Show CHILI S SHAKE THAN THAT OF SAN FRANCISCO th arteen hundred M les of coast of former country D stubbed to only miles in call fornia sufficient time has now elapsed the earthquake in chill to give the student of these seismic disturb ances opportunity of studying the de tails of the disaster from a scientific point of view and drawing compall sons with the like previous disaster at san francisco the former has been traced from point arena to san juan a d stance of about m les and its effects were felt only a comparatively short d stance inland the ch I 1 an earth quake started at mount and the shock is said to have been felt from arica on the north to con on the south a d stance of some 1300 miles along the coast while the land was d stubbed for nun deeds of miles from the coast our own commission appointed after the san francisco shocks has traced the rift that was made in the rocks for miles north and bouth found that it was this breakage which disturbed tho far and wide on either side of it causing the partial destruction of san francisco and has already printed its preliminary report the scientific staffs in the geological and other services of chill are men of high professional standing and there Is no doubt that careful inquiry will be made and much light will be thrown upon the origin and results of the shocks that have devastated val paraiso aid other cities the evidence thus far seems to show that the shocks were of greater intensity and that the damage was spread over a larger territory than in the recent catastrophe in california if it Is true as reported that the et facts were more or less disastrous along the chilian coast from concep cion in the south to arica in the north the north and south extent of the more serious effects was at least 1 SOO miles in california on the oth er hand the north and south extent 0 destructive effects was only miles it it Is true as reported that severe results were felt on august 16 as far inland as mendoza and other towns in argentina to the east of the andes ranges the breadth of the destructive area was in places about miles while in california the average width of the see rely shaken region was only about 50 miles we shall doubt less hear later that the chilian dis tur bance was perceptible to the senses oer a far larger area than that in which damage was caused just as the california shocks felt in oregon in eastern nevada and at los angeles although there are various causes of earthquakes of more or less po tency the influences that have wrought the ruin of are there Is little doubt of the same na ture as those which protracted prot rated san francisco about jo miles to the east of dalpa baiso rises whose top Is the highest point in the western world to the west are lesser moun bains and foothills extending to the doors of the bi port sti etching mainly north and south from ten to 15 back of the coast is a valley sometimes called the va ley in which the dispatches tell us t ie center of the seismic disturbances was situated tn other words this valley is regarded giua early in chill as the place where erred the breakage among the rocks that caused the great trouble we shall have to wait for scientific investigation before this theory can be confidently affirmed but there are some facts which seem ta support it in this class of earthquakes the greatest disturbance occurs on or near the rift line at san francisco it happened that this line of breakage left the land just north of the city passed along the sea floor just outside THE TWO earthquakes PARED of the golden gate and entered the land again eight miles south of the city A number of small towns in the valley are said to have been totally destroyed the be ing more severe there than at val paraiso only a few atles distant the fact must borne in mind how ever that the severest effects ol 01 earthquakes are usually felt in the valleys and other lowlands and this may account for the great destructive ness of the shocks in this chilian val ley |