316 Mr. ALEXANDER'S Account of Eruptions, Gc. 
X. dm Accont of Eruptions, and the prefent Appearances, 
in Weft-River Mountain. Jn a Letter from Mr. CALEB 
ALEXANDER, ees to Mr, CALEB GANNETT, 
Rec. Sec. A4. A.. ! 
Northfield; May 18, 1779. 
puer Um 
CCO R DI NG to your Bae I have isr the vol- : 
. ano upon the height of Wef-River Mountain, and. 
fhall do myfelf the pleafure to inform you concerning the va- 
rious reports and particulars, relating to this place. 
How long fince it was firft difcovered, I am: not able to af- 
certain. An old gentleman informs me, that fifty years fince;. 
he heard noifes on that Mountain, as loud as the explofion of a. 
great gun. Some years after, fimilar noifes were heard, at the 
diftance of fourteen-or fifteen miles. Several times very violent 
eruptions of fire have been feen, the flame afcending very high 
into the air. Once in the winter there wasan eruption. The 
years when the preceding eruptions. happened, I cannot inform : 
the laft was twenty-fcven years fince, which was the moft vio- 
lent eruption ever known in that place : it was towards. the 
clofe of a dark evening, when. it was firft perceived, being pre- 
ceded by a louder noife than common ; then dire&ly was 
fen the fire, which was feen to burn for feveral hours.. 
What I have. written is by information : yefterday I was 
at the place myfelf. It is nearly upon the top of a very fteep 
eragey mountain : by obfervation, I apprehend there were two 
places where the fire iffued out ; one of which is between two 
folid rocks, nearly a foot in HEUS but almoft filled with the 
calcined matter caufed by the fire, part of which appears me 
