Hollick: Geological Notes in Lawsuit 145 



vey in 1902. At the time when the examination was made, a 

 seam of chlorite was found in the bottom of the gully, from which 

 I collected specimens for our museum and recorded the loca- 

 tion in my field notes, in connection with which I shall have 

 something further to say later on. 



In 1899 tri e Todt Hill Road was regraded so as to discharge 

 the surface water into the old gully by means of a pipe culvert. 

 As a matter of fact this did not alter the original conditions to 

 any extent, so far as the discharge of surface water was con- 

 cerned ; but parties who subsequently came into possession of 

 the property objected and sued the city, alleging that during the 

 past two years the land had been damaged by erosion to the 

 extent of $5,000, besides which they had suffered the loss of 

 "precious minerals" to the amount of $20,000, the latter being 

 specified in their bill of particulars as " pigment for the manu- 

 facture of dry and oil paints of several colors and shades," evi- 

 dently meaning the red and brown earthy limonite which is dis- 

 tributed more or less irregularly over the surface. Upon this 

 was placed a valuation of $4.00 per ton and 5,000 tons were 

 claimed to have been zvashed away. Inasmuch as the claim was 

 for loss during only two years this implied an erosion of 2,500 

 tons per year, or approximately 200 tons per month or about 6 l /2 

 tons per day. But further than this, 5,000 tons of the material 

 claimed to have been lost would fill the gully to the level of the 

 adjoining land and leave some over for good measure; so that in 

 order to account for this loss the only possible inference would 

 be that the gully from top to bottom and end to end must have 

 been eroded during the past two years. 



The suit was preposterous and ridiculous on its face, but it 

 was just as necessary for the city to prepare and to formulate a 

 careful defense as it would have been if the claim had been a 

 valid one, and 1 was called upon to assist in the matter. My 

 recollection of the earlier conditions was quite clear, but some- 

 one else might have recollected something entirely different, so 

 search was made for the chlorite seam in the bottom and it was 



