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scend cutting deeper into the trunk. As to the main limbs of the oak, they had been sheared off the trunk at the butt to produce holes in the ground where they landed. Where the lightning touched ground, it looked as if a bomb had gone off. The trunk was split into a half dozen or so major sections and a myriad of smaller ones. The sections were splayed out on either side for from ten to twenty and more feet. At ground level the lightning appeared to have traced along or through the tree's roots so that the earth looked as if it had been plowed by a single blade plow again and again. In two instances the furrows extended out in one direction for between forty and fifty feet. In the other direction the lightning had passed into the old foundation of the dilapidated home, blasting huge foundation stones aside and following some old pipe to the far side where it again went underground.
It is no wonder that the ancient Greeks associated lightning with the most powerful of the gods, Zeus, and the Romans called lightning Jove's bolts. So little of the heart of the oak remained that it would have been difficult to find a piece large enough to make a baseball bat. What was it that struck the great oak I saw and caused most of the early fires in the north woods? Lightning is a giant spark of electricity. A typical lightning flash contains about 20,000 amps and several hundred million volts. This compares to a standard household current of 15 amps and about 115 volts. Typically, a lightning flash is only 1 to 2 inches wide. The step leader that initiates the lightning flash propagates downward from the cloud at a rate of about 320,000 feet per second or about 220,000 miles per hour. We now return to the barren mountaintops of the north woods. Charles Fobes says they exist because of past
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forest fires, fires of the nineteenth century. The fires burned not only trees but also ground cover. This meant wind and rain erosion. The bare mountain tops are there because the fire devastated areas which had never formed a soil deep enough that a forest covering could make a comeback. And even if it had, the trees that would have come in wouldn't have been the old sugar maple and beech, but rather grey and white birch and the like. Most of us feel the brute forces of nature have been largely tamed. If this were the case, though, there would not be a market for lightning rods. Nor would there be a need for lightning safety rules, rules we never think about except when there is a thunder storm. Lightning can have lasting consequences. The next time you see a barren mountaintop in northern or eastern Maine think how long it has been since trees grew there. ❦Other businesses from this area are featured in the color section.
aL rry’s Wood Products Larry MacArthur
“Specializing in custom-made pine wood products”
Store:207-723-6820 Cell: 207-723-3736 245 Aroostook Ave. Millinocket, ME
Member of Maine Wood Products Assoc.
www.larryswoodproducts.com
~ At The Gateway To Baxter State Park ~ Restaurant on Premises • Air Conditioned Cable TV • Continental Breakfast • Hot Tub Non-Smoking Accommodations • Pet Friendly (207) 723-9746 • 1-800-575-9746 WI-FI WI-FI www.pamolamotorlodge.com 973 Central Street • Millinocket, Maine
Crandall’s ardware H Glidden Paints
Makita & Dewalt Tools
(207) 746-5722 8 Main Street East Millinocket