The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-01-10
SWALLOWED UP.
CAve-In Occurs In . Pennsylvanie
Town, and Several Buildings
Are Eagulfed.

workings of the Eddy Creek colliery
of the Delaware and Hudson COM
pany beneath; the very heart of the
town of ELEPHANT caved in Friday
afternoon and engulfed four frame
buildings. covering an aggregate
space of 5000 square feet. The set
Ting was gradual and people in the
affected territory escaped without be-
ing Immediately endangered. A gang
of men and boys who were at work
in the mine beyond the fall encount-
cred a flooded dip" or depression in
vein in making their way out by a
circuitous route and had to swim from
one rise to the other. No one either
above or below ground, however, sus-
tanned any injury.
The vein that caved is rs feet be-
low the surface. The settling start
ed in the street just in front of the
hotel property. The brick pavement
was seen to be working and the tele-
graph poles and trees along the curb
were noticed to be wobbling. The
cause was at once apparent and the
alarm given to all the neighborhood.
Two sick guests were removed from
the hotel and taken two blocks away
to a private house. Some attempt
was made at saving the contents of
the buildings, but the rapidly in
creasing size of the opening in the
street put a stop to this and every
one fed from the neighborhood.
At three o'clock the settling began.
At $3.50 it was no longer perceptible.
In the intervening half-hour, O'Brien's
three-story hotel, Mrs. Anna Evans
double dwelling, Mrs. Jane Ackerly's
double store building and one-story
barber shop were ground 10 debris in
the yawning pit, with the uppermost
part of the mound 40 below the SUR
face. O'Brien's hotel plunged first
into the opening and entirely dis
appeared. A few houses are project
ing over the edge of the pit. Twenty
minutes after the disturbance was first
noticed the opening had widened until
it reached all the way across the street
and halfway beneath the O'Brien ho-
tel. Then, with terrific crash. the big
hotel pitched forward, turned com
pletely about and landed on its roof
in the bottom of the abyss. An i'm
mense amount of earth from all about
the edge Of the hotel went down with
it. and moment later the adjoining
double dwelling of Mrs. Evans fell
over the edge and demolished itself
on the ruins of the hotel. The Acker-
ly double story building and the Ev-
ans barber shop property slid into the
chasm about the same time and piled
themselves broken and twisted on the
debris.
At nightfall 1t was believed there
would be no further settling, but no
one, it is safe to say, went to bed in
any building within 80 yards of the
disturbed area. The property damage
is estimated at $4,000.
The workings which caved were in
the uppermost part Of the worked out
veins. The timbers, 1t is explained by
the company officials, supported II
thin roof of rock, which in turn sup
ported stratas of quicksand and gravel
extending to the surface. The timbers
rotted, the roof gave way and the
quicksand sifted through, carrying the
gravel with it. The water mains broke
and a torrent of water poured through
the aperture and down 45-foot
plane, which has its heading just at
the point where the roof broke
through. Not until all that was above
the area of the old workings which
caved in had been sucked into the open
ing and down the slope did the settling
cease. Fortunately for the company,
the surface ceased cracking 90 feet
from the river bank. Had it reached
the river the mine would have been
drowned.