The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-12-18
MOVEMENT OF MOUNTAIN
CHECKED BY ENGINEERS
A REMARKABLE PHENOMENON
THAT FOR MANY YEARS
BAFFLED SOLUTION.

tBy Horace +. Thomas In the De
cember Popular Mechanics Magazine)
When an entire mountain become,
dissatisfied with its location and start.
to slide 1t ear trouble for whatever
happens to be in the way. Any one
who has noticed how even q small
slide sweeps everything before it ap.
p~reciates the force In a moving mass
Of earth. When the slide includes a
mountain, instead Of simply a loose
portion of its surface, the movement
may be said to be irresistible. II stop
ped at all, it must be attacked by en-
cheering strategy, for no force will
prevail against it.
In a commanding position on the
Oregon side of the Columbia river,
between Cascade locks and Eagle
creek, about As miles from Portland,
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 several
decades, in staying its progress, they
are not ready to say that the mountain
is conquered. To the layman. how
ever, 1t looks very much as though
the mountain had COM out second
best in it's struggle to glide into the
waters of the Columbia, and that
from now on, it will remain steadfas'
in its present location, as a we'll he
haved mountain should.
First Observed in 1880.
There has at no time been anything
very p~recipitate about the movement
OF this Columbia river peak. 1t might
have gone on indefinitely without at
tracing attention if it had not been
for the construction of a railroad al
its base back in 1880. The engineers
who surveyed the line We're greatly
surprised to notice after several
months, that some action had affect
ed their location stakes. The change
was slight, but sufficient to arouse
their curiosity and apprehension. De-
finite observations were made from
month to month and from these ii
was determined that the land at this
place was sliding toward the Column
bia at the rate of 10 to Is feet a year.
AT first, 1t was thought that the dis
turbance might be confined to a very
small and localized area
The moving mountain itself borders
the river for three-quarters of a mile.
Its a is a series of serrations, and
there are several areas that have no
surface outlet, Water gathering In
these undrained basins seeps through
the soil, reaching bedrock at a level
below the surface of the
river. To this drainage water Is add
seepage from the river, which flows
IN over the bedrock where 1t is X
posed along the bank. As a result,
The mountain rests on a thin film of
that covers the bedrock under
is entire base. The tremendous
on this thoroughly fabricated
urface causes the movement.
How Movement Stopped.
Until recently, surface drainage was
expended on to stop this. Efforts
'ere made to drain the low areas, for
was reasoned that If the water did !
OF permeate the mountain, the slide
stop. Surface drainage, how !
Yer, proved q failure. !
The new plan of attack, which has :
the slide at least temporar-
y, consists of a series of drainage
innels. They were built in 1918. The :
ortals of the tunnels are at about !
ormal high water level of the river, y
have a depth of so feet. When v
le tunnels had penetrated the noun v
in for some distance drifts were dug y
right angles to reach the most ad- y
lntageous locations. I"
The tunnels have offered drainage
r the film of water that covered the "
'drock surface, and a large volume q
water has been concentrated in "
EN-. AS soon as the tunnels were !"
mpleted, last year, the slide move -,
ent ended and has not, so far, re- u
The famous Columbia river high T"
" now parallels the railroad at the ''
of the moving mountain. 1t had W.
built only a short time before -
slide was stopped and was not af- w
ted. If the movement should be- W
again, frequent changes of the "'
as well as the railroad, -
uld be necessary, However, this is Ar,
contingency that is not anticipated.
it is generally believed that the
Inels have solved the difficulty per-