Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-15
PART Of STAUNTON ON
SITE OF OLD FROG POND
City Officials Explain Cause of
Recent Cave-In-Under.
ground Channel. =

STANTON, Va, August ia re-
assuring official statement has been
given out and little further caving IN
OF the city is to be expected. . Al o
matter of fact. the only change in the
physical condition is a slight caying
around the edges. The city officials
expect to begin work tomorrow boring
in the neighborhood to see the charac-
ter OF the strata beneath, and exploring
as far as is safe the three openings
already here. Nothing SO far has been
done to repair the breaks. Crowds
of sightseers came TO town today, all
local trains being filed with people from
| nearby towns.
The following signed statement Was
given out: =.
1.-THE cave-in which has occurred on
Baldwin street at a point near Lewis
creek. just beyond the northwestern
limits Of the business section OF StaIas
ton. lies across what some years ago.
was known as 'Stuart's frog pond. q
small pond in Mr.. Stuart's meadow.
and is caused by the falling OF surface
earth into a well defined channelrupon
bed rock following the general direc-
ton Of Lewis creek. =
The fall or cave-in has an extreme
length Of 255 feet and a breadth OK
thrty-five feet at the surface, the chan
mel at the foot of the fall having.2
width of some six or eight feet. !.
Is made Earth" '~.f
"The ground in this immediate
locality is what is commonly known
as made EARTH being mari
formation covered with clay. ashes.
loan and debris of various kinds
with which the old pond was Allied
In. While the extreme length OF
the fall is 255 feet. as stated. the sub
eli lie surface
having remained intact al two interme-
diate points, leaving bridges across :
the channel about thirty feet in width.
The depth from the street to the
stream is from 40 to 40 feet. The inn
mediate cause of the break is very .evi-
dent. being merely the caving in OF the
soft material over and around the UNDER
ground channel caused by excessive rain
falls. This channel, now exposed TO
view. probably is the old channel OF the
waters which fed Stuart's frog pond.
Immediately beyond the present limit OF
the fall limestone rock occurs at Is
feet below the surface, and is known %
extend downward SU2 feet.
School Building on Piles.
Immediately to the north OF the fan.
parallel to IL and at a distance of not ex-
ceeding 80 feet is the primary school
building, which is erected piles which
are supposed to have been driven to solid
rock.
"The destruction of property caused by
this slide has not been very large. owing
to the distance Of the point where IL
occurred from the business center of the
city. A portion of one of the city IRE
stations lies Immediately above the slide
and this must be made secure before
any use can be made of the station.
AT about the middles OF the fall stood
a frame tenement house, % by 40 feet.
valued at about $500. which went into
~ nRsn xu-fsh |ar~Gr
earth. A one-room kitchen owned by Mr..
c. L. Wilson. was above the slide ana
fell into ii, leaving his house proper in
tact. and from under the adjoining prop
erty at the end of the slide, a part of the
brick foundation wall has fallen. Thus
the cost Of the property damaged. aside
from the injury to the land, Is very
small
Channel to Be Rooted.
1T is the intention OF the city authori-
ties. upon the advice of Messrs. F. b.
van Horn Of the United States Geological
Survey; Charles Cattiett, geologist Dr. J.
Sharshall Grasty of the University OF
Virginia, and of their own engineer,
when the entire channel Is thus opened
to slope the sides until the channel is
fully exposed. when IL will be substan-
TALLY rooted and the depression filled.
while IL Is not possible at present to
say that the caving may not extend be-
yond the present break, the topographic
and geological conditions are such as to
inevitably confine IL to a comparatively
narrow belt Of limited extent.
HAMPTON H. wAYTE.
Mayor City OF stanton.
CHARLES E. ASHBCRNER
General Manager, City Of Staunton.
-. NJ. PERRY,
City Attorney.
IF. b. VAN HORN,
United States Geological Survey.
CHARLES CATTLETT,
"Geologist.
-. SHARSHALL GRASTY,
"Geologist."