Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-11-19

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington. d. c.
The village of Someo, Switzerland,
largely destroyed by q landslide re-
Gently, is the victim of a force that
has been at work reshaping the face of
the earth since the first mountains
were built.
1t is the younger mountain systems,
geOlogically speaking, which are most
subject to these rock avalanches. Thus
the Himalayas, which represent but
infant industries, though lusty ones, in
the mountain building line, have a
way, like other youngsters of imma-
ture character, of tumbling about in a
wholesale fashiop which would result
in great catastrophes were their
slopes and valleys populated to any
great extent.
Sir William Conway describes the
matter of a little shifting of rock
which caused the formation of Gonna
lake, in the central Himalayas, where
the spur of large mountain mass
pitched bodily into the valley below.
The front of the mountain had been
undermined by springs until there was
no longer sufficient support, and in the
twinkling of an eye a large part of
the mountain slid down and shot
across the valley, damming its river
with a lofty and impervious wall.
Masses of rock were hurled a mile
away, blocks of limestone weighing 30
Co 80 tons being sent through the air
like huge cannon shots. 1t is esti-
mated that this slide carried with it
B0O,000,00O tons of rock and debris.
Plenty of Himalayan landslips quite
as extensive as this have been re-
corded in the last half century.
Aside from the study of landslides
with reference to the safety of human
life, there is economic value in their
investigation as bearing upon mans
search for the precious metals. The
geOlogist and the mining engineer look
FOR gold or other metalliferous deposits
Sin certain rock strata, and in ordinary
mountain formations these strata are
fairly regular; at least their positions
can be determined. There may be
rock faults, but these the keen geol-
ogist can trace. However, 1t is evident
that even men who are supposed to see
down a thousand feet into the earth's
crust must be perplexed when the
surface Of a mountain slides off, and
two or three strata come tumbling
down to pile up on the slopes and the
valleys to depth Of from ten to sew
eral hundred feet. This chaotic con-
ditiOn of the rocks in a landslide area
SIS therefore the despair of the miner
and most trying even to the expert
enCed geologlst.
To realize the terrific effect of re-
cent landslides, when associated with
human activities, one must turn to the
accounts Of such catastrophes as the
great Elm landslide in Switzerland ip
1881, or the Frank slide in Alberta in
1903.
The Elm Catastrophe.
The town of Elm is the highest viii
iage in the Sernf meadow. Over
shadowing it rose the steep Platten-
bergkopf, the outmost buttress of a
greater mountain mass. About half
way up this hill was fine slate bed,
which was mined in a careless manner
for school states. A crack began to
form above the mine, steadily widen
ing, and splitting the top of the hill.
1T grew to be over II feet wide, swal-
lowing up all surface drainage. Every
en- hox ha
mountain would ultimately fall, but
no one thought the danger imminent.
Rocks began to fall at intervals. Sep
TENDER IL was a rainy Sunday. Rock
masses kept falling, and the mountain
groaned and rumbled. People gath
cred at the foot of the laboring rocks
60 watch the falls. Many were inter
ested. but none foresaw real danger.
Yet the villagers then stood viewing
an impending CONFUSION that not all
the human engineering ability in the
world could avert.
suddenly a mass of the mountain
broke away from the east side of the
Plattenbergkopf, crashed down over
the slate quarry and spread out upon
the fiat. Seventeen minutes later a
second and larger rock mass crashed
downward from the west side. The
gashes made by the two united below
the peak and left its enormous mass
isolated and unsupported. Then -four
minutes later, as If pausing only to
catch its breath for the final plunge
chose who were watching the noun.
tain from a distance beheld the whole
upper portion of the Plattenbergkopi
--10,000,000 cubic meters Of rock
Nuddenly shoot from the hillside. The