Wilmington daily commercial., 1874-09-18
An Extraordinary Accident.
THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT OF A RESERVOIR AND TIL
WATER GOES APPARENTLY TO CHINA.
From the phlla, Bulletin

THE norroM FALLS OUT OF RESERVOIR AND THE
WATER GOES APPARENTLY TO CHINA.
From the Phila Bulletin.
year or two ago celtain citizens of Consho-
hocken organized a water company and proceed
cd to construct works with Which to supply the
town with water. The supply WAS pumped from
the Schuylkill river to reservoir placed upon
hill above the village. The works were COM
pleted last fall at a cost of $4,000 and the re-
seryoir, which was a superb piece of Workman
ship, was filled with water
All last winter the citizens were blessed with
plentiful supply OF water, and during the past
summer especially they were pleased with the
Improvement, because the cistens upon which
they had been accustomed to depend were nearly
empty, i'll consequence OF the drought. The res
ervoir is close to the turnpike to the northeast
of the town, and near by IL toll gate. The keep
or of the gate reports that on Monday night,
when he turned i'll, the reservoir was i'll good
condition, aud apparently capable of remaining
30 for several centuries to come. TN Tuesday
morning, when he turned out he was surprised
to lind that portion of the fence surrounding
the reservoir had disappeared. He instantly pro
ceeded to investigate the mystery, and, upon
ascending the hill he found that
A VERY REMARK ABLE ACCIDENT
had occurred. n portion OF the southern en-
bankment had sunk out of sight leaving hole
about thirty feet III diameter and az the wall of
the reservoir had disappeared the water had
vanished with it with the exception of small
portion, about l. feet in depth, which waA re-
tanned because the floor was uniujured and be-
cause the cavity does not extend clear down to
the floor cautious inspection showed that a
portion of the embankment had dropped
straight downward about % feet, and upon
looking into the hole the top of the bank with
fence and the sod was discovered at the bottom.
The side of the vast hole contained "A huge pre-
cipitous rock dow the side OF which the earth
had slipped But the most remarkable thing
about the accident was that no water could lie
found IN tile hole. There were moro than
ONE MILLION GALLONS
| in the reservoir ut tile time, and almost tile
| whole of this had gone down the cavity and had
disappeared utterly. What became of this vast
| body Of water melody knows. IL has not turned
| up anywhere yet unless it has broken through
somebody's cellar floor in China. That such az
enormous mass of fluid should have quilted the
| surface OF the earth suddenly aud left no trac,
behind, is certainly somewhat startling, and i
| is natural that the people of the neighborhoot
| should feel little uneasy at the thought tia
perhaps there is mammoth cave far down i
the earth, underlying the whole vicinity. Th,
existence OF such cavity alone will serve to ex
plain this strange occurrence, for it is clear tina
tue ordinary subterranean water courses sucl
as supply the springs about the country, coult
not so suddenly conduct away such large vol
ume of water.
me colnti ! IL Oh limestone formation, AnI
this il not the first time that suspicion has bee
excited that it il underlaid with great caves.
u place called Marble Hail. about two miles eaA
of Conshohocken. there has been for years at
marble quarry
HOLE WHICH CANNOT BE FILLED.
Enough dirt has been dumped into it to max
a tolerable large mountain, and still it remain
the same old hole. Some years ago larg
quantity of bran was poured into it, and til
subsequently came out at Spring Mill, lust be
z low Conshohocken. At this point there il IL
I nous spring, from which the water boils out
a furious rate. Perhaps the contents of the re,
evoir will find egress at the spring, but the
have not appeared yet In the meantime the W,
ter company is in sore afflcton, and it il puzzle
to know what to do about reconstiucting its rel
eryoir. The task of rebuilding upon bottom
less pit il not all easy one