Denny Regrades of Seattle 1910

The topography of central Seattle was radically altered by a series of regrades in the city's 1st century of urban settlement, in what might have been the largest such alteration of urban terrain at the time.

The heart of Seattle (a city in the state of Washington, USA) lies on an isthmus between the city's chief harbor—the saltwater Elliott Bay (an inlet of Puget Sound)—and the fresh water of Lake Washington. Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constitute a ridge along this isthmus. In addition, at the time the city was founded, the steep Denny Hill stood in the area now known as Belltown or the Denny Regrade.

When white settlers first came to Seattle in the early 1850s, the tides of Elliott Bay lapped at the base of Beacon Hill. The original location of the settlement that became Seattle—today's Pioneer Square—was a low-lying island. A series of regrades leveled paths for roads, demolished Denny Hill, and turned much of Jackson Hill (a remnant of which remains along Main Street in the International District) into a near-canyon between First and Beacon Hills. The roughly 50,000,000 short tons (45,400,000 t) of earth from these 60 regrades provided landfill for the city's waterfront and the industrial/commercial neighborhood now known as SoDo, and built Harbor Island, at the time the largest man-made island in the world.

Seattle's first 58 regrades "consisted largely of cutting the tops off high places and dumping the dirt into low places and onto the beach." The most dramatic result of this was along that former beach, filling the land that constitutes today's Central Waterfront. Today's Western Avenue and Alaskan Way lie on this landfill.

These informal regrades came to an end around 1900; later regrades typically required changes to areas that had already undergone some development. City engineer R.H. Thomson established his prestige in 1900. He successfully provided the city with ample fresh water by running a pipeline from the Cedar River. He then undertook to level the extreme hills that rose south and north of the bustling city center.

 Seattle Denny Hill 1909
A regrade in progress circa 1907. The building under construction is the New Washington Hotel, now the Josephinium at the corner of Second and Stewart.

Seattle Denny Hill 1910

 

A regrade in progress circa 1907. The building under construction is the New Washington Hotel, now the Josephinium at the corner of Second and Stewart.

The first, unsuccessful, attempt to pierce the Capitol Hill – First Hill – Beacon Hill ridge came at the end of this era of informal regrades. In 1895, former territorial governor Eugene Semple (1840–1908) proposed several ambitious plans to reengineer Seattle. One of these, which he undertook in 1901, was to dig a canal from Elliott Bay to Lake Washington by cutting through Beacon Hill in roughly the area of Spokane Street, sluicing earth into the tide flats. His effort was defeated by unstable soils, which caused several cave-ins, and by the legal and political maneuvering of Judge Thomas Burke and others aligned with the Great Northern Railway. The Lake Washington Ship Canal ultimately followed the route north of downtown favored by Burke,[5] utilizing existing lakes and bays. Semple left behind a canyon that is now used by the Spokane Street interchange on Interstate 5.

Thomson resumed the work of cutting through Beacon Hill to connect central Seattle to the Rainier Valley, the first of his major regrades, but he made his cut farther north. The Jackson Regrade between 1907 and 1910 slashed 85 feet (25.9 m) from the hill, requiring the demolition of the public South School and the original Holy Names Academy but providing fill for the tide flats below Beacon Hill that stretched south from King Street, filling in today's SoDo. Jackson Street became a slow slope upward from Elliott Bay in the west to the Central District east of the Capitol Hill – First Hill – Beacon Hill ridge.

Shortly afterward, just south of the Jackson Regrade, the Dearborn Street Regrade made an even deeper cut through the ridge. In one place, the level of the land was lowered by 108 feet (32.9 m); 1,600,000 cubic yards (1,223,288 m³) of earth were moved. As with Semple's abandoned canal, there were several landslides, and many homes were destroyed that were not originally planned to be removed.

The resulting gap at Dearborn Street was deep enough to require a bridge running roughly north-south. Originally known as the 12th Avenue South Bridge and now known as the Jose P. Rizal Bridge, it is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Denny Regrade

A postcard shows the Washington Hotel atop Denny Hill before Denny Regrade No. 1 and the New Washington Hotel (the dark building in the lower picture, now the Josephinium) built on the newly leveled land.

The 1884 Denny School (depicted here in 1900) on Battery Street between Fifth & Sixth Avenues was demolished in 1928, one of many major buildings demolished as part of Denny Regrade No. 2.

