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Show RELICS OF A BY-GONE AGE. Hie lied cr a ftreaf. Lake Found in a To-l':To To-l':To Fxcavatlou. The excavations for the foundation of the Nai ional Union bmUliny on Huron street near Adams, Toledo, bring to iiplit tl.e relies of a hy-gone age, and furr.Uh plenty of food for study and contemplation on the part of thegeolo-e;it. thegeolo-e;it. To commence with, this is the deepest foundation ever put under n building in ilieeity. The practice heretofore here-tofore has been to level the earth ofi enough to make a good basement and then drive piling for the foundation toneo to rett upon. In the case of the Xaxional Union building it was determined deter-mined to have- no pile foundation but tc lig down into the bowels of the earth ntil terra finna was found. William 'pear received the contract for putting lown the foundation and started c " arge force of men at work a few day; ago on the excavation. When thi hovelcrs got down about eighteen feet Iv.-low the level of the street, or about nine feet below the surface of the natural nat-ural earth, they struck a vein of sand. !t was found necessary to put cribbing i:i to keep the sand from rushing in. After digging a few inches deeper h ;vas found that it was a genuine lakt f river sand and gravel. As it wa: 'irown out and carefully examined, i; ontaincd traces of an age of vegetation, vegeta-tion, anterior to the days of the landing of Columbus. Large walnuts, butternuts, butter-nuts, hickory nuts, shells and impressions impres-sions of water species of various kinds were found in the sand, also trees and vegetable remains. Hundreds of people saw the strange and mysterious things hidden for centuries centu-ries a few feet below the surface. The opinion of all present, according to the Blade, was that old Lake Erie at one time rolled and tossed in all its grandeur gran-deur and fury over the very spot where an immense temple is about to be erected as a monument of charity to the widows snd orphans. The sand Is purely lake sand and srrarel and every one who has made any study of the strata cf the earth claims that a large river or lake at one time existed over the very spot where the foundation is being put down. The indications are that the body of water was not a river, for the sand is too deep and compact, and resembles the bottom of the lake where sand is taken from for building purposes. Mr. Spear says that he has put in many foundations, but never struck anything like it before. It is claimed that a similar vein was struck several years ago while a sewer wa3 being built in the rear of St. Patrick's institute, but the sewer diggers knew nothing about geology and did not give the matter a moment's attention. Following Fol-lowing this location it would show that all that portion of Toledo along Sixteenth Six-teenth street, extending to the river in both directions, was at one time the bed of Lake Erie or some other equally larjro fcedy of water. |