"Hole" Discovered In Mississippi River Bed
Clinton: An unidentified source has reported that an Army Corps of Engineers sonar-equipped survey boat has detected a very large hole at the bottom of the Mississippi River near the town of Boone Springs. According to the source, the sonar equipped boat was making midwinter soundings of shipping channels in the river when suddenly its sonar instruments indicated that there was no bottom beneath the boat. Further readings indicated that the hole measured one thousand feet in diameter. Sounding charts of the area show a depth of 18 feet and no indication of such a feature in the past. Hydrologists later arrived and found no evidence that the hole was causing turbulence in the affected area and was no threat to river traffic. A request has been sent to the U.S. Navy to supply stronger sonar equipment and possibly a robot submersible.

 HoleMiss.jpg
Captain Barton Alexander of
the steamship Hawking.
     Residents in Boone Springs, however, seem to think they know more about the hole than the Government. According to the town historian, Cleetus Mahonoy, the hole was found over hundred years ago when the riverboat Major Hawking mysteriously sank in the area.

     The 80 foot long Hawking was passing Boone Springs when it stopped suddenly and then frantically sounded its fog horn. Rockets were launched from the boat which was only two thousand yards from the Boone Springs dock. Citizens rallied together there and formed a hasty rescue party but by the time they cast off from the dock, the side-wheeler had vanished. The Hawking wheelhouse stood over 25 ft. above her keel and should have remained above the water after the vessel went down. When the rescue party from Boone Springs arrived to save the crew, they found nothing---not even a trace of wreckage. Poles and gaffs were used to fish for some hint of the boat but produced nothing. Soundings with shot and line were taken in a further effort to discover her position. It was then that the hole was discovered. The men taking the soundings were unable to determine the depth of the hole as their lines were only 24 feet---or 4 fathoms---long.

     Several boats were lost in that area until the hole miraculously vanished 18 months later. No further such occurrences have been since documented.





Back to this Issue Contents
sigil10.jpg