The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-11-19
EARTH CAVES IN;
SEWER SMASHED
Attemp to Build UP Grace
Street Across Ravine
Ends Disasterously
SECTION OF SEWER
is MOVED SIX FEET
Rain Will Mean Complete Bur-
iaI of C.. & Q. Tracks Near
the Church Hill
Tunnel

Two Thousand cubic YARDS Oh esAItn
recently placed in Bloody Run gully
to build up Grace street between Thir-
tieth and Thirty first streets caved In
with a dull roar shortly after IL
o'clock Friday night. the dirt sliding
over the retaining wall of the Chesa-
peake and Ohio railroad tracks and
causing a general landslide further
down In the gully. which broke the
Bloody Run sewer.
The financial damage has not yet
been estimated. nor Ia 1t certain that
the sliding of land or falling In OF
the land IL done with. Saturday morn
ing. even as City Engineer Boiling
stood looking over the collapse OF one
Of his projects, great assures appear
ed In the Bloody Run road For
distance of about one hundred yards
this road has sung at least three feet,
and 1t Is feared that the end is not
set.
Al present hundreds Of tons OF
earth are piled up in the bottom OF
the gully. the mass completely bury
ing the retaining wall which ran be-
tween the sewer and the railroad
tracks. A heavy rain will cause this
dirt to WASH down ever tAe-fFa@@kss
completely blocking the Chesapeake
and Ohio tunnel. which u now used
only for freight car Traffic
According to Councilman Richards.
who WAS one Of the numerous spec
tators. Saturday morning. the wash
out il apt to occur even II there II no
rain. large portion OF the sewer
tnst how much is not known and
cannot he until there has vast
mount OF exeavatinE-~has been brok-
en- of from the main trunk. and car
ried underground. for a distance OF
ut last eight feet. As a result the
refuse, instead OF being carried TO
the sewers mouth. and then emptied
int GA ditch. IL now pouring out of
tht. crack, wherever II may be. ana
siugxishly and snIlenly 10 cutting for
tfxef m underground chAnnel toward
. low outlet. This outlet Will prob
ably he In thc Immediate vicinity Of
the railroad tracka
SAYS Earth Was Too Hsavy.
Assistant Engineer Jones declares
that the cave-in and the landslide was
due to The fact that the weight OF the
earth which has been dumped by con-
tractor S. 3. Clay was too great. There
IA large formation of slippery blue
naarl beneath the dumpings. and this
siasfts downward. he says. The weight
az the earth above become too heaSQ
and the land slidt OF tta own momen-
tum. This slide. In turn. struck the
more solid earth at the bottom OF
the gully and caused this to slide also,
city Engineer Boiling predicted the
possibility OF such n mishap last
Thursday. Mr.. Jones says, and report
ed the fact to the committee on grounds
and buildings that night He made no
suggestion as to how such an occur
renee might be prevented.
The consensus OF opinion OF all those
who viewed the cave-in was that. had
II occurred during the daytime when
men were at work instead OF at night.
not a few iabarers and horses would
have been killed.
Calls Cavern Unprsventsbls.
Speaking OF the accident. Mr.. jones
said: 1T looks ~ IL the bottom had
dropped out of things. As matter Of
fact however. there was just 9 slid
INK from underneath. which could not
have been prevented. The bottom soil
started moving and carried everything
on top of II with it,
In proof Of his statement Mr.. Jones
called attention to great piles of waste
paper which ON Friday lay on top OF
the dumpings and which now lie on the
bottom OF the gully. but are still un-
covered by soil. The paper WAS car
ried on the surface for q distance OF
fully nifty yards. Trees also which on
Friday front the ground on level
with Bloody Run road are now five
or six feet below the road.
Whether or not the project Of huild-
ing UP continuation OF Grace street
Will still be carried out has not yet
been definitely determined Saturday
morning. however. laborers were busy
dumping earth on that part OF the en-
bankment which had not caved In.
The greatest expense In connection
with the entire thing lies N the re-
pair of the sewer. The ground will
have to be excavated before the break
ran be discovered