The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-05-25


Society. Washington. ID. c.
Y VOLCANIC eruptions and earth
Y quakes, which for ages man
" believed to be the work of ma
lignant demons or wrathful
gods, are gradually yielding the secrets
of their causes and processes to scien-
tific investigators. 1t is in an effort
to extend still further sciences. abil-
ity to understand these forces of ma
ture, and even to forecast their APP
pearances, that the National Geo
graphic society is sending an expedi-
ton this spring and summer to study
intensively the conditions in one of
the worlds greatest volcanic regions,
the smoking vents of the Alaskan
peninsula and the Aleutian islands.
The studies will be conducted by
DR.. Thomas A. Jaggar, who has lived
for many years in an observatory on
the brink of the crater of Kilauea,
studying that mighty volcanoes moods
as shown in the waxing and waning
of it's pits of molten lava. How it
has already been possible with present
knowledge to prophesy volcanic
eruption and so to save thousands of
lives, is seen in the circumstances sur
rounding the eruption of Sakurajima.
Japan, in 1914.
This greatest eruption in the an
nails of the island empire resulted in
the loss of only 30 lives and some
millions of dollars in property. Scien-
tific investigation is, in large measure,
to be credited with the relatively few
casualties, for it was through the
prediction of the imminence of the
Sakurajima outbreak that the inhabi-
tants of a populous district were en-
abled to flee from the wrath about to
come.
1t was through study of Fremont
tory earthquakes in their relation to
volcanic outbreaks that the Sakura-
jima eruption was definitely predict
ed; conversely, it is hoped that, in
time, through exhaustive study of vol
canic activities, earthquakes may be
predicted with accuracy. The phe-
nomena of the Sakurajima eruption,
therefore, are proving of transcendent
Importance to the scientific world,
and the measures which were taken
to safeguard life at that time are
being eagerly studied anew.
The volcano of Sakurajima, shaped
much like Vesuvius, rises to height
of $500 feet, directly opposite the city
of Kagoshima, in Kagoshima bay-a
tongue of water extending some 80
miles into the southern end of Kyu-
shu, the most southerly of the four
main islands of the Japanese achipela-
go. Growths of young pine trees mark
the course of old lava flows from the
two main craters of the summit.
Warning of Sakurajima Outbreak.
Prior to the eruption of 1914, Is vii
lagos, with an aggregate population of
$4,000 Industrious farmers and fisher
folk, nestled on the shores of this
small volcanic island, which nearly
filled the bay between Kagoshima and
the Osumi prOmOntory. The channel
between the, volcano and the city was
barely two and one-half miles wide.
with depth of from nineteen to
seventy fathoms, while that on the
Osumi side was only one-third of a
mile wide, with an average depth of
more than fifty fathoms. Kagoshima,
the thriving capital city of the prov
ince, with population of 10000. is
the center of Satsuma pottery manu-
facture and of a fertile farming re-
gion, producing tobacco, citrus fruit,
and sugar cane.
Men of science had long known
what lay in store for Kagoshima. EXl
perience had taught observers that
when ''swarms' of earthquakes begin
in the vicinity of an active volcano.
the underground dragon" is writing
and preparing to make trouble.
In 1909 and 1910 two writer's pub
lished warnings that Sakurajima was
likely to erupt explosively after vio-
lent premonitory earthquakes.
Rainfall during 1913 at Kagoshima
had been unusually light, as had been
the case ten years and twenty years
previously, each of those dry years
having been followed by some activity
in one or more of the volcanoes on
the island of Kyushu. Violent erup-
lions began in 1913, not at Sakuraji-
ma, but on Kirishima, where there
were three outbursts, the last two be-
ing on November and December 8.
On Sakurajima, however, earth
quakes began to occur in "swarms"
and people began to jump. Three
strong shocks were felt on the after
noon of January 10, followed in the
evening by two more. The next morn
ing there were three strong shocks,
accompanied by rumblings. before sun