Page 49 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
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GFA – A Different Drumbeat 49
WHEN THE MOUNTAINS WALKED
In an article written by GFA at the end of 1923 or 1924, titled “Reconstruction Work After
The Kansuh Earthquake of 1920” he states:
The “National Geographic” of May 1922 contained a most interesting article entitled
“Where the mountains walked” relating the experiences through which the province
of Kansuh, in the far north west of China, passed on the memorable night of
December 16th. 1920. The article dealt with the situation as it appeared to the Hayes
- Hail investigation expedition which visited Kansuh within a few months of the great
earthquake. This expedition led to the opening of relief work by the United
International Famine Relief Commission, with headquarters in Peking, which relief
work was referred to in the above mentioned article as being “a romance of
adventure in itself”.
The article in The National Geographic was well illustrated with photos, and it can be
viewed or downloaded from Book 2.
At the beginning of this article we read:
Though the tremendous shaking-up occurred in December, 1920, the story is only
now beginning to spread beyond the narrow defiles which guard the entrance to
Kansu Province. It is, perhaps, the most poorly advertised calamity that has occurred
in modern times.
Though Kansu is within telegraphic reach of the rest of the world, the details of the
disaster have never come over the wires. The native population was too stunned and
the few foreign residents were too busy in relief work to give any description of the
dancing mountains and vanishing valleys.
Mr. Josef W. Hall (Upton Close) , who visited the earthquake area under the
auspices of the International Famine Relief Committee, has brought back one of the
first accounts of the devastated country and the strange things that happen when the
earth turns itself into a contortionist.
The area of destruction, 100 by 300 miles in extent, contains ten large cities, besides
numerous villages. In it is the heart of the so-called loess country, where the soil is a
mixture of clay and powdered quartz. A narrower region was comprised in the
landslide district, where the loose earth cascaded down the valleys and buried every
object in its path.
In the previously quoted article by GFA, he adds his knowledgeable account of the general
conditions as he saw them:
The province of Kansuh, bordering on that portion of this little universe commonly
referred to as ‘the roof of the world’ , has been subject in past ages to earthquakes
WHEN THE MOUNTAINS WALKED
In an article written by GFA at the end of 1923 or 1924, titled “Reconstruction Work After
The Kansuh Earthquake of 1920” he states:
The “National Geographic” of May 1922 contained a most interesting article entitled
“Where the mountains walked” relating the experiences through which the province
of Kansuh, in the far north west of China, passed on the memorable night of
December 16th. 1920. The article dealt with the situation as it appeared to the Hayes
- Hail investigation expedition which visited Kansuh within a few months of the great
earthquake. This expedition led to the opening of relief work by the United
International Famine Relief Commission, with headquarters in Peking, which relief
work was referred to in the above mentioned article as being “a romance of
adventure in itself”.
The article in The National Geographic was well illustrated with photos, and it can be
viewed or downloaded from Book 2.
At the beginning of this article we read:
Though the tremendous shaking-up occurred in December, 1920, the story is only
now beginning to spread beyond the narrow defiles which guard the entrance to
Kansu Province. It is, perhaps, the most poorly advertised calamity that has occurred
in modern times.
Though Kansu is within telegraphic reach of the rest of the world, the details of the
disaster have never come over the wires. The native population was too stunned and
the few foreign residents were too busy in relief work to give any description of the
dancing mountains and vanishing valleys.
Mr. Josef W. Hall (Upton Close) , who visited the earthquake area under the
auspices of the International Famine Relief Committee, has brought back one of the
first accounts of the devastated country and the strange things that happen when the
earth turns itself into a contortionist.
The area of destruction, 100 by 300 miles in extent, contains ten large cities, besides
numerous villages. In it is the heart of the so-called loess country, where the soil is a
mixture of clay and powdered quartz. A narrower region was comprised in the
landslide district, where the loose earth cascaded down the valleys and buried every
object in its path.
In the previously quoted article by GFA, he adds his knowledgeable account of the general
conditions as he saw them:
The province of Kansuh, bordering on that portion of this little universe commonly
referred to as ‘the roof of the world’ , has been subject in past ages to earthquakes