The Denny Regrade began before the Jackson and Dearborn Regrades, but the last stage was not completed until decades later. Before regrading, the much-admired Denny School and the upmarket Washington Hotel stood atop the hill] along with numerous residential buildings.

Although in retrospect it is referred to as the Denny Regrade (and the name has become the name of a neighborhood), there were, in fact, several separate regrades of the former Denny Hill, beginning with private-sector efforts. Around 1900, property owners along relatively low-lying First Avenue took it upon themselves to cut through from Pike Street to Cedar Street. A similar cut (but initiated by the City) lowered Second Avenue in 1904; around the same time, the south part of the hill was shaved off as Pike and Pine Streets were regraded between Second and Fifth Avenues.

The more dramatic Denny Regrade No. 1 (1908–1911) sluiced away the entire half of the hill closest to the waterfront, about 27 city blocks extending from Pine Street to Cedar Street and from Second to Fifth Avenues. 20,000,000 US gallons (75,708 kl) of water a day were pumped from Lake Union, to be aimed at the hill as jets of water, then run through tunnels to Elliott Bay.

Much of the motivation for the regrade had been to increase land values, but the area opened up—the heart of today's Belltown—was left as a strip cut off from much of the rest of the city by the remaining eastern half of the hill, whose western face offered no route of approach. Meanwhile, property-owners and investors hesitated to build on the remaining portion of the hill, because they considered it likely that their buildings would eventually be destroyed in the next phase of the regrading process, which was now well under way.

The result was Denny Regrade No. 2, begun in February 1929 and lasting 22 months. This time, the technology was power shovels rather than sluicing, with earth carried to the waterfront by conveyor belts, then placed on specially designed scows and dumped in deep water. The scows were intentionally designed to capsize in a controlled manner. They were symmetrical top-to-bottom and side to side; a seacock could be opened to fill one side with water. In three minutes it would capsize, dump its load, bob up, empty the tank, and right itself.

One of the buildings demolished in Denny Regrade No. 2 was the Denny School on Battery Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. Opened in 1884, it had been described as "an architectural jewel... the finest schoolhouse on the West Coast."

While the 38 blocks were being regraded, the country entered the Great Depression, radically reducing the demand for land. Most of the new lots sat vacant into the 1940s; the area (especially east of Sixth Avenue) remained a "gray zone" into the early 21st century, when it finally began to gain an urban or suburban identity as the west edge of the new growth of South Lake Union.

Ruined Masonic Temple Series: Marriott Renaissance Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island

The 1920′s saw the rise of grand Masonic complexes across the United States. As part of the movement, the Rhode Island Freemasons planned an ambitious complex designed by Osgood & Osgood, one of the era’s noted architectural firms. Work began in 1927, and foundations and building frames were constructed before economic times changed drastically in 1929. Work was halted, and the project lay dormant until the 1940′s.
Construction began in the early 1920s by the FreeMasons in conjunction with what is now the VMA. They were built together with a tunnel, or small triangular structure linking the two at ground level. They were started after the current State House, and so, the Greek Revival style of both buildings were intended to complement it.

Well, when the Depression hit, money started to dry up. Soon, all the workers had to go off to fight in the war. Money for completing the structure was completely gone by the time they came back, and the buildings stayed empty and unfinished until the 80s. Finally, in the 80s, the city took the buildings over and rehabbed the one with (arguably) the most potential, or the least amount of work. This became the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. The structure that linked the two was decided to be too dangerous in the shape it was in, and so it was taken down. That is why the two buildings now operate as separate structures.Many plans for the remaining building have come and gone. It was going to be a hotel, government offices, mixed use residential/commercial, and all plans fell through either for lack of money or planning. One proposal would have changed too much of the structure, and the building is protected from these changes by being designated a historic site.

Ruined Masonic Temple series: Gboyo Center Maryland

  

Like the Masonic building on Benson Street (see previous post), The Gboyo center in Southeast Liberia is a four storey building with the inscription on the top front view, ‘Morning Star Lodge N0 6’. The ‘Morning Star Lodge N0 6’ is also popularly known as the Harper Masonic Temple or ‘Gboyo Center’ which was reportedly used as meeting hall for individuals who were believed to be involved in ritualistic activities in the county.

