The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-04-17

One of these submerged channels ex-
tends through the length of the Wyo-
ming valley and is often referred to
as the
BURIED VALLEY" OF WYOMING.
The rock has been worn away to a
depth of from one to two hundred feet,
erOding some of the upper coal seams
in places and leaving the uncertain
thickness of rock roof over the un-
derlying coal. Another phenomenon
or freak resulting from glaciers Is the
FORMATION OF POT HOLES.
A glacial pot-hole is a deep shaft,
we'll or hole. worn in the solid rock
by action of water falling from q
height (probably through a. crevice In
the ice) on the sound rock bed. thus
(by the aid of fragments OF stone and
bOulders which are kept in continual
motion in the bottom of the hole)
wearing the well deeper and larger
with time. The size and depth of the
pot-hole depends on the volume of
water and the height Of fall. Pot
holes are in process of formation at
the present time. in Alpine glaciers
and elsewhere, and in Switzerland
some of these are preserved for pub
lie inspection and instruction. Minute
potholes varying in size from u pint
measure to a hogshead are often found
worn in the bed rock of our mountain
streams, formed in the same way, by
the water falling from a ledge and
Keeping the small pebbles in motion
in the bottom of the hole. A good
idea of this action may be obtained by
placing some pebbles in a tumbler and
placing it under the water flowing
from faucet.
The existence Of pOt-holes in the
anthracite region was first discovered
in 1884. when one of the chambers of
the Eaton collery at Archibald was
driven against mass Of round stones
of all sizes, from pebbles to boulders
a foot in diameter. Subsequent inves-
tgatiOn revealed the existence of an
oval shaped shaft from 20 to 40 feet in
diameter worn through the rock from
the surface. This pot-hole had cut
completely through the coal bed, and
among the bOulders in the bottom of
the hole We're quantities of round
Jumps of coal which had evidently
been cut from the seam This pot
hole Is now used as an air shaft for
the mine.
About twenty years ago, previous to
this discovery, an accident occurred
which is now thought to be due to a
pot-hole. The case referred to was at
the Wyoming colliery operated by
Swoyer & Co., now the Lehigh Valley
company, at Port Bowkley station on
the Lehigh Valley railroad. The mines
We're under the buried valley and We're
filled with debris from the supposed
pot-hole. Since the discovery of the
Archibald pot-hole
TWO SERIOUS NINE ACCIDENTS
have occurred under the Buried
Valley of Wyoming, which were un-
questionably caused by the existence
of some form of pOt-hole in the strata
everything the beds. The first of these
which was one of the most disas-
trOus mine accidents of the region
occurred Dec is, 1885, at the Susque-
hanna Coal company's mine, Nanti-
coke, Pa. At the edge of the solid
coal near the face of a chamber a
flood of water, sand, rounded stones,
etc, suddenly and without warning of
any kind. broke into the mine, filling
up 100000 cubic yards of workings.
The lives of twenty-six men We're lost
in this accident and it was found i'm
possible to recover their bodies.
The other accident of this nature oc-
cUrerd in 1857 at the Mount Lookout
colliery at Wyoming, Pa, operated by
Simpson & Watkins. About 10000
cubic yards of qucksand washed into
the mine. causing surface depression
abou. 300 feet in diameter and % feet