Show rivers of mud inundated herculaneum Hercula town named for hercules strong hero herculaneum Hercula or the town ol of hercules was one of the villages around mount vesuvius long ago it was settled by colonists from greece and later was occupied by romans the name was given in honor of hercules the greek and roman hero observes a writer in the portland oregonians oregonian Oreg Ore onlan gonian when a volcano breaks loose it throws out material of different kinds ashes stones and cinders fly into the air and a great deal of steam may rise now and then a deadly gas swe sweeps eps through the countryside and c hokes chokes those in its path more often the damage is done by lava a kind of rock which can be so hot that it runs as a liquid herculaneum Hercula did not suffer much from the fall of cinders or ashes the damage was done by streams of al hot mud or mud lava as it has been called it is believed that the streams of mud lava were formed by thousands of gallons of hot water which welled from the volcano and mixed with powdered rock around the cone down the mountainside flowed the mud lava and covered many homes including those in bercu laneum we may guess the feelings of the people as they saw the thick dark rivers coming toward their little city the population was about old and young and middle aged fled from their homes almost all if not all escaped they jumped into boats and rowed or sailed awny or escaped by running to caplas the people were saved but their homes were burled buried under the mud like stuff to a depth of from 30 to 60 feet not quite years ago an austrian prince who had come to italy to live ordered a well to be dug near the edge of a town w which hi c h had bad grown up on the side fide of mount vesuvius the workmen struck a stone wall some distance down and wondered what it had been used for the prince ordered a great deal more digging to be done and it was found that the wall was part of an ancient theater of the open air greek type marble statues and other relies relics were found as a well in later years spaniards englishmen and italians carried on dig ging and drilling step by step they brought to light parts of an dent clent Hercula Herculane herculaneum mn much work has been done during the past few years and a good part of the town is now in view scores of houses have been laid bare along with the theater a temple and other public buildings the mud lava saved some things at herculaneum Hercula which were not so 0 well saved at pompeii most important Is the wooden framework of houses stairways doors and window frames all of wood are to to be seen after being ca the mud for from 16 to 18 centuries here is a cupboard with fleck necklaces laces and other jewelry in it when the volcano erupted in another cupboard we find the shells of at eggs which would have been cooked if the life of the town had bad gone on |