‘Gboyo’ is a word used in Liberia, especially in the Southeast to refer to ritualistic killing. 
The ‘Gboyo center’ that once caused terror amongst residents of Harper, especially those in neighboring communities who fell prey to ritualistic activities in the area, is correctly laying in ruins.
A permanent citizen of Harper City told The NEWS recently that the building and its entire vicinity remained a terrible and a ‘no-go zone’ until the civil war when it was allegedly looted and vandalized by rebel forces.
“People in this entire community used to be forced to go to bed as early as 6:00 pm; and no one was even brave to pass along this road or street after 5:00…because that person will not live to tell the story,” he said.
In other parts of Liberia, ritualistic activities have been mainly associated with ‘state power’ or search for job.
But for Maryland County, gboyo or ritualistic activity has been an age-old characteristic of the county.
Unlike other places in Liberia, gboyo activities have been and continued to be a common practice in Maryland which can not be associated with search for job or elective post.
The practice, according to some citizens of the county, was fast becoming a normal pattern of life among the people to the extent that those who were connected with the practice could not hide their connection and was seen as an act carried out by the elites.
A brief about Maryland County and gboyo activities (source: Sunday Express published in October 1977)

Ruined Masonic Temple series: Monrovia, Liberia

The Masonic Order of Liberia is a fraternal organization based on the principles of Freemasonry. It tended to restrict its members to Americo-Liberions and was very influential with the ruling True Whig party from its founding until the coup of Samuel Doe in 1980. It no longer has much if any political power.

The Masonic Order of Liberia was formed based on principles of Freemasonry, which had been gleaned by former slaves from their masters in the United States prior to their being "returned" to Africa under the auspices of the American Colonization Society. The Lodge was founded by Prince Hall Freemasons. The Grand Lodge of Liberia was founded in 1867. By the 1970s there were 17 subordinate lodges and the majority of Liberia's high-ranking officials were Masons.

After Master Sgt. Samuel Doe assumed leadership in a coup d'etat in 1980, the political monopoly formerly held by the Americo-Liberians and the Masonic Order was destroyed and the Masonic Order's influence in Liberia was greatly diminished. The former president of Liberia, William R. Tolbert, Jr. was also the order's Grand Master.[3] Freemasonry was banned by Doe in 1980.

In 1987 there was a special Prince Hall meeting was held in New Orleans to elect a new Grand Master, and this was followed by a meeting in Monrovia in 1988.

During the First Liberian Civil War, the lodge palace in Monrovia was the scene of many battles and its ruins became home to 8000 squatters. The Masons managed to evict them by 2005  and there are plans to rebuild the lodge.

Asbestos: embarrassing photos for a Quebec mine

This story comes to us courtesy of Laurie Kazan-Allen of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat. The original story (in French Canadian) can be found at La Presse Newspaper here
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Photos taken by Indonesian activist Muchamad Darisman show people, including children, walking in a dump full of asbestos. The dump contains waste from the Djabesmen factory, the biggest manufacturer of chrysotile asbestos roofs in Indonesia. One can see bags with the logo of Lab Chrysotile, an asbestos mine situation at Thetford Mines, Quebec. Photo: Muchamad Darisman, collaboration spéciale
 
