The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-07-25
!. EARTH SWALLOWS A VILLAGE.
whole Towhship win Not . singls
Binding Whose walls are Plumb.

EARTH WAALOWS "A ViAAA0Hs
whole Towhship with Not singiS
Building whose walls are Plumb.
When the average sleeper awakes to
find that his bed has assumed an angle
which practically stands him upon his
heed, he is apt to be a good deal fright
ened. There is town in England
though, where such an incident as this
is accepted as matter of course-so
much matter of course, in fact, that
the sleeper is quite likely to change his
pillow to the other end of the bed and
continue his slumbers.
This remarkable town is called North
witch, and it is the center of the salt in
dustry of Great Britain. 1t has also
the distinction of being the queerest
town in the country.
The town of Northwich existed and
prospered long before the discovery OF
salt. When it was first found the
townspeople were very enthusiastic and
there were many prophecies of the
great commercial Importance which
Northwich would soon assume Instead
ofbeing an advantage, however, the dis
covery of salt has proved to be the
ruin of the town, for now, in the whole
township there is not single building
whose walls are plumb, not house
| that has not either sunk or tilted. Some
have even disappeared entirely. Others
have simultaneously dropped through
| the earth until only the roof and the
chimneys remained above the surface.
Tie ground underlying the town OF
Northwich and considerable part of
the adjoining territory is simply mass
Of rock salt. When the salt was first
found it was discovered at depth of
about eight feet and it was generally be-
lieved that the srata, which was fifteen
feet thick, constituted the entire avail
able supply of salt. Subsequent Dor
lngs demonstrated the fallacy of this
and showed that dozens of thick strata
of salt underlay the town of Northwich.
When the mining began the troubles
Of the townspeople began. In describ-
ing the mishaps which attended the
lNmiuing of the salt the Scientific Amer
lean says
"From Northwich alone 100000
tons of salt are shipped annually. The
product is obtained by two methods
qualrying and brine-pumping. In the
former case, which is the method gen
orally adopted, shaft is sunk about
800 feet, and the salt rock blasted and
excavated in the usual manner. The
brine pumping, although it is still con-
tinued upon large scale, is gradually
falling into disuse. Fresh water was
allowed to find it's way into the extern
sve salt deposits, with the result that
the salt dissolved like snow. A huge
subterranean lake of water, charged
with rs per cent of salt, was thus
fo,r,ed. Pumping engines were then
installed to convey this brine to the
surface to large evaporating pans, in
which heavy deposit of salt was left
after the water had evaporated.
"The result of this extensive pump.
ing is that Northwich now rests, as il
were, upon shell Of earth, which a
times proves insufficient to support the
weight of the houses, with the newt
able consequence that the buildings arr
, constantly sliding and collapsing IL
every direction. AS the result OF
subsistence building fell upon it's bacl
in the course of a single night, but it il
not, worthy that The house, owing t.
: the care observed in it's construction
fell over in tact, not crack being pro
duccd in the walls nor even pane o
gass being broken. This is by n
means a single instance. Throughout
the town the same effects are to be OBJ
served upon all sides.
1 All over the town there will be foun
e crooked walls, doors and windoN
n frames awry and damaged chimneys
J, Many of the roads are impasible be
cause of chasms that have formed i
them; all of the highways are very un
= even. No one knows how long hous
may last, for they are constantly bein
condemned as unsafe for habitatiol
The depreciation of property in tn
,s town had been enormous. Houses thu
were built at cost of $4,000 each WEI
sold a month or SO later for $500, bt
cause of the extreme depreciation cause
by land subsistence. In many cases
has been necessary to abandon VOL
g. upon buildings before they were con
pleted because the ground was sinkir
beneath them.
!. Some parts sink quickly, others SLOW
ly. 1t took forty years for the primo
\ bal thoroughfare to sink fifteen fee
but many houses that were forty fe