Raleigh, August 1—The old Rock Quarry sensation has subsided somewhat until Saturday when it became known that the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds decided at a meeting held Friday afternoon to have the 6 ½ million gallons of water pumped out so that the public may see whatever is hidden beneath its dark green surface. The work of draining the pool began today. State Prison labor and Highway Commission equipment will be utilized in the undertaking and the operations are to continue until the bottom of the quarry is laid bare to public view. Superintendent W.T. Terry of the Public Buildings and Grounds Committee will have immediate supervision of the work and it is believed that by the end of the week the task will have been accomplished.
There is said to be from 30 to 70 feet of water in the pool and that the pumping apparatus will have a capacity of 1,600 gallons per minute, that 100 hours will be required in reaching the bottom, where it is believed, more than one mystery has for years been concealed. When the city authorities of Raleigh let it be known that they were not in a position to drain the quarry, from which not less than four abandoned automobiles had been drawn, and pointed out that it was State property anyway, Governor Morrison, now summering in Asheville, was appealed to and “passed the buck” to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. The board is composed of the Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer and the Attorney General, and has supervision of all public buildings and state property generally at the state capital. A superintendent is elected every two years by this committee to handle details, so that the Board itself serves in an advisory capacity, as well as being the executive head.
Preliminary steps toward draining of the lake were taken Saturday afternoon when Chairman Frank Page of the State Highway Commission, Chas. Farman, Raleigh Fire Chief, George R. Pou, superintendent of the State Prison, and W.T. Teny, superintendent of the State Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, went out and began an actual survey of the unusual task before them. An irrigation ditch will carry the water to a nearby creek, so that adjacent property will not be flooded as the pumping proceeds. With the use of State Highway equipment and State convict labor the outlay of actual cash in drying the lake will be comparatively small. The demand that it be drained became insistent and the authorities could not afford to ignore it. So far, no arrests have been made on account of the automobiles hidden there. What the bottom of this immense hole may reveal is a matter yet to be determined. Recent revelations at this old quarry has been the talk of the State for the past two weeks and will continue to be until Frank Page and George Pou have completed their part of the program a few days hence.
From the front page of The Brevard News, Friday, August 5, 1921
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