Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 225, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1915 — HAVE SAVED MOUNT VERNON [ARTICLE]

HAVE SAVED MOUNT VERNON

Potomac Was Threatening to Cut Away the Whole Bluff —Good Engineering Work.

The high Bluff oh which stands Mount Vernon, the home of our first president, has for years been in danger of gradually sliding into the Potomac. This danger became acute a few years ago when it was discovered that a new landslide was beginning that threatened to destroy the broad iawn in front of the mansion, if not the foundations of t v .e mansion itself, and engineering work, recently completed, was begun at that time to sa\-e the historic site from further damage. . The ground slopes from the mansion to the edge of the bluff, and from this point drops steeply for a hundred feet or more to the edge of the Potomac. The river at this point is a wide tidal estuary and the action of the waves has caused a steady erosion at the foot of the bluff.

Underlying the bluff are strata of sand, clay and soft sandstone, which, on investigation, were found to be saturated with water, and this, combined with the erosion of the waves, has resulted in landslides that have doubtless been going on intermittently for agss. . To cure the trouble a small drainage tunnel was first driven in the bottom of the sandstone stratum and carried back from the river front a distance of about 20C feet.

From this tunnel a heavy flow of water immediately started, and this flow continued for several months. At the end of that time the flow diminished to a moderate amount, and Jias remained practically constant ever since. To prevent further erosion at the

foot of the bluff thrqugh the action of the waves a heavy masonry wall was then built along the edge of the river. It is hoped that danger of future slides has been eliminated. — Popular Mechanics.