Had the full loading shown by the foregoing come on these wall-plates, they would have been subjected to a stress of about 25 tons each, or nearly one-half of their ultimate strength.  In only one or two instances, covering stretches of 100 ft. in one case and 200 ft. in another, where there were large areas of quicksand sufficient to cause semi-aqueous pressure, or pockets of the same material causing eccentric loading, did these wall-plates show any signs of heavy pressure, and in many instances they were in such good condition that they could be taken out and used a second and a third time.  Two especially interesting instances came under the writer’s observation:  In one case, due to a collapse of the internal bracing, the load of an entire section, 25 ft. long and 19 ft. wide, was carried for several hours on ribs spaced 5 ft. apart.  The minimum cross-section of these ribs was 73 sq. in., and they were under a stress, as noted above, of 50,000 lb., or nearly up to the actual limit of strength of the wall-plate where the rib bore on it.  When these wall-plates were examined, after replacing the internal bracing, they did not appear to have been under any unusual stress.

[Illustration:  PLATE XXV, FIG. 1.—­NORMAL SLOPES AND STRATA OF NEWLY EXCAVATED BANKS.]

[Illustration:  PLATE XXV, FIG. 2.—­NORMAL SLOPES AND STRATA OF NEWLY EXCAVATED BANKS.]

In another instance, for a distance of more than 700 ft., the sub-grade of the sewer was 4 ft. below the level of the water in sharp sand.  In excavating for “bottoms” the water had to be pumped at the rate of more than 300 gal. per min., and it was necessary to close-sheet a trench between the wall-plates in which to place a section of “bottom.”  In spite of the utmost care, some ground was necessarily lost, and this was shown by the slight subsidence of the wall-plates and a loosening up of the wedges in the supports bearing on the arch timbers.  During this operation of “bottoming,” two men on each side were constantly employed in tightening up wedges and shims above the arch timbers.  It is impossible to explain the fact that these timbers slackened (without proportionate roof settlement) by any other theory than that the arching was so nearly perfect that it relieved the bracing of a large part of the load, the ordinary loose material being held in place by the arching or wedging together of the 2-in. by 3-ft. sheeting boards in the roof, arranged in the form of a segmental arch.  The material above this roof was coarse, sharp sand, through which it had been difficult to tunnel without losing ground, and it had admitted water freely after each rain until the drainage of a neighboring pond had been completed, the men never being willing to resume work until the influx of water had stopped.

The foregoing applies only to material ordinarily found under ground not subaqueous, or which cannot be classed as aqueous or semi-aqueous material.  These conditions will be noted later.