El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-03-23

tific data on which TO base DEFINITE
and exact conclusions, experiment have
recently been made at Lenigh uniYer-
sity, in South Bethlehem, in relation TO
the supporting power Of pillars OF
various materials-such as sandstone,
coal. slate, mine timber, fire clay ana
crushed stOne-have been shipped to
the laboratory at Lehigh, and there
built into model mine columns, the
machine used to determine their
strength being the largest vertical
screw-testing apparatus in the world,
capable Of eOerting pressure OF SOU'-
600 pounds.
This, however, is not the only region
that suffers, as one might say, from
uncertainties Of the landscape AT
Neck City, No, in January Of last year,
pond and a great elm tree was liter
ally swallowed into the earth, In
cave so large that nothing Of the tree
was visible a few hours later. me
longest rope that could be obtained
with a weight on the end Of it for
sounding, found no bottom to the cav
ern. In this instance, however, the
hollow beneath the earth was OF nat
Not long ago. near the Budweiser
mine at TuckahOe. a considerable piece
Of landscape fell in, owing to the
pumping out Of water, incidental TO
mining operations. Here again was
natural subterranean cavern, and when
the water was removed the roof fell
in. Owing TO similar causes, near the
sand Ridge mine, at Aurora, great
cracks resembling those caused by an
earthquake developed in the summer
OF 1900
such facts as these. already known,
served 10 shed light upon the causes OF
a very remarkable happening in the
city Of StauntOn, Va, where, in the
summer Of 1910, much alarm was felt
lest a large part of the town was des-
tined to drop into the bowels of the
# q
shaped openings in the ground ap-
peared. one house fell through and
disappeared, and various other assO-
ciated phenomena excited a not unreas-
enable dismay.
Tree Vanishes From sight.
The trouble began on the 11th day
Of August, when the occupants Of a
dwelling on the south side OF Baldwin
street heard a crash as if directly IN
derneath them. whereupon the build
ing suddenly shook and sank four feet.
In less than an hour IT had sunk 10
feet, a hole 80 feet In diameter haV-
ing appeared, and tree p feet high
presently dropped into the opening,
vanishing entirely from sight
A few hours later the hole caved in
at the sides, charging considerably,
and the dwelling, which was of two
stories and % by IS feet in floor d.
mansions, finally dropped through and
vanished
Two hours after the first break a
second one occurred, on the opposite
side Of Baldwin street, diagOnally
across A loud report, ike that Of a
gun, was heard, and hole appeared
four feet square in front Of an engine
house 1t grew in size at irregular in
tervals until II reached nearly across
the street and under the engine house.
Incidentally. the latter was so badly
damaged that It had to be torn down
afterward.
Some hours later a family named
Todd. residing not far away, heard
rsrrr al
whereupon a third hole, bigger than
either Of the other two, began to ap-
pear 1t was situated about IS feet
southwest of the first opening. En-
larging until it was 90 feet long by 50
feet wide, it swallowed up three trees
and a portion Of the Todd dwelling
Sounding showed that it was $50 feet
deep, and water poured into it until
IT was filled to within % feet Of the
surface of the ground
Another CaFein Follows.
Two weeks afterward,. on August o.
there was fourth cavein. cistern
shaped and y feet in diameter on
the opposite side Of Lewis street from
the third hole.
Among the negroes Of Stanton
there was a strong impression that
the world was coming to an end. At
tempts were made 10 fill up the holes
particularly that which threatened the
engine house, by dumping wheelbar-
row loads of rocks into them. but they
seemed about as effective as If one
were TO try to choke the crater Of
Nesuvius with pebbles. What was fin
ally done was to build a concrete arch
along the line Of the openings. thus
reinforcing the earth crust locally
and preventing further damage.
For quite a while the whole affair
was regarded as unaccountable- but an
Investigation set on foot by the gov
eminent geological survey has since
furnished a complete explanation. two
experts. Messrs- Kindle and Van Horn
being dispatched TO the scene for the
purpose
It seems that the city Of Stanton
is located in a limestone region. In
fact, a bed Of limestone 500 feet thick
underlies the town As in other lime
stone districts, there are subterranean
streams, one Of which had excavated
large cavern directly beneath the
place where the caveins occurred. The
cavern grew in size until the roof be-
came too weak to hold itself ND any
longer. and then it fell in.
In the limestone region of Kentucky
there are hundreds of underground
stream channels marked BY cave
mouths and sink holes. More than
500 caverns of various sizes are known
in three counties in the vicinity Of the
great Mammoth Cave over consider
able areas of Indiana likewise more
than nine-tenths Of the rainfall is car
ried off by such streams. which col
lect the surface waters largely throug h
hopDer-shaDed depressiOns called sinks
OF sink holes.
often the outlet OF a sinkhole con-
Meeting it with the stream below. IS
choked by plug and the sink becomes
first a pond or small lake, then a
marsh. and later one, when filled in
with silt. dry land This, i'm fact. is
what happened at stanton But the
cavern below remained, with the
stream. since located by borings
for a considerable distance. running
through il.
; What finally happened to bring
about the catastrophe -(according to