Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-12-05
OUAKING -OE THE. EARTH
Geographical Bulletin Gives GOmpre.
heASiVe Information. ;r.4
HISTORY RECORDS MANY INSTANCES
Subterranean Upheavals Usually Ae-
companied by Great Tidal Waves
Great United States Disaster of 1911
-N4bar NofabIe Ouakes

A single graphic example OF what a
tidal wave in Chile can do is provided
by the experience of an american
naval officer, during similar up
heaval, when his vessel was carried
three miles up the coast, two miles IN
land, and dropped at the foot OF
range of the Andes Mountains.
Earthquakes and tidal waves are DIS
cussed in bulletin from the National
Geographic Society which also quotes
from a communication by the late Rear
Admiral L. G, Billings, whose unparali-
leled adventure occurred some hun
dreds of miles north of the recently de-
vastated towns. s<,s,
There is no natural phenomenon
more deeply interesting and yet SO
little understood as the seismic dis
turbances which have from earliest
history devastated the earth and car
ried terror and dismay into the hearts
of all survivors," says the bulletin.
up to 1908, it is computed by an
eminent scientist, Compte de BaHore'
there had been 59,7S2 recorded earth
quakes. OF later years, when more ac-
curate records have been kept thfy
have averaged about 60 a year. There
is comfort to the dwellers in most OF
the world to know that ga per cent. OF
recorded shocks have occurred in two
narrow. we'll defined belts-one callsu
the Mediterranean, with So PEI cent. TO
its credit, and, the other, the Circnm-
Pacific, with II per cent.-while the
remainder of the world has only per
cent, widely distributed.
U. S. Had One Major Quake.
"The United States has been singu-
larly free from recorded seismic dis
turbance, perhaps the most disastrous
being in 1911, when a very severe
shock occurred in the Mississippi ValT
ley south of the Ohio which was felt
in New York in one direction and in
the West Indies in another. This earth
quake changed the face of the earth
A vast extent of land was sunk, lakes
were formed, and even the course OF
the Mississippi river was obstructed
for time. .... ..- -
Most of the earthquakes occurring
of late years can hardly be classed
with the great ones of history, nearly
all of the destruction being caused by
uncomfortable fires. In the mere stable
zones long periods may elapse between
shocks, as for instance, in Kingston
Jamaica, 215 years intervened.
THE cause of earthquakes and vol
canoes is an elusive problem, not yet
settled to the satisfaction Of the
scientists. Tremors of the earth may
be caused by many things. The ex-
plosion of mines, falling in of caves
slipping of rock strata, and many
other movements Of the earth may
cause them; but for the great shocks
which have REQUIRED almost since the
history of the world began we must
look further.
Still Ignorant Of Causes.
Though many times there. seems to
be an intimate connection between
earthquakes and volcanoes, the law re-
garding them has not been established.
Some remarkable condolences have
been observed in late years. The ter
rible cataclysm of Mount Pelee, which,
on May 8, 1902, almost instantly kill
ed 10000 inhabitants, was preceded by
the earthquake which in January and
April of the same year wrecked
number of cities in Mexico and Guate-
mala, The distance between these
points is at least 1000 miles, showing
how deep-seated must have been the
disturbance, if, as has been suggested
there was communication between
them. The great San Francisco earth
quake was preceded only two days by
one Of the most violent eruptions OF
Vesuvius recorded in many years.
1T is also a significant fact that the
fuming island off the coast Of Alaska
called Bogoslof No. 3, appeared at
almost the same time. A revenue cut
ter, visiting this island, was astonish-
ed to see that the mountain, or hill,
some 400 feet high, on the lsland, hao
disappeared, and in it's place bay had
been formed. Soundings showed
depth of from 8 to 25 fathoms of water
Ouakes Preceded Great Katmi Ex-
pIosion.
THE greatest of recent volcanic dis
turbances which blew the top off Of
Mount Katmai in Alaska and gave
birth to the wonderful Valley Of Ten
Thousand Smokes was preceded and
accompanied by a series of severe
earthquakes"
Admiral Billings described the great
tidal wave which he saw at africa,
then in Peru, some years ago. He was
an officer on the U. S. S. 'Wateree"
which was anchored in the harbor at
africa at the time of the cataclysm.
Sometime after the initial tremor'
he wrote, "the sea receded until the
shipping was left stranded while as far
to seaward as our vision would reach,
we saw the rocky bottom of the sea-
never before exposed to human gaze
with struggling fish and monsters OF