The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-06-30
TRINIDAD'S PUZZLE
Mystery of the Islands Curious
Lake of Pitch.
HOLES FILL UP OVERNIGHT.
And Great Trenches More Than Three
Feet Deep Will De obIiterated In
Week-The Great Mass ls Solid, Yet
In Constant but Slow Motion.

Feet Deep VIII re ObIleerateu III
Week-The Great Mass ls Solid, Yet
| In Constant but Slow Motion.
Though disappointing at first sight to
people who have the crater of an ac-
tive volcano in mind, yet the famous
"pitch lake" of Trinidad is remarkable
enough to satisfy most thoroughly long
ere the visit has come to an end.
The lake is level plain about hun
| dred acres or so in extent, surrounded
| by low hills and dotted here and there
with bushes and trees. The surface is
not sbimmering black, as might be
supposed, but a dull, grayish blue col
or, intersected with pools of shining
water. Altogether 1t is very prosaic
looking place, giving no hint of its real
| interest.
One can walk where one pleases on
the surface of the asphalt without any
fear of sinking in, for 1t Is quite solid
enough to bear ones weight. If you
stand in one place for little while it
feels hot to the feet, just like an as
phalted street on very hot day.
Much of the time fresh breeze
blows, and one remembers with amuse-
ment the stories of the imaginative
writers who talked about sitting heat
and oppressive atmosphere.
The digging Of the asphalt Is a sim
pie operation. A mattock is the only
tool required, and under its blows the
pitch breaks readily. The negroes en-
ployed are very skilled in the work
and break out Jumps a couple Of feet
across, far too heavy for an ordinary
man to carry.
Only very small amount Of the ma
terial gets broken into little pieces, 80
that scarcely any baskets are needed
to carry the asphalt to the cars. A
laborer simply lifts one or two Jumps,
! puts them on his head, walks a few
yards and DROPS them into the car.
The crude asphalt, as broken out, is
| somewhat brownish or earthly in color
1t is usually quite wet and filed with
many holes, like bubbles, measuring up
| to an inch Or more in diameter
The gang of barefooted workmen in
one place may number thirty men, Of
whom half a dozen do the digging
They work on II space perhaps sixty
feet long Hnd forty feet wide and in
the course If a day they will dig down
to depth of three feet, or more in
some places.
Go to th..t same spot next morning.
and you will find 1t a little rough but
approximately level with the rest of
the lake. The hole has been mysteri-
ously filed up during the night, and in
the course of a week all traces Of the
digging will be obliterlted.
This does not mean necessarily that
fresh asphalt has come into the lake
| from underground sources. On the con
| trary, the excavations are filed by a
very slow settling or leveling of the
surface asphalt There is no such
thing as new asphalt, by the way,
| for the transition from liquid petro-
leum to solid asphalt by natures proc
! ess involves period of time that must
be calculated in centuries.
The digging done in past years has
caused the general level Of the lake to
sink several feet, SO that 1t is not abso-
lutely ineXhaustible, as some people i'm
agine. 1t Is believed that fresh asphalt
very slowly pushes itself upward into
the lake from the subterranean depths,
but how large quantity Is thus added
annually has not been calculated.
Near the middle Of the lake the ma
terial is leSs hard than elsewhere, and
in n few places soft asphalt may be
seen in small, irregular patches oozing
up from below. This fresh asphalt is
of about tie consistency of putty and
! can be kneaded and pulled In the hands
without soillng them greatly. In the
main, however. the lake is solid as
phalt.
No one knows the depths of this mys-
terious lake, the only information on
the subject being the fact that long
ago boring was made to a depth of
135 feet without reaching the bottom.
| The cores" of this and other borings
show that in consistency the asphalt
remains the same to very consider.
able depth.
| Curious as IL may seem, there are
many evidences that the entire mass
comprising the lake is in constant but
very slow motion The surface is a
series of great folds, and in the creases
between these the rain water gathers.
One writer has aptly compared the
surface of the asphalt to the skin of Il
great elephant the creases being the
folds In hla hide Along the edges Of
the pools Of water grass, bushes and
small treea take root, forming green
Islands ~ greater or less extent
Victor Phi -He,hley In Wide World