The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-08
WHERE THE BoTTOM FELL our.
An Astonishing MOrass and Mys-
ferrous Lake Met with by Railroad
Builders ""
From the New York Sun


From the New York Sun
"The most costly little stretch of road
bed for a railroad in this or any other
country, l guess" said a contractor. is
on the Carbonate division of the Erie
Railroad at Ararat Summit 1t is only
quarter of a mile long, but it cost be-
tween $3.50 600 and $OQ,O06 to make it ready
for the rails, or at The rate Of $1,OOO,COO a
mile. The railroad was completed in 1873
and trains had passed over it, but one
night quarter of a mile of the track and
roadbed disappeared er irey and a great
quagmire occupied the place where appar-
entity solid ground had been before. Into
this pit 10000 carloads Of graveI-about
100000 tons-and 500 large ,hemlock trees,
branches and all, were thrown without
having any perceptible effect towards
forming bottom on which a new road
bed could be founded
Then steps were taken by the contrac-
tors TO find oui the depth of the remark
able sink hole. Four piles each 40 feet LONG
were driven down, one OH top of the other,
before solid bottom was reached showing
The depth of the unstable spot to be 1850
feet. This fact established, a row of piles
was driven in the manner of the test
piles, on both sides of the space required
for the roadbed. They were driven close
together, so close that the work REQUIRED
nearly 5000 of them. These prevented the
escape Of anything dumped into the in
closure. For four months gravel rocks
and forest trees, entire were thrown into
the pit before the all-absorbing morass
was overcome. Acres of hemlock forest
were levelled to supply the trees, of which
1850 from 50 to 100 feet high, and with
spread of branches sometimes of % feet
were used. An adjacent gravel hill, 80 feet
high and covering four acres, was ievelled
to obtain material for building up this re-
markable roadbed, and rocks weighing
many tons each were tumbled into the
depths before solid way was made across
1t. 1t is doubtful il in history of railroad
construction just such a task ever con
fronted a contractor, although this one
had a pretty close parallel about the
same time, on a New Jewsey railroad
which is also now part of the Erie system.
or soon will be-the New York, Sugque-
hanna and Western.
when that railroad was built it was
known as the New Jersey Midland. The
grading of the road was about completed
through the northern part of New Jersey
when one morning the laborers were
amazed to see that the roadbed between
SHUTDOWN and Port Turtle had been
transformed during the night into a pond
more than so feet wide and an eighth of
mile long. The depth of this mysterious
pond was sounded and found to be nearly
100 feet. The strangest part of the phe-
nomenon was that the spot had formerly
been heavily timbered, but the timber had
been clared from the land, which had for
years been under cultivation. Near by
there were, and are yet, great springs
gushing out of the ground. forming good
sized streams, the volume of which never
changed. From those streams and springs
1t had long been current history in that
vicinity that eyeless fish had been taken,
and this tradition had led to the theory
that there was an underground lake there
about of which the springs and streams
were outlets. When that section OF rail-
road disappeared and a lake took its place
this theory seemed 10 be well enough es-
tablished among the people. and was sup
ported by tine oplnoin of scientific persons
who visited the place to investigate the
phenomenon. They said that the evidences
of the surroundings were that a natural
lake had once covered that spot at some
time long past. and that it had been grad
ually covered over by the accommodating
vegetable matter Of ages, until a surface
was formed strong enough to sustain for
est growth. Whether that was true or not
the railroad company had either to build
a roadbed through the lake that had in
quilted the one they had previously built
or give up the idea of getting any further
with it, for there was no thoroughfare
elsewhere in that neighborhood. So they
undertook the task of filing the lake up
rhey worked three months, night and day.
dumping all sorts of bulky materials into
the lake and spent more than 100000 in
doing 1t before they accomplished the
task.