thousand miles
deep to reach the earth's center.
At the bottom Of that West Vir-
ginia hole the temperature was
1853 degrees Fahrenheit. Scien-
fists guess that the temperature
Of boiling water would be reached
about ten thousand feet down, and
that thirty miles down it is hot
enough 10 make marble as soft
as putty.
A British engineer advises dig
ging q shaft twelve miles deep.
1t could be done in thirty years
and would cost only a few mil
lions, q small fraction Of what
Mr.. Rockefeller has given away.
Mr.. Rockefeller ought to dig it as
a contribution to science and
"follow-up' on his oil we'll dig
ging.
All work will be done some day
by power drawn from the earth's
depths, unless we find it easier to
harness the sun and the tides. In
any case, our descendants will
look back in pity to these primi-
tive times when we boil water, ex-
plode gasoline, or harness little
waterfalls to get power. We are
like flies living on great driving
wheel, building little windmills
for power, instead Of Harvesting
tho wheel.
Just what is inside the earth,
human beings do not know ex-
actly. They will know about it
some day. as thoroughly as the
suburbanite knows his own back
yard.
One thing is certain. Astrono-
mers, by correct experiment, prove
that the earth weighs as much as
though made Of solid iron. While
part Of this weight is due TO ter
rihs pressure, squeezing the
earth's internal particles close to-
gether, it proves that the earth's
interior is largely q solid mass of
metal. The aggressive Rockefel-
Ter Of the future will dig down to
find out what it is. 1t might be,
in part, gold, platinum, or both.
For. Of course. the heaviest metals
would tend to sink deeper and
deeper through lighter substances.
Suppose some man should force
a heat-resisting pipe for two hum
dred miles or SO into the earth
and begin pumping up molten gold.
What an Interesting struggle be-
tween avaricc and conscience.
6uch gold supply would, OF
course. make gold lose its present
vsIus. Could the owner con-
scisntioHs1y sell his gold for $40
An ounce, knowing that II would
soon bs worth only 10 cents a
pound, Could he keep his secret!
Could those that bought 1t recover
on the ground Of fraud. In spite Of
its being pure gold!
mot In the least likely" that we
shall ever know what is inside Of
tho earth.
Scientists OF the same kind said
the steam engine couldn't
work, laughed at the dying ma
chine, and refused to take sub
basement stock In the telephone.
Whether or not tho inside OF
the earth is In a condition of In
conceivable heat We do not know.
scientists, as q rule, think it Is,
In any case, there is plenty of
heat down there to supply all our
reeds for a long part Of the tril-
lion (sBe Thousand biiiion) years
that we are told cur earth will
last
Volcanoes eetive in isolated 10
saiitiss, Italy, the Pssifio Islands.
JRva, ats, hst active Ga this con-
tas8t, for Instance, cause some
sseisgists to believe that the earth
iasids is red hot in spots only,
that thefs are "Beehsts" OF heat,
~ We find pockets of gas and Gil.
This is certain, Tho msst interest
lag knowledge abeut the earth is
still withheld from US,
SEINE day we shai. sail around
sis miles Up, where ne wind ever
hjsws, exsept a gentle breeze 10
he East, caused by the earth's
n9tien,
Ssms day we snaii 90 exploring
On the bottom of the ocean in
Asisht-sae;as submarines" all
H.. xun o&,oV o. <ocinr,.t, -.