The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1919-12-12

between Cascade locks and Eagle
Creek, about IS miles from Portland,
stand the "Moving Mountain" Al
though for the past year there has
been no movement, and engineers are
hoping that they have succeeded, IN
a fight they have made through sew
eral decades, in staying its progress,
they are not ready to say that the
mountain is conquered. To the lay
man, however, it looks very much as
though the mountain had come out
second best in it's struggle to glide in
to the waters of the Columbia, and
that, from now on, it will remain
steadfast in its present location, as
well-behaved mountain should.
There has at no time been anything
very precipitate about the movement
of this Columbia River peak. 1t
might have gone on indefinitely with
out attracting attention, if it had not
been for the construction of railroad
at it's base back in 1880. The engi-
neers who surveyed the line were
greatly surprised to notice, after sew
eral months, that some action had at
fected their location stakes. The
change was slight, but sufficient to
arouse their curiosity and apprehen-
sion. Definite observations were made
from month to month, and from these
it was determined that the land at
this place was sliding toward the Co.
lumbia at the rate of 10 to 10 feet a
year. At first, it was thought the
disturbance might be confined to a
very small and localized area. Expert
ments quickly proved this promise
wrong, however.
The Moving Mountain itself borders
the river for three quarters of mile
It's face is series of serrations, anC
there are several areas that have nc
surface outlet. Water gathering In
these undrained basins seeps through
the soil, reaching bedrock at leve
somewhat below the surface of the
river. To this drainage water is ad
ded seepage from the river, which
flows in over the bedrock where it il
exposed along the bank. AS result
water that covers the bedrock under
it's entire base. The tremendous
weight on this thoroughly fabricated
surface causes the movement.
Until recently, surface drainage
was depended on to stop this. Effort:
were made to drain the low areas, fol
it was reasoned that if the water die
not permeate the mountain, the slide
would stop. Surface drainage, how
ever, proved failure.
The new plan of attack, which ha!
stopped the slide, at least temporarily
consists of series of drainage tun
nels. They were built in 1918 Tn,
portals of the tunnels are at abou
| normal high-water level of the river
and have depth of so fit. When tn,
tunnels had penetrated the mountain
for some distance drifts were dug a
right angles to reach the most advan
tageous locations.
The tunnels have offered drainage
for the film of water that covered thu
bedrock surface, and large volume
of water has been concentrated ir
them. AS soon as the tunnels were
completed, last year, the slide move
ment ended and has not, so far, re
| Cured.
The famous Columbia River High.
way now parallels the railroad at the
base Of the Moving Mountain. 1t haC
been built only short time before
tha c1ida yuac 'ctOppad opJ uyoc ,,oI
affected. If the movement should be-
gin again, frequent changes Of the
highway, as well as the railroad
would be necessary. However, this is
contingency that is not anticipated
for it is generally believed that the
tunnels have solved the difficulty per-
manently.-By Horace E. Thomas, in
the December Popular Mechanics
Magazine.