A major artery between West Scranton and Central city was partially closed to traffic last night. A hole " two car lengths" in diameter opened up on the Western approach to the bridge. The area in question is located near a drift opening that was closed off with masonary stone. This drift accessed the Diamond vein that lies about 28 feet below the surface. The area was mined by the Cork and bottle coal company,( mid 1800's) which later became the Bridge coal company,(1875) and eventually part of the Baker workings ( early 1900's). The area was extensivly flushed in 1963 using the controlled method of flushing. This project was frequently written about in the local papers. Even then governor Scranton made his way underground to view the project. Evidently the controlled project did not fill all the voids, as in 1968 a controlled flushing project was initated because of subsidences. In July of 1980 massive subsidences plagued the area again severly damaging several buildings ( evidence of that subsidence is still visible through steel work externally visible bracing a commercial building). Eventually another contract was awarded for a controlled project to the Empire contracting company thru the local office of surface mining. The Diamond, Rock and Big bed accepted 31,813.9 yards of flush material thru 25 boreholes obtained from the Olyphant culm bank ( also used for the ASP 12 project) . It was determined that the Big bed caused the damage to the area. This bed lied 147 feet below the surface, its collapse caused a chain reaction that also caused the uper beds to collapse. The area where the latest subsidence occured, lies just outside the area that was flushed.In this instance the Rock bed is probably responsible for the subsidence Being 34 feet below the area. The Diamond bed outcrops 20 feet from the bridge approach.. This has to be one of the most disturbed areas of Scranton. Some borehole logs show the Diamond bed lying a mere 12 feet below the surface, with three feet of rock cover !!! This is directlly below some of the city streets, homes, and businesses in the area

wow, so is the entire road closed off to scranton now? good write up tony..... is that near the slope by the old cnj station we were looking for?

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Well went down to check it out. IT IS NOT THE AREA THE NEWSPAPER REPORTED. It was the upper west Linden Street Bridge. A stone retainging wall gave way. NOT MINE RELATED. But it did block the CP/D&H mainline. Finally opened at 1:30 PM today.