The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-02-01
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, FEBRUARY /, 1907
SRleet Stnrp.
BELOW THE DAM.

quarry, and Benton Foster, his nineteen
year.old assistant, were in the boiler house,
pumping the pit clear for the morrow S
work A thirty hour Southwestern was
dying out in the rather unreasonable nov
city, spring thunderstorm with abundant
sheet lightning.
Wetherbee strewed fresh shovelful of
coal over the glowing irebed.
'Look down at the next flash, Bent,
said he, ssand see if we re gaining on the
water"
Foster leaned out through the little
window by the hoistre. The hundred foot
chasm right below him was suddenly filled
with dazzling white light, showing the
tracks still flooded and the walls gushing
with numerous streams. A suspiciously
large torrent directly opposite drew his
Quick glance up beyond the summit Of the
cliff to low bank of earth The blaze
vanished with a tremendous thunder crash
that almost drowned his cry of alarm:
''It' s running over the DAM
The engineer was quickly at his side,
peering into the gloom.
Cant ber' he exclaimed. '.)ust be-
fore dark the. ice was solid, and six inches
below the top"
But the next flash convinced him.
you're right, BENT he shouted.
"That means troubled
ssShall I run after Tom Sparrow and
his brother?' inquired Foster
ave haven't a second to waste. The
two of us can do more than a dozen could
in fifteen minutes.
Hastily donning caps and rubber coats,
they each seized coalshovel and Weth
erbee hung the lighted lantern on his left
arm. As they hurried toward the door,
he ierked down the white-cord and Topped
it over a nail Overhead pealed out the
steam blast, shrill and insistent.
"That may call somebody, if the storm
ism too loud" said he.
Buffeted by the southwest gale, they
skirted the edge of the pit at cautious
dog-trot through the wet, slippery grass.
Now the lightning revealed their path with
painful distinctness; now only the dancing
rays from their lantern penetrated the
gloom.
"Mind your footing!' exclaimed the
engineer, as they drew closer to the brink.
The cause of this hurried expedition was
an eight-foot dam across an old sunken
road through the top-rock between the
Hammond quarry and the adjoining Sales
quarry now abandoned and full of
water. This road constructed some
twenty years before, when the rock was
hauled out by teams and both plants were
operated on the same level, had fallen into
disuse as the excavations grew deeper and
steam hosting was introduced. The aban-
donment of the Sales quarry and its grad
ual flooding had made dam necessary the
previous summer.
As it was expected that work would
soon be resumed and the pit pumped out,
the owners of the Hammond quarry erected
only a temporary dirt wall, which was in
creased in height with the rise of the water
Should it yield body of water eight
feet deep and covering three or four acres
would rush and flood the deeper but smaller
pit.
As Wetherbee looked down from the
bank above the road, he gave cry of dis
may. A second later Foster stood beside
him, gazing at the dam. There was good
reason for alarm.
The rotten ice in the Sales quarry had
broken up. The strong wind, raking it
from end to end and blowing directly down
the road, had kicked up ''chop'' that
was splashing over the dam and washing
away its rain softened top. Half a dozen
rapidly increasing streams were outlying
out the soft slope. No time was to be
lost.
Setting the lantern on the edge Of the
grass, the engineer sprang down, shovel in
hand, followed by his assistant. They be-
gan to dig clay from the banks on his side,
and to throw it on the face of the dam,
which was thirty feet long and about the
same distance from the brink of the quar-
~. 1t was hard work. The surface was
little better than porridge, and the frost
still fingered underneath; and almost every
shovelful had to be carried from ten to
twenty feet. While they were trying to
stop one streamlet with soft mud, the others
were growing larger.
Both were soon drenched with rain. The
wind had snatched off the engineers cap,
and he worked bareheaded, the bald spot
on his crown showing white in the lantern
fare. As he noticed that the mud was
washed away almost as fast as it was
brought, happy thought struck him.
':Don't throw it on shovel by shovel,
Bent" said he. ''Let's get lot to-
gether, and pile it all at once. That the
best way to stop the water
The largest stream was soon checked by
this means, and the shovelers then turned
their attention to the next in size. In
few minutes another mound of clay had
been amassed
"We've got itp' painted Wetherbee.
At that very instant the gale snuffed out the
lantern.
There was nothing for it but to work on
in the darkness with what chance assist
ance the lightning might afford. The
center Of the road was bed of smooth ice,
sloping toward the Hammond quarry.
Haste made the engineer careless of his
steps. As he scrambled along the base of
the dam with heavily loaded shovel, he
slipped and fell backward. With cry he
slid down toward the black pitt
Instinctively he threw out both hands,
but they found nothing to grasp on the
muddy slippery surface. Every foot
brought him nearer the edge Of the chasm
In desperation he stamped his left boot
heel down; it shattered the shell of ice,
grated on solid rock, and he came to q
stop.
Wetherbee was in frightful position.
He lay on his back on the icy slope, hi
safety depending solely on the 6rmnes
with which his heel was braced. Tn.