The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-05-30
Bald Mountain Certainly Split Open
this Time.
CHIMNEY Rock,
RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N. c.,


Co.. Z. Ssobo Farro0, Editor Spartanbwg
Herald:
According to promise I went to Bald
Mountain yesterday to see whether there
was any truth in the recent rumor that
Bald Mountain was split open, and hasten
to inform you that there IS some founda-
ton for the report. I went to the place
and saw the crack with my own eyes, and
you may put it down as true.
The splits right across the top of Bald
Mountain, and is about one hundred and
twenty-five yards long, and varies from
ten feet to one inch in width. There is
no means of ascertaining its depth, as it
does not 60 straight down, but runs down
in q zig-zag direction. In some places
it is over hundred feet in depth before
changing direction, and you can hear q
rock thrown in from above rolling for
some time after it passes the turn in the
split.
This crack is a new one, as shown by
roots of bushes and saplings being torn
loose with fresh bruises on them. 1t is
about one or two hundred yards from the
precipice on the south side of the noun
tain, where small stream pours over the
precipice and falls over one thousand feet
into the valley below, and I think there
is danger of that portion of the mountain
splitting off in landslide some day that
will carry half the mountain with it into
the valley below. There are several FAM
lilies living in the valley not far from this
cliff that had better move out, or they
may be covered by the landslide some
day without warning. There is no ap-
pearance of any volcanic eruption at this
point now, but in the event of this por-
ton of the mountain slipping off there is
no telling but that q volcano may burst
forth. The sudden removal of the i'm
mense weight that such land slide would
lift off might enable the volcanic fires to
break out, as the rumbling noises heard
now and then in the last few years show
that something unusual is going on in the
bowels of the earth. There has been no
unusual noise very lately though I was
told by one person that there was some
little runbling resembling distant thun-
der here in February last.
While looking for this split in Bald
Mountain / came across another old split
in Rich Mountain that I had never seen
before though I was raised only twelve
miles from here and have been over diff.
erent portions of these mountains many
times before. This old split in Rich
Mountain seems to have occurred years
ago as trees have grown up in some Of
the crevices or fell with the mountains
and lodged in the crevices. This split
in Rich Mountain is six miles from the
new split in Bald Mountain and extends
across the top of the Mountains distance
of one fourth of mile or more. went
through this split with another man, 60
ing in one side of the Mountain and COM
ing out on the other side. At one point
the split was over three hundred feet In
height above US and the depth below us
was unfathomahle. Rocks thrown in from
where we were standing could be heard
rolling fully half a minute before lodging.
At another point we came to another
crevice that seemed to have no bottom as
far as we could ascertain. And then we
came to what is known as the Bat Cave
on the same mountain from which smoke
came out at several points though there
was no sulphurous smell that we could
discover. have always before been a
disbeliever in the sensational rumors
about Bald Mountain but this trip has
convinced me that something unnatural
has been at work there, and you need
not any time be surprised to hear of a
volcanic eruption or some other wonder
full thing taking place in some of the
spurs of Bald or Rich Mountain.
T. L. R.