78 



RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE. 



arch is separated from the main bluff by a distance of 25^ feet. In the 

 base of the main bluff, a little to the south of the center of the arch, is a 

 small grotto, 25 feet wide, six and a half feet high, and extending back 

 under the bluff 15 feet. Three small springs flow from the back of this 

 cavity and form a small stream, which flows out under the arch of the 

 bridge. 



To this spring is due the erosion of mosl^of the bridge, although it was 

 supplemented by the water running down through the joint plane, which 

 at present forms the inner side of the bridge. At the same time the under 

 side of the bridge was being broken down, and the arch growing larger. 



FIG. 2. Diagram of the Sewanee bridge, top view. (W. A. N.) 



The rocks forming the top layer of the bridge were being eroded by nat- 

 ural processes, so that one can see from the picture that at least one layer 

 30 inches thick has been removed. This is evidenced by the small block- 

 like remnant which remains. 



Gooch Creek natural bridge. This bridge, which is on the escarpment 

 of the uppermost bluff, lies on the northwest side of Gooch Creek, three 

 and a half miles north of Dayton, Tennessee. The property belongs to 

 A. W. Walker of that town. The best way to reach it on foot is to fol- 

 low the railroad to the coke ovens of the Dayton Coal & Iron Company, 

 then turn east and take a logging road over an outlying ridge and down 

 into Gooch Creek ravine, where there is a temporary saw-mill. From 

 this point go about one-fourth of a mile up the creek and then climp up 

 the escarpment of the mountain, 400 feet to the top of Walden Ridge, 

 where the bridge is located. By road one can go up Stewart Gap to the 

 top of the ridge, then walk south a half mile to the bridge. 



