The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-20
Predicted by Boiling.

q
early this week and have been watched
with interest On Thursday night City
Engineer Boiling reported to the Com
nittee on Grounds and Buildings that
lie anticipated Just such slide. and
that he had caused the lower drive
way leading from the park around the
mouth Of the Chesapeake and Ohio
Tunnel to East Franklin Street to be
.barricadcd. as he considered Its use
dangerous.
There was q roar and shock almost
like an earthquake when the main
TALL came, many houses In the neigh
borhood being shaken, though APP
/ rarently no damage was done. Largo
trees have been moved several feet out
OF line, although they arc still stand
ing, and n telephone pole has dropped
d. lost half its length, although 1T is
still standing upright, and the roadway
around the pole lis smooth and hard,
bearing tracks OF wagon wheels, which
may BIO traced on the terrace twenty
feet or more above, showing how the
hin has apparently sunk into itself.
Will Open Grace street.
II Is believed now that all danger is
passed.. the weight having adjusted 1T
self The driveway Will BIO repaired az
once and rcopened. The engineers are
u II00 iAhS AcI hb1b5 1'oN-
Street, the plan being 10 use all ashes
and earth excayated from buildings
and streets to I'LL Grace Street TO an
even grade within the next few years
clear across tho rarine, thus making II
a through driveway from Church Hill
proper to Chimborazo Park. In order
to make this I'LL, the arch OF the rail
way tunnel will have to be length
cned, and II has been suggested that
piles may DO driven into the hillside
to prevent further damage.
a little earth rolled onto the railway
tracks at the bottom OF the hill, but
was quickly cleared away by section
men. Cracks have been noticed in an
old stone sewer at the bottom OF the
rayine. which will have to be repaired
before the bottom is filled over, but
the damage, 1t Is believed, will be
slight. slides OF the same general
character toward the river on tho
greasy bed OF the mari deposit viii
probably continue until the entire ra-
vine has been filled in. Inspectors
were unable to discover that any dam
age had been done to surrounding
buildings.
No Sewer in CONSTRUCTION.
No sewer construction work was GO
ing on within 500 feet of the slide. and
tho only sewer affected is an old brick
sewer down Thirty-hrst Street, built
many years ago. which empties into an
open ditch or stream near the railway
tunnels mouth. Tho mouth of this
sewer shows cracks and has evidently
been twisted from its place, though
how far It has been damaged has not
yet been ascertained. City Engineer
Boiling Is peculiarly familiar with the
havfnO OF ~
for tho Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
in the construction OF the Church Fill
tunnel, work on which was moro than
once stopped by similar slides Some
years ago tho tracks outside OF the |
tunnel were blocked for more than a |
day by slide in almost the same spot.
Mr.. Boiling said yesterday that the
under soil OF the hillside was a mari
clay, known in geology as Chesapeake |
formation" practically imperyious to
water. Overlying this there is a gravel
bed, then tho clay surface Water per-
colates through the clay and gravel
TO the surface of the mari, which be-
comes as slick as creased soap, and as
the strata has an inclination toward
the river the whole upper crust has a
tendency to slide away.
Tho city has recently begun work on
4 sewer from the Gas Works up the
route OF the Chesapeake and Ohio, in |
tended to meet the old Thirty tirst !
Street sewer. but the work has not
reached within several blocks of the
point OF the slide, and the drainage
still flows through an open ditch bo-
side the railway track.
May Require Retaining Walls.
Mr. Boiling thinks that in order to
carry out the plan OF opening Grace |
Street through to the park, which will |
require slxty-foot fill for two blocks,
Il will be necessary to construct re-
taIning walls, the foundations OF
which must be bedded in the blue mari
which does not slip. as is
shown by the fact that the Chesapeake
and Ohio masonry has remained In
.act for thirty years. There Is some
question as to whether the Thirty first
Street sewer was Embedded in the blue
,lay or laid near the surface. as 1t |
was built many years ago If 1t was
not we'll bedded in subsoil, it has 4
probably been cracked for more than
lfblack. and part Of it may have to be
'eplncad
Csa,,a C-,soy Ko,u