The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-01-05
American Naval Officers Expert
ence Recalled by Recent
Disaster in Chile.
DROPPED At FOOT OF ANDES
Recedlns Sea Leaves Ships Stranded
and Exposes Ocean Bottom, Then
Returns and Sweeps Every
thing Before 1t.

Washington single graphic ex-
ample of what tidal wave In chile
can do Is provided by the experience
of an American officer, during sim
liar upheaval, when his vessel was
carried three miles up the coast, two
miles inland, and dropped at the foot
of a range Of the Andes mountains.
Earthquakes and tidal waves are
discussed In bulletin -om the Ma
tional Geographic society which also
quotes from communication by the
late Rear Admiral l.. q. Billings
whose unparalleled adventure oc-
Cured some hundreds Of miles north
Of the recently devastated towns.
"There Is no natural phenomenon
more deeply interesting and yet so lit
tie understood as the seismic disfnrb-
nnces which have from earliest his
tory devastated the earth and carried
terror and dismay into the hearts OF
all survivors" says the bulletin.
"Up to 1903, II is computed by an
eminent scientist, Compile de Ballore.
there had been 159,7S2 recorded earth
qualles. or later years, when more
accurate records have been kept, they
have averaged about sixty year.
There Is comfort to the dwellers In
most of the world to know that "a per
cent of recorded shocks have occurred
I'm two narrow. well-defined belts-One
called the Mediterranean. with 53 per
cent to its credit. and. the other, the
Circum-Paclfic. with Al per cent
while the remainder Of the world has
only O 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 very severe
shock occurred In the Mississippi val
ley south of the Ohio, which was felt
In New York in one direction and In
the West -ldies in another. This
earthquake 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 OBJ
structed 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 more
stable zones long periods may elapse
between shocks, as for Instance, In
Kingston, Jamaica, where 215 years
intervened.
"The cause Of earthquakes and vol
canoes Is an elusive problem. not yet
settled to the satisfaction OF the
scientist. TreInors of the earth may
be caused by many things. The ex.
| plosion of mines, falling In OF caves
slipping Of rock strata and many 9th
er movements Of the earth may cause
them; but for the great shocks which
have recurred almost since the his
tory Of the world began we Lust look
further.
Though many times there seems tS
be an intimate connection between
earthquakes and volcanoes, the Law
regarding them has not been estab
lished. Some remarkable coincidence
have been observed In late years Tn,
terrible cataclysm of Mount Pelee
which, on May S, 1902, almost instant
ly killed 10000 inhabitants, was pre-
eeded by the earthquake which Il
January and April Of the same yea
wrecked a number OF cities In Mexic,
and Guatemala. The distance between
these points is at least 1000 miles
showing how deep-seated must hav
heen the disturbance. II, as has beel
suggested there was communicates
between them. The great San Fran
cisco earthquake was preceded onl,