I02 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vol. 45 



" Finally, however, a Bath firm, Messrs. Liberty and Lake, con- 

 sented to make the attempt, on condition of being freed from re- 

 sponsibility if the work was a failure. 



" The task in hand was to drill a solid row of vertical holes four 

 feet deep around three sides of the pothole, then having excavated 

 on the sea-wall side sufficiently to give room for the use of tools, 

 to drill a horizontal row meeting these some inches below the bottom 

 of the pothole and thus cut out a block containing it. 



" The first plan was to do the drilling by hand, but as seventy- 

 five holes must be made, each four feet in depth, it was found that 

 this would require the labor of as many men as could be employed 

 for several months and an expense quite beyond the means available. 

 Accordingly a steam drill and scow were procured and work begun 

 with these on April 12. Some large masses of overhanging rock 

 were soon found to interfere with the working of the drill, and as 

 the removal of these by hand would have been very tedious and 

 expensive, it was though best to employ powder. The result, how- 

 ever, was disastrous to the perfection of the pothole, since the con- 

 cussion from the explosion shattered the ledge and opened several 

 seams, showing that the rock was by no means the tough, homo- 

 geneous mass which it had appeared to be. 



" As the work proceeded this weakness became more apparent, as 

 even the jar from the pounding of the drill caused pieces of the 

 interior of the " well " to loosen and fall away and the seams to open 

 still wider. All devices resorted to for overcoming this, such as 

 keeping the stone wet and lining the interior with plaster and cement, 

 were of little avail. Before the drilling could be completed other 

 masses of rock had to be removed, and as our financial resources 

 would not allow doing this by hand, powder was necessarily em- 

 ployed, to the further injury of the pothole as a specimen. After 

 two weeks of this work the drilling was finished and the cutting by 

 hand of the cores between the drill-holes commenced, a task which 

 occupied about a week. To free the block from its bed, pairs of 

 long, iron wedges were inserted in the horizontal holes at the bottom 

 and driven in till the mass was raised a few inches, when it was 

 brought forward and grappled with a chain. It was then hoisted 

 by means of a derrick, transferred to a scow (great care being 

 necessary in this operation lest the block should break apart), and, 

 on May 2d, towed to Bath, where it remained for some days before 

 being shipped to Washington. 



" For the guidance of those who would undertake similar work 

 it should be noted that sufficient means ought to be provided to per- 



