Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1896 — BURSTING OF A GLAZIER. [ARTICLE]

BURSTING OF A GLAZIER.

A Frightful Disaster in Switzerland. A correspondent writing to us from Zurich. Switzerland, says: “At daybreak on Wednesday a frightful disaster took place at a distance of four miles from Kanderstag, on the Gemini Pass. A huge mass of ice, measuring 1,250,000 cubic metres, detached itself from tlie Alteis Glacier and was precipitated into tlie valley. Such was the impetus of tlie mighty avalanche that it was not checked in the valley, but dashed up tlie opposite side, which has. a slope of 45 degrees, to a height of 1,300 feet, carrying everything before it until it met a wall of rock, which sent the main mass surging back. At the foot of this rock lies, or rather lay, the ’ Spitalmatte, an exceedingly beautiful and rich mountain pasture with chalets for the cowherds, for storing cheeses, etc. At the time of the disaster there were collected there 150 head of valuable cattle under the care of four cowherds. There were also two officials from Leuk, who had come up to arrange about bringing down the cattle, which event has always taken place on September 13. All have been overwhelmed. Of the animals, only three have escaped. “The loss in the live stock, the ownership of which was partitioned among about thirty families, mostly quite poor, belonging to the village of Leuk. is estimated at $20,000. The pasture itself, which for years will now be useless. strewn as it is with debris, is valued at SBO,OOO. The bodies of tlie two officials and two of the cowherds have been recovered, but in a horribly mutilated condition. It seems that the disaster overtook them while sleeping in their huts. The other two men, whose bodies have not yet been found, are supposed to have been up early for the purpose of milking the cows. Tlie blocks of fallen ice and rocks cover a space of two square miles to a depth of many yards, the whole scene being one of indescribable desolation. Besides the trees which were in the track of the avalanche great numbers have been uprooted by the wind which it produced. Many of the cattle, too, lie about in such positions that they must have been hurled great distances through the air by the same force. Men are hard at work trying to make some sort of footpath over the debris, the ordinary road being, of course, completely obliterated. From old records in Leuk it appears that a similar catastrophe occurred at the same spot in 1782, also only two days before the date fixed for the return of the cattle to the valleys.” able temperature. A small fire for four or live days heats better and with just as little expense as a roaring blaze kindled on Saturday. Church committees often find fault with the heating apparatus on a -cold day, w’hen the manner and time of building the fires are at fault. too, a gradual heating of such a building allows of better ventilation than the sudden warming up tlie day before the building Is used.