The New York Journal, And Weekly Register

Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Winchester, to the Editor of the Worcester Magazine, dated March 17, 1787.

"SIR,

WOULD inform you of a singular circumstance which happened on Tuesday last. About three o'clock in the afternoon a heavy rumbling noise was heard in a mountain in the south-east part of the town, at several times, for the space of 20 or 30 minutes, when, all of a sudden, it was seen, by one Mr. Gold, who lived at foot of the mountain, to break forth, and the rocks and dirt to move in vast bodies; soon after the first were discovered, rocks and dirt were seen to fly in the air, though the main body made its way down the mountain. Mr. Gold stood viewing it until the noise seemed to be over, when he suddenly heard it again, and perceived a second eruption taking place, at the distance of about 8 or 10 feet from the first; the noise and motion were as sudden as if they had been occasioned by a blast of powder, though he saw no appearance of smoke or fire, nor did he smell any thing of a sulphurous nature. I have since been and viewed the ground, but could not discover any thing of a sulphurous kind, sufficient to cause the eruption; there are many conjectures respecting the cause of it. The distance from the place where the eruption began, to where it ended, was about 10 or 12 rods, and in some places 30 or 35 feet wide, and from 4 to 8 feet in depth. Rocks of several tons weight were thrown several rods down the mountain, and I suppose at a moderate computation there was as much as an acre of land covered with rocks and gravel. The rocks and dirt thrown out are supposed by many to be several thousand tons."