Underground stream or not?

[Lacal]

Oneman - what was the tip off - no trip wires? Or the lack of that wonderful aroma of nuoc mam and sweat?

Have you checked google? You may be able to use the historical imagery which is on the tool bar and looks like a clock. I was able to look at my property before there was a house and three different periods after.

Can you follow it to its end, and what direction does it head?

The only other thing I could suggest is find the local historian almost every area has one. He/she may offer some help.

 

[OneMan]

Oneman - what was the tip off - no trip wires? Or the lack of that wonderful aroma of nuoc mam and sweat?

Have you checked google? You may be able to use the historical imagery which is on the tool bar and looks like a clock. I was able to look at my property before there was a house and three different periods after.

Can you follow it to its end, and what direction does it head?

The only other thing I could suggest is find the local historian almost every area has one. He/she may offer some help.

The tip off was
1. A cry for help
2. A hole with a small tunnel leading both ways
3. My pants suddenly filling up...

I didn't know about google historical imagery, thanks..
It goes from the top of the property owned, to the very bottm. 10 acres in all.
I was clearing a spot with a sling blade and my foot went thru the soil and I was luck to be standing next to a good sized sapling and caught it. Of course I grabbed for the blade and cut two fingers so this is personal with me now.

 

[silverdollar6]

Giant Moles?

 

[OneMan]

Ok, I will try a;nd post some photos of the area in question. I hope they come out. Some show the hole where the dog fell and another shows the length of the area by the red flags and paint on trees. The total area is ;much longer but the camera only takes what it can.

 

[OneMan]

Here are some others taken on the same day. It was late and getting dark but we tried. We are talking about some football fields long here and various depths. I hope you can see the stream hole in some of the photos because that was what I feared the dog would go into when he fell. I



ts also big enough for my grandsons to crawl into.
The 'pipe hole' connects the entire hole areas even when the area is covered by semi solid ground or brush.
It is hard to describe this but it is like a giant trench covered by soil and a 18 inch pipe hole connecting the whole thing.

 

[dodge man]

I've seen that alot around here, but not usually that long. I'll throw out a couple of ideas from what I've seen in this area.

1. An old gully that was filled and and eroded partly away, some of which is underground.

2. There is a field tile or other kind of drain pipe and the pipe is going bad and "stealing dirt", thereby making the holes you see.

3. Could just be a natural gully that in place erodes down several feet from the flow of water and disappears under ground.

Take a look at it when it rains hard and you can probably figure it out.

 

[OneMan]

We are talking a long area here. Maybe 2 -3 hundred yards long as far a we have been able to track it. This is a hole that is sometimes covered by foliage as seen in some of the photos and sometimes by soil. In eithr case there is the possibility of falling thru if you weigh enough.
Our Golden retriever puppy (54 LBS) fell into on of the pictured holes and was down about 7 feet. We are not talking about a wide trench, maybe 3-4 feet wide at the widest but varies from maybe 3' to nearly 8' deep in some spots.
If you look at the photo of the property you can see the distance we are talking about. The area in question is out of view on the right side of the property photo but lies in the same grade.
I would just like to know if anyone has anything like this on their property before I put a tractor or dozer in to backfill.

 

[The Dougster]

Of course I have no way of knowing but I suspect it's simply a crevice that has been enlarged over time by water. The photos aren't very clear. I suspect that during periods of heavy rainfall, water flows heavily into it and then into some underground aquifer. Tell me, is this a heavy limestone area or something similiar? It sounds much like a fault and I suspect it will be something you're going to have to live with.

 

[Egon]

If you are in Limestone or Dolomite country it may be a cavern hollowed out by flowing water.

Karst Topography as mentioned before:

Karst Topography

 

[art]

On the hills around here we have them much the same as you describe and nature made. Depending on where you are here they might even lead you to a waterfall on the way to the bottom some dropping off forty foot or more. Some will be dry between the rains and some carry water all the time just varied amounts depending on the rain.