Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-04-14
A Remarkable Eruptfou.

RAILROAD TRACK COVERED WITH SAND,
huCKs, AND FIsH-A TORRENT OF WATER
POURING FROM THE SIDE OF THE NOUN
The New York Sun prints a dispatch from
Poughkeepsie, April II, saying: At the foot
OF Sugar Loaf Mountain, on the east side OF
the Hudson, near the northern entrance to
the Highlands, is the handsome summer
residence of the Widow Wade. Opposite in
the Hudson is Pollipell's Island. The ground
on which the Wade mansion is located is
eight hundred or q thousand feet above the
level Of the river, the background being Su-
gar Loaf Mountain, thousand feet higher.
A strange occurrence took place within
/ 900 feet OF the house yesterday afternoon.
While James McManus, the railroad flag
man, was In the rock cut north at p. m he
heard singular noise, a sort of rafting or
cracking. To use his own words, 81 thought
the storm king was tumbling" In a minute
afterward there was another rumbling and
rafting louder than the first, almost imme-
dlately followed by third report. Said he,
Il have heard powder explosions and sharp
claps OF thunder, but / never heard such a
noise as that" He ran south 10 ascertain
the cause, and found the railroad track for
500 feet covered with stones and powders and
suDfish and perch. He looked up the hill and
saw a hole 800 feet in width and so feet I'm
depth, and from it fully 50 900 tons OF dirt and
and hurled into and across the cove below,
The cove is 500 feet In width, and the ava
lanche swept through 1t and over it to the
Hudson river railroad track, tearing down
fences and covering the track 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 Z o'clock In the evening there was another
report, and another mass Of earth was hurried
ID 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 re-
ports, a TO. rent OF water burst from the bot
tom OF the cavern, from where the earth had
been hurled, and plum ed down the side of
the bill, cutting q ravine five feet deep in
less than no time, and the volume of water
is increasing hourly. When the fact is stated
that there is no pond or stream near the spot,
except one a mile back OF Sugar Loaf, the
sudden appearance OF so large q stream of
water from the bottom OF q cavern fifty feet
below the surface OF the ground is remark
able Trees thirty feet In height were carried
TO distance of a Thousand feet. Scores of
people visited the spot to-day, but no one
could satisfactorily explain the occurrence.
1t was not land slide. II certainly looked
like an eruption, for to all appearances the
thousands OF tons Of earth must have been
forced upward and outward 10 the cove be-
low. The result OF this upheaval can eesily
be seen from the windows OF passing trains
ALI around the chasm the ground was uudis-
turbed, except where the immense mass of
earth struck 1t rs IL tumbled into the river
The indications are that there will soon be
another upheaval there, and the trackmen
are watching the track closely. The occur
renee has revealed tons OF the finest sand
where II was thought no sand existed.