The Kilauea Volcano of 1924 – Cynthia Hickey

The Kilauea Volcano of 1924 – Cynthia Hickey

 

The Kilauea volcano, while always active, decided to start showing her temper in early April, 1924. The first concern was the draining of the lava lake within the crater. Small tremors are causing cracks in the island’s infrastructure

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By May 9, the crater was so full of smoke, the bottom could not be seen, as noted by Oliver Emerson, Research Fellow of the Hawaiian Volcano Research Association. He also made note of the increasing heat around the area.

 

On May 10, a volume of dust clouds rose from the pit in increasing heights.

 

Just before 0800 on May 11, 1924, a national park employee visited the pit and reported small rocks being thrown out of the pit with the velocity that a man would throw rocks. He heard no explosions. By nine o’clock, the weather cleared, showing a smoke cloud of 7,500 feet above the pit. The sky south of the pit turned a deep purple, almost black.

 

Things got really serious by May 13. Rocks were being ejected 200 feet, some weighing close to 200 pounds. Explosions and avalanches were becoming common and frequent.       

 

 

 

On Sunday, May 18, Kilauea blew her lid. While one of the most violent eruptions recorded, only one man, a journalist was killed. A several ton rock fell on him.

 

While dangerous, the Kilauea volcano, which erupted the same week in May as Mt. St. Helens, it was far less destructive, due to the lack of lava and the small population of that time. Still, tourists flock to the area today to witness the continuous power of Kilauea.

 

Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It is a shield-type volcano that makes up the southeastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii. The volcano rises 4,190 feet (1,227 meters) above sea level and is about 14 percent of the land area of the Big Island. The summit caldera contains a lava lake known as Halema`uma`u that is said to be the home of the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele.

 

The volcano recently erupted again, causing many to be evacuated and destroying 200 homes.

 

There is a lot more information on this amazing display of power. Much of which I go into in my novel, The Rancher’s Dilemma. In my book, a daughter of missionaries, Lucy Dillow is in awe of the volcano’s power and against the wishes of a handsome local rancher, heads to the volcano every day to sketch the changes.

 

When the volcano blows, she must rely on the very man who warned her away.

 

The Rancher’s Dilemma, is the first book in my Finding Love in Disaster series.

 Multi-published and Best-Selling author Cynthia Hickey had three cozy mysteries and two novellas published through Barbour Publishing. Her first mystery, Fudge-Laced Felonies, won first place in the inspirational category of the Great Expectations contest in 2007. Her third cozy, Chocolate-Covered Crime, received a four-star review from Romantic Times. All three cozies have been re-released as ebooks through the MacGregor Literary Agency, along with a new cozy series, all of which stay in the top 50 of Amazon’s ebooks for their genre. She has several historical romances releasing in 2013, 2014, 2015 through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents, and has sold more than 290,000 copies of her works. She is active on FB, twitter, and Goodreads. She lives in Arizona with her husband, one of their seven children, two dogs and two cats. She has five grandchildren who keep her busy and tell everyone they know that “Nana is a writer”. Visit her website at www.cynthiahickey.com