The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-04-20
A REMARKABLE ERUPTION,
An Avalanche Of Earth Thr0wn
From the Highlands.
The Railroad Track Covered with
Sand, Rocks and Fish-A Torrent
of Water Pouring from the Side OF
the Mountain.

Poughkeepsie, April l3.-Atthe foot ol
Sugar Loaf Mountain, on the east side ol
the Hudson, near the northern entrance
to the Highlands, is the handsome sum
mer residence of the Widow Wade. OPP
posite in the Hudson is Pollipells Island
The ground on which the Wade mansion
is located is eight hundred or thousand
feet above the level of the river, the
back ground being Sugar Loaf Mountain
a thousand feet higher. A strange oc.
currence took place within a thousand
feet of the house yesterday afternoon,
While James McManus, the railroad
flaeman, was in the rock cut north at 3
D. M, he heard a singular noise, sort OF
rafting or cracking. To use his own
words, 81 thought the storm king was
tumbling" In minute afterward there
was another rumbling and rattling louder
than the first, almost Immediately fol,
lowed by third report. Said he, VI
have heard powder explosions and sharp
claps of thunder, but | never heard such
a noise as that" He ran to ascertain the
cause, and found the railroad track for
five hundred feet covered with stones
and powders and sunhsh and perch. lie
looked up the hill and saw hole three
hundred feet in width and fifty feet In
depth, and from it full fifty thousand
tons of dirt and sand had to all appear.
ances been lifted up and hurled into and
across the cove below. The cove is five
hundred feet in width, and the avalanche
swept through it and over it to the Hud'
son River railroad track, tearing down
fences and covering the track six inches
deep with stones, dirt and fish. Huge
trees were hurled in every direction, and
the water the entire length of the cove
was disturbed.
AT 7 o'clock in the evening there was
another report, and another mass OF
earth was hurled to the cove below. AT
o'clock yesterday morning there were
two more reports, and more dirt was
displaced. What is stranger still, almost
Immediately after the last report, tor
rent of water burst from the bottom Of
the cavern, from where the earth had
been hurled, and plunged down the side
of the hill, cutting ravine five feet deer
in less than no time, and the volume oil
water is increasing hourly. When the
fact is stated that there is no pond OF
stream near the spot, except one mile
back of Sugar Loaf, the sudden appear
ance of SO large stream of water from
the bottom of cavern fifty feet below
the surface of the ground is remarkable
Trees thirty feet in height were carried
to distance of a thousand feet. Scores
of people visited the spot to-day, but nc
one could satisfactorily explain the oc-
currence. 1t was not land slide. 1t
certainly looked like an eruption, for to
all appearances the thousands of tons OF
earth must have been forced upward and
outward to the cove below. The result ol
this upheaval can easily be seen from
the windows OF passing trains. All
around the chasm the ground was undis-
turbed, except where the immense mass
of earth struck it as it tumbled into the
river. The indications are that there
will soon be another upheaval there, and
the trackmen are watching the track
closely. The occurrence has revealed
tons of the finest sand where it was
Thought no sand existed.