Paricutin – the volcano in a cornfield

The day a Mexican farmer saw the beginnings of one of the seven natural wonders of the world – at least
according to CNN…

On February 20, 1943, Dionisio Pulido was working in his cornfield just outside the Tarascan Indian village of Paricutin, Mexico. He and his family had spent the day getting ready for the spring sowing by clearing the field of shrubbery, putting it in piles and burning it. At about four in the afternoon, Pulido left his wife and moved to a different field so that he could set fire to a new pile. When he arrived he noticed something strange: on top of a small hill in the field a huge crack, over six feet wide and 150 feet (47m) long, had appeared in the earth. At first Pulido wasn’t concerned, the crack only looked like it was about a foot deep. As he was lighting the pile of branches, however, the sound of thunder rumbled across the field and the ground began to shake.

Pulido turned to look back towards the crack and saw that the ground there had swelled up over six feet in height and fine gray ashes were pouring out of the hole. “Immediately more smoke began to rise with a hiss or whistle, loud and continuous; and there was a smell of sulfur,” Pulido later told witnesses.

Pulido became terrified by these events and tried to find his wife and sons, but couldn’t. He tried to rescue his team of oxen, but they had disappeared also. Despairing that he would never see any of them again, he jumped on his horse and rode to town. There he was happy to find his family and friends waiting for him. “They were afraid that I was dead and that they would never see me again,” said Pulido.

What had appeared in Pulido’s cornfield was a new volcano. The incident at Paricutin would be the first time scientists would be able to observe a volcano from birth through extinction. What they would learn through these events would help them understand the powerful forces deep in the earth that shape the surface of our planet.

Full story here.

The farmer had the last laugh, as unmuseum.org notes:
‘Before leaving his home for the final time Pulido put a sign on his land. It read “This volcano is owned and operated by Dionisio Pulido.” Paricutin might have taken his cornfield, but the farmer still retained his sense of humor.’