“Bent over in the middle of a dump, a child rummages in waste with bare hands. Behind the child, adults are using large bags to recycle plastic, wood and pieces of cement. Their bags carry the logo of Lab Chrysotile, an asbestos mine situated at Thetford Mines, Quebec.
These photos were taken on August 6 in a waste site of the factory Djabesmen, the biggest manufacturer of chrysotile asbestos roofs in Indonesia. They “clearly establish that our national policy of exporting asbestos is so negligent as to be criminal,” states indignantly Dr Fernand Turcotte, professor emeritus in preventative medicine at Laval University.
Dr Turcotte says he was shocked on seeing these photos, which prove according to him “the impossibility of putting into practice the rules thought to make asbestos safe for human health. When we hear our politicians speak all the time about safe use of asbestos in order to justify its export to countries in the third world, it is completely outrageous!”
Chrysotile asbestos is a cancerous product that is forbidden in most western countries. Canada does not use this material in its own construction work, but encourages its export to developing countries, a policy that is judged immoral by numerous health professionals in Quebec and around the world.
According to Dr Turcotte, if the waste site was situated in Quebec, “access would be forbidden unless one was wearing a special outfit”. But, about ten people wearing simple sandals were collecting waste from the factory when Muchamad Darisman, an Indonesian activist who took these photos, was in the area. The factory is situated to the east of the capital, Jakarta.
“ These people are very poor and depend on the what the factory throws out. They collect plastic, wood and asbestos from the waste and then offer it to re-sellers. One of them told me that he earned a dollar a day when he was lucky. His house is situated 300 metres away, right close to the dump site. He did not know that asbestos was dangerous,” explained Mr Darisman.
There are warnings in several languages written on the Lab Chrysotile bags that are littering the ground outside the factory. But according to Mr Darisman, none of these languages is understood by the majority of Indonesians.
“Asbestos-cement is collected by poor families to build houses. “That can be seen everywhere in Asia,” said Kathleen Ruff, anadian activists who is fighting to get asbestos banned. “ Families construct houses and cut asbestos-cement with small mechanical saws. That creates a large quantity of fibres that they breath. It’s fatal.”
«Out of context »
The president of Lab Chrysotile, Simon Dupéré, says that he assures himself that his clients use asbestos in a safe manner. He has several times visited the factories in Indonesia that import asbestos from Thetford Mines without ever having noted any serious failings. “ When we send chrysotile, it’s done according to the rules of the art. Otherwise, we don’t send it.”
The bags of chrysotile “are usually torn up in the factory and integrated directly into the finished product,” explains Mr Dupéré. He promises to assure himself that the Djabesmen factory is operating “according to the rules of responsible use”. But the photos leave him doubtful. “This would not be the first time that we see something staged. Our detractors specialize in sensationalism out of context.”
Indonesia imports 78,000 tonnes of chrysotile a year, most of it from Russia, Brazil and Canada. Contrary to other Asian countries, such as India, the campaign to ban asbestos is still timid there. The “Ban Asbestos Network in Indonesia”, or INA-BAN, will be officially launched on October 17.
The task for the activists will not be easy, according to Mr Darisman. “One Indonesian asbestos factory belongs to the president of one of the biggest political parties in the country, he says. We lack experts interested in the subject and there is a control of information by the government and businesses regarding the dangers of asbestos.”
The 26 asbestos factories, which employ 7,000 Indonesian workers, can also count on the support of Canada. In March 2006, an “International Scientific Symposium” was organized in Jakarta. According to the group BAN-Asbestos, this symposium, financed by the asbestos industry, only presented scientists won over to the industry.
Clément Godbout, president of the Chrysotile Institute, was among the invited speakers. The Jakarta Post cited a study ordered by this Institute based in Montreal – which is, in fact, the lobby for the world asbestos industry – according to which chrysotile has no negative effect on human health.
The symposium concluded with a cocktail at the Canadian embassy.”

http://apheda.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/asbestos-embarrassing-photos-for-a-quebec-mine/

WIR MACHEN ALLES!

The Bagger 288 (Excavator 288), built by the German company Krupp for the energy and mining firm Rheinbraun, is a bucket-wheel excavator or mobile strip mining machine. When its construction was completed in 1978, Bagger 288 superseded NASA's Crawler-Transporter, used to carry the Space Shuttle and Apollo Saturn V launch vehicle, as the largest tracked vehicle in the world at 13,500 tons. However, the Bagger is powered from an external source and is more correctly described as a mining machine which can be moved, while the crawler-transporter was built as a self-powered, load-carrying vehicle.



The Krupp family (pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1999 it merged with Thyssen AG to form ThyssenKrupp AG, a large industrial conglomerate


The three rings were the symbol for Krupp, based on the radreifen - the seamless railway wheels patented by Alfred Krupp. The rings are currently part of the ThyssenKrupp logotype.

Roles played in important historical events

The Franco-Prussian War
The unexpected victory of Prussia over France demonstrated the superiority of breech-loaded steel cannon over muzzle-loaded brass. Krupp artillery was a significant factor at the battles of Wissembourg and Gravelotte, and was used during the siege of Paris. Krupp's anti-balloon guns were the first anti-aircraft guns. Prussia fortified the major North German ports with batteries that could hit French ships from a distance of 4,000 yards, inhibiting invasion.

World War I
Krupp produced most of the artillery of the Imperial German Army, including its big ones: The 1914 420 mm Big Bertha, the 1916 Lange Max, and the seven Paris Guns in 1917 and 1918. In addition, Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft built German warships and submarines in Kiel.

