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Story
December 14, 1876
The Cheyenne Daily Leader
Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming
What is this article about?
Mysterious mud islands at the Mississippi River mouth rise from the sea, featuring gas bubbles, cool mineral springs for rheumatism, vegetation, sinking Spanish forts, old graveyards, and ancient wreck fragments.
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Full Text
Mud Islands.
There is nothing more curious on our coast than the mud islands at the mouth of the Mississippi. They were lifted from the bottom of the sea; but how is a mystery. Some have risen or subsided in a single day, and the gas coming from them, a few feet below the surface, keeps up a continual turmoil of the water above, while from all of them the gases which raise them escape through small but apparently bottomless craters.
In some of these springs the water that shoots up is several degrees cooler than it is in the surrounding sea; and the crater of one of them, on Osgood's Island, has a mineral flavor and is sold in New Orleans drug stores as a specific for rheumatism. These islands never rise in channels of navigation, but always on their edges. Some have a living vegetation, but the greater number are bare. On one of these, near the Southeast Pass, a brick fort, constructed by the Spaniards, is slowly sinking into the sea. On Gordon's Island still grows a grove of fig trees a century old and near them a graveyard, in which are headstones bearing Spanish names and dates one and two centuries ago.
As the delta strips work seaward, they keep an equal distance in advance; and thus they rise, where formerly was deep water, and often bring up fragments of wrecks lost more than 100 years ago.
There is nothing more curious on our coast than the mud islands at the mouth of the Mississippi. They were lifted from the bottom of the sea; but how is a mystery. Some have risen or subsided in a single day, and the gas coming from them, a few feet below the surface, keeps up a continual turmoil of the water above, while from all of them the gases which raise them escape through small but apparently bottomless craters.
In some of these springs the water that shoots up is several degrees cooler than it is in the surrounding sea; and the crater of one of them, on Osgood's Island, has a mineral flavor and is sold in New Orleans drug stores as a specific for rheumatism. These islands never rise in channels of navigation, but always on their edges. Some have a living vegetation, but the greater number are bare. On one of these, near the Southeast Pass, a brick fort, constructed by the Spaniards, is slowly sinking into the sea. On Gordon's Island still grows a grove of fig trees a century old and near them a graveyard, in which are headstones bearing Spanish names and dates one and two centuries ago.
As the delta strips work seaward, they keep an equal distance in advance; and thus they rise, where formerly was deep water, and often bring up fragments of wrecks lost more than 100 years ago.
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
Extraordinary Event
What themes does it cover?
Nature
What keywords are associated?
Mud Islands
Mississippi Delta
Gas Eruptions
Mineral Springs
Spanish Ruins
Wreck Fragments
Where did it happen?
Mouth Of The Mississippi
Story Details
Location
Mouth Of The Mississippi
Story Details
Mud islands rise mysteriously from the sea floor at the Mississippi delta, with gas eruptions creating turmoil, cool mineral springs sold as rheumatism remedy, vegetation on some, a sinking Spanish brick fort, century-old fig trees and graveyard with Spanish headstones on Gordon's Island, and fragments of wrecks over 100 years old brought up.