The Opelousas courier., 1897-07-03
A QUEER TOWN.
England Has One of the Strang-
est Municipal Freaks on Earth.
Why a General Appearance Of
Topsy-Turveydom Prevails.

Vi aiSoruereu imagination or whether
an earthquake has been visiting the
locality. Here two houses are lean.
ing one against the other, as if for
mutual support; three more are lean
ing from each other, as if in sullen
anger; higher up are dwellings sunk
en- Ia the center or at the ends; the
pavement on n side in certain places
Is higher than the other, while q little
farther on it Is lower.
In short, everything has a general
appearance of topsy-turveydom in this
town of what are described as'drunk-
en- house," The cause of it all is not
far to seek. Northwich, as every one
knows, or ought to KNOW is the center
of the salt industry, and it is the draw
ing of brine and rock salt for the man
ufacture of this very necessary COM
modify that is the moving factor in
the mischief. On nearly all sides Of
the town are big salt works, with their
engines pumping hundreds of thou
sands of gallons of brine every week,
while the extensive mines of rock salt
are being cut into in all directions.
At a depth of some 200 or 800 feet
are immense submarine lakes of brine,
and as tho contents Of these are
pumped aud pumped away the upper
crust of earth is correspondingly
weakened and the result is an occa-
sional subsistence. In some of the
mines where the salt is blasted and
cut away one can travel a mile in GER
tain directions. As the g%listening
white or deep red rock is cut away
great pillars of it, some eight feet
square, with a large thickness all
along the roof, are left to support
the earth above. Sometimes, how
ever, the mine is flooded, the pillars
dissolve in the water and the earth
falls in, with all on top Of it. Luckily
this kind Of subsistence generally hap
pens in spots where houses are not
numerous, and for this rea-
son no lives have been lost
within recent years. One morning
q few years ago a horse left
in a stable overnight was found to be
missing, and a hole filled with water
occupying the place where the animal
| should have been. Near Wincham
and Marston, suburbs OF Northwich.
lakes acres in extent are now seen
where green fields used to be, and
there is a spot where the highway
takes the form of a railway embank-
ment. On either side are big ponds
where the earth had subsidized and the
road goes through like a bridge. This
itself is bound to go at some future
| time, and it is to be hoped at that
time no one will be in the immediate
neighborhood.
All these subsidences have a ''pull-
ing" effect on the nearest buildings,
which are drawn call ways" Such a
state of things is amusing as we'll as
interesting. "This desirable property
to let" is the sign one may seek cheek
by iowl with one at the beginning OF
a stile road bearing the legend: "This
road is dangerous" One has to be
aware of such roads at night time in
this neighborhood. A part of the
path may have sunk 100 feet or more
during the preceding hour and an in
voluntary drop into the water, which
rises as fast as the earth falls, is q
rapid way out of this world.
In order to make all buildings last
a fairly decent length of time all new
orections are built in frames of wood,
this style holding the bricks together
a longer length Of time than il the
bsilding wal on the ordinary princ''
nles. Even under those conditions,
and taking into consideration the fact
that in the town itself the subsidences
are gradual and give some warning,
living must be rather exciting in GER
tain portions of Northwich. Philadel-
phia Telegraph.