World War II
Krupp received its first order for 135 Panzer I tanks in 1933, and during WWII made tanks, artillery, naval guns, armor plate, munitions and other armaments for the German military. Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft shipyard launched the German cruiser Prinz Eugen, as well as many of Germany's U-boats (130 between 1934 and 1945) using preassembled parts supplied by other Krupp factories in a process similar to the construction of the U.S. liberty ships.
In the 1930s, Krupp developed two 800 mm railway guns, the Schwerer Gustav and the Dora. These guns were the largest artillery pieces ever fielded by an army during wartime, and weighed almost 1,344 tons. They could fire a 7-ton shell over a distance of 37 kilometers. More crucial to the operations of the German military was Krupp's development of the famed 88 mm anti-aircraft cannon which found use as a notoriously effective anti-tank gun.
In an address to the Hitler Youth, Adolf Hitler stated "In our eyes, the German boy of the future must be slim and slender, as fast as a greyhound, tough as leather and hard as Krupp steel" („... der deutsche Junge der Zukunft muß schlank und rank sein, flink wie Windhunde, zäh wie Leder und hart wie Kruppstahl.")
Krupp Industries employed workers conscripted by the Nazi regime from across Europe. These workers were initially paid, but as Nazi fortunes declined they were kept as slave workers.[citation needed] They were abused, beaten, and starved by the thousands, as detailed in the book The Arms of Krupp.


1893 Krupp Gun Exhibit Building
By The Field Museum Library

RUST BELT

The Rust Belt, also known as the Manufacturing Belt or The Factory Belt, is an area in parts of the Northeastern United States, Mid-Atlantic States, and portions of the eastern Midwest. The region can be broadly defined as the region beginning west of the Northeast Megalopolis and running west through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, to the western shore of Lake Michigan. Some definitions include cities as far north and west as the city of Duluth and the Iron Range. The area immediate to Lake Erie is considered to be the "hub" of the Rust Belt. The region extends southward to the beginnings of the coal-mining regions of Appalachia, north to the Great Lakes and includes manufacturing regions of Southern Ontario and Quebec in Canada.
The name 'Rust Belt' came about due to the decline of industry in the 1970s, when many of the region's factories had been closed, and the resulting shuttered buildings were guarded only by rusting gates.



The Industrial Heartland attracted a huge number of immigrants from 1890-1930. The Polish came in droves, especially to Pittsburgh and the Chicago-Milwaukee area. Italians immigrated also, explaining why eight of the 24 Mafia families in America were located in the region. Some other immigrants were Irish, Greek, Slovak, Slovenian, Lituanian, and Hungarian, among others. African-Americans came from the Southern U.S. looking for opportunity as well. All of these people were added to the German and Scots-Irish population that was already present in the area. Echoes of this diversity in the Industrial Heartland today are heard in radio shows and various festivals.


After the steel mill closed the coke works continued to be operated under the name New Boston Coke. This operation closed in 2002 but here are the remaining coke ovens and coal processing building that remain. The metal doors on the ovens have been removed, leaving the refractory brick lining of the ovens naked.

http://www.coalcampusa.com/rustbelt/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_belt

MATIA GUBEC (RESEARCH ON ST. MARK SQUARE GORNJI GRAD'S UNDERGOUND TUNNEL SYSTEM)

"Matija" Gubec (Hungarian: Gubecz Máté) (before 1556 – 15 February 1573) was a Croatian peasant and a revolutionary, best known as the leader of the Croatian-Slovenian peasant revolt. Before the revolt, Gubec was a serf on the estate of the landowner Franjo Tahy.[1]

When the revolt erupted, the peasants elected Matija Gubec to be one of the leaders, and renowned for his personal qualities, he became the most influentual leader of the rebelion.[1] During his brief tenure he showed ability as a capable administrator and inspiring leader that would later create a legend. He earned the nickname Gubec Beg.[1]





Matija Gubec led the peasant army during its last stand at the Battle of Stubičko Polje on 9 February 1573. Before the battle he made a speech trying to convince the men that only victory could bring them freedom, while the defeat would bring more misery. After the defeat he was captured and taken to Zagreb. On 15 February, he was publicly tortured at ST. MARK's SQUARE, forced to wear a red-hot iron crown and was subsequently quartered.



Oton Ivekovic: Killing of Matija Gubec (at the square in front of st. Mark's Church in Zagreb)


HISTORY ST. MARK'S SQUARE AND IT'S UNDERGROUND TUNNEL SYSTEM:

It is very difficult to decide which period in the town's history should be placed under the heading of "Old Zagreb", which was made popular by Djuro Szabo, the admirer of the Zagreb antiquities and the promoter of their conservation. Zagreb's origins go back into the distant past and are enveloped in the mists of legend since there are no extant manuscripts or sufficient archaeological finds from those times. It would be much easier, therefore, to take a short walk and look at Zagreb's history. In that case Old Zagreb is represented by two settlements situated on two neighboring hills: Gradec (the Upper Town) and Kaptol, with the houses lying in the valley between them along the former Medvescak Stream (today's Tkalciceva Street) and those at the beginning of VIaska Street beneath the bishopric (later archbishopric).

Although most buildings in this area do not originate from the Middle Ages, but from the 18th century, they nevertheless display the continuity of medieval urban settlements. The existence of Kaptol, the settlement on the east slope, was confirmed in 1094 when King Ladislav founded the Zagreb bishopric. The bishop, his residence and the Cathedral had their seat in the southeast part of the Kaptol hill. VIaska Ves situated in the close vicinity of the Cathedral and under the bishop's jurisdiction was first mentioned in 1198. Kaptol Street ran from the south to the north across the Kaptol terrace with canons' residences arranged in rows alongside. As the Latin word for a group or body of canons is "capitulum" (kaptol), it is clear how Kaptol got its name. The canons also ruled this settlement.

The Cathedral was consecrated in 1217, but later in 1242 it was badly damaged by the Tartar raids. After 1263 it was restored and rebuilt. As a settlement, Kaptol was an unsymmetrical rectangle which was entered at its south end in Bakaceva Street, and existed at its north end near the present day Kaptol School. In the Middle Ages Kaptol had no fortifications; it was merely enclosed with wooden fences or palisades which had been recurrently destroyed and rebuilt. The defensive walls and towers around Kaptol were built between 1469 and 1473. The Prislin Tower near the Kaptol School is one of the best-preserved from those times. In 1493 the Turks reached Sisak trying to capture it but were defeated there.

Therefore, fearing the Turkish invasion, the Bishop of Zagreb had the fortifications built around the Cathedral and his residence. The defensive towers and walls built between 1512 and 1520 have been preserved until the present day except those which were directly facing the front of the Cathedral situated at Kaptol Square. This section of the wall was pulled down in 1907. In the 13th century two Gothic churches were built in Kaptol, St. Francis with the Franciscan monastery and St. Maria's which underwent considerable reconstruction works in the 17th and the 18th centuries. In Opatovina small dwelling houses of former Kaptol inhabitants can still be seen, but at Dolac a number of little and narrow streets were pulled down in 1926 when the market place started to be built. In 1334 the canons of Zagreb established a colony of Kaptol serfs in the vicinity of their residences, north of Kaptol; that was the beginning of a new settlement called Nova Ves (the present day Nova Ves Street).

The other part of the Old Zagreb nucleus, Gradec on the Upper Town hill, was given a royal charter by King Bela in 1242. The royal charter, also called the Golden Bull, was a very important document by which Gradec was declared and proclaimed "a free royal city on Gradec, the hill of Zagreb". This act made Gradec a feudal holding responsible directly to the king. The citizens were given rights of different kinds; among other things they were entitled to elect their own "City Judge" (the mayor) and to manage their own affairs. The citizens engaged themselves in building defensive walls and towers around their settlement, fearing a new Tartar invasion. They fulfilled their obligation between 1242 and 1261. It could be rightly assumed that by building its fortification walls in the middle of the 13th century, Gradec acquired its outward appearance that can be clearly seen in today's Upper Town.

The defensive walls enclosed the settlement in the shape of a triangle, its top located near the tower called Popov Toranj and its base at the south end (the Strossmayer Promenade), which could be explained by the shape of the hill. In some places, rectangular and semicircular towers fortified the defensive walls. There were four main gates leading to the town: the Mesnicka Gate in the west, the new, later Opaticka Gate in the north, Dverce in the south and the Stone Gate in the east. The Stone Gate is the only one preserved until the present day.

Undoubtedly, the focal point of the Upper Town is the square around St. Mark's Church that had been called St. Mark's Square for years. St. Mark's Church is the parish church of Old Zagreb. The Romanesque window found in its south facade is the best evidence that the church must have been built as early as the 13th century as is also the semicircular groundplan of St. Mary's chapel (later altered). In the second half of the 14th century the church was radically reconstructed. It was then turned into a late Gothic church of the three-nave type. Massive round columns support heavy ribbed vaults cut in stone and an air of peace and sublimity characterizes the church interior in its simplicity. The most valuable part of St. Mark's Church is its south portal, considered being the work of sculptors of the family Parler from Prague (the end of the 14th century). The Gothic composition of the portal consists of fifteen effigies placed in eleven shallow niches. On top are the statues of Joseph and Mary with the infant Jesus, and below them one can see St. Mark and the Lion; the Twelve Apostles are placed on both sides of the portal (four wooden statues replaced the original ones which had been destroyed). In its artistic composition and the number of statues, this portal is the richest and the most valuable Gothic portal in South Eastern Europe. When guilds developed in Gradec in the 15th, and later in the 17th centuries, being the societies of craftsmen, their members including masters, journeymen and apprentices would gather regularly in St. Mark's Church. Outside, on the northwest wall of the church lies the oldest coat of arms of Zagreb with the year 1499 engraved in it (the original is kept in the Zagreb Town Museum).

As the corner of St. Mark's Square and the present day Cirilometodska Street, was a Town Hall, the seat of the city administration in medieval times. The building has gone through a number of alteration and reconstruction phases, and today this old Town Hall still keeps its doors open for the meetings of the Zagreb Town Council. On the opposite side of the Square at the corner of Basaritekova Street lies St. Mark's parish office. The house has been standing there since the 16th century, although it underwent reconstruction in the 18th century and had an extension added in the 19th century. At the west end of St. Mark's Square, the mansion called Dvori, the former residence of the Civil Governor of Croatia, was built at the beginning of the 19th century and yet, it can be classed among the Zagreb antiquities. The government of the Republic of Croatia meets in the Baroque mansion beside it. Since 1734, the Croatian Sabor (parliament) has taken up the east side of St. Mark's Square.

Very little is known today of the outward appearance of medieval Vlaska Street. The name of the settlement was Vlaska Ves, of Vicus Latinorum in Latin. In the old part of the present day VIaska Street, below the archbishop's residence and gardens, lies a row of houses built at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, and thus the line of their facades shows the course of the old road.

In medieval documents a mention was made of watermills and public baths which existed along the Medvestak Stream in the valley between Gradec and Kaptol. The road construction in that area began in the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries. The east bank of the stream was under the jurisdiction of Kaptol, and the west bank under Gradec.

Given that St. Mark's square was the main town square, the two century old governor's palace was built there, and in 1907, on the opposite side of the square, the parliament building was erected. that was the first case in Zagreb that applications for a building project were invited publically. the fact that the space was politically conditonned influenced the building of the underground tunnels beneith Gornji Grad, used as shelter or a potential escape route for the fascist leadership during WWII.

ASбECT - ASBESTOS

Asbestos (Russian: Асбест) is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, 86 km northeast of Yekaterinburg, named after the mineral asbestos. The city is geographically on the eastern foothills of the Central Urals on the river Bolshoy Reft (tributary of the Pyshma).



The site was created in 1889 as the settlement Koedelka at the start of the mining of the largest chrysotile (white) asbestos deposit in Russia: the Bazjenovskogo ore layer, which was discovered in 1885. Kammenaja Koedelka (Koedelkasteen) is the name for asbestos in the vernacular. In 1897 was the first Asbestos enrichment plant in Russia opened. This plant produced about 85% of all asbestos in Russia and 13% of the world. Then came some mines and in 1904 became the first narrow gauge railway to the mines laid. In subsequent years appeared more railway lines and roads. By 1917 there were four companies working in the deposit, which were all subsequently nationalized by the Soviets in 1918. In 1922, the asbestos mines in the regions Bazjenovski, and Nevjanski Rezjevski (and later Alapajevski) united under the state Ural Asbestos. From then began the systematic mining of asbestos from the ore Bazjenovskogo layer. In 1923 the volispolkom (Executive Committee volost) Asbestos transformed into a workers town board under the jurisdiction of the district Belojarski. In 1931 the asbestos industry under the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry on top. On June 10 of that year the workers settlement asbestos as an independent district under the jurisdiction moved from the oblispolkom (implementation committee of the oblastraad of delegates to work) of Oblast Urals and on June 20, 1933 got the status of town under the jurisdiction of the oblast .
In 1936, the town has a railway station. In 1938, 4 Ural asbestos mines and enrichment plants 4. During the war, in 1942, the factory was founded OeralATI where asbestos products are made since then. In 1950 the only Institute for Asbestos Asbestos Industry of the Soviet Union. The asbestos production was further increased after the war in relation to an increased demand by industry. In 1958 the main asbestos producer and Canada surpassed it in 1969, No 6 factory built, the largest asbestos enrichment plant in the world. In 1971 exceeded the population of the city including surrounding areas under the jurisdiction despite the 100,000 inhabitants. In 1997 the city got a new road to the place Belojarski south of it.

The Bazjenovskogo-deposit is the largest asbestos layer of Russia. The asbestos mine (surface) is 11.5 km long and 1.8 km wide, almost 300 meters deep and covers an area where approximately 90 km ². Over 10,000 employees Urals Asbestos mining here has more than 500,000 tons of chrysotile asbestos. [2] Currently Ural Best, consisting of 19 factories and workshops is the largest producer of asbestos in the world and in 2003 was Russia with an annual production of 870,000 tonnes well top the list of Asbestos producers, which was 60% in Russia was deposed. [3] Ural Asbestos is thus one of the fiercest opponents of restrictions on the use of Asbestos, as the law of the European Union, which decreed that any Asbestos banned in 2005 from the EU regarding the risk of several cancer types by people who come into contact with loose particles of the mineral. The asbestos industry is very important to the city, where 10% of the population works and 70% of households have someone working. It is therefore sometimes called an example of a monogorod.
In 2007 the Ural Asbestos in collaboration with the SUAL group started the construction of a large magnesium factory in the city.
Other factories are OeralATI Asbestos, Zaretsjny, Asbostroj, a chicken factory (Asbestovskaja) and a plant for concrete. In asbestos include asbestos, brick, china, furniture, and metal structures produced.

Translated by Google Translation

HIGHWAY ACROSS AN ANTITANK CANAL

The antitank canal offers fine riding from Oelegem on the Albert Canal to Sint-Job-in-'t-Goor on the Turnhout. Combined with the Albert west to Schoten and then the Turnhout northeast to Sint-Job, you have a nice loop of 40 km. This is marked in the clockwise direction "Waterwegenroute", and is route 46 in the GeoCart cycle guide for Antwerp province.

The antitank canal (the line of squares north and east of Antwerpen on the Kempen map) was constructed as a defense (modern moat) for Antwerp. At the east end it started from the Albert canal at Oelegem and ran northwest though Schilde, 's-Gravenwezel, St.-Job-in-'t-Goor, Schoten, Brasschaat, Kapellen, Putte, and Stabroek to Berendrecht at the north end of the port of Antwerp. The overall length is 46 km, bottom width 5 m, with a water depth of 2 meters. The embankments of either side were 14 to 18 m wide. Due to a difference in water level of 15 m over the 45 km, 17 fortified locks (sluisbunkers) (actually fortified culverts) were required. It was finished in the first weeks of 1940.
The canal was only the latest in numerous attempts to protect Antwerp from invaders. There had been two different city walls. Then in the years before WW1 a ring of eighteen forts was built around the city. The antitank canal (or ditch) was designed to strengthen six of the forts by connecting them with a modern moat that would be capable of stopping tanks. And as with all other passive defenses, from the Walls of Jericho to Hitler's Atlantic Wall, the antitank canal was a failure against a determined army. The German forces did not attack Antwerp at all in their charge to the sea.

In 1948 most of the canal was filled. In the early 1970s an Antwerp bypass canal using the antitank canal route was proposed. Barge convoys of up to 9,000 tons could travel from the Albert to the north end of the Antwerp docks. Highway bridges (including the E34) were (re)built with that in mind. However, NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) protests led to indefinite postponement. In 1985 renovation of the original canal was started. The fill was removed, and a crushed limestone biker/hiker path laid between St.-Job-in-'t-Goor and Oelegem. This was later marked as part of the