Scranton Caving In Over Abandoned Mines
The greed of coal-miners has so undermined the city of Scranton, Penn., by removing the supports which upheld the thin earth over the worked-out mines under the city, that the city is caving in. It is not an uncommon thing to have buildings swallowed up and city blocks twisted into dangerous ruins; trolleys sometimes have gone down over night. The crust upon which the city now stands is only from ten to forty feet thick, and this is supported by slender columns of earth, coal, or wooden beams, too far apart to make a substantial foundation. Bottoms of graves have dropped out. Most of the wells are dry. For twenty-three square miles under the entire area of Scranton, east, west, north, and south one can walk through exhausted mines. If it had not been for the greed of men, this surface ground would have been thoroly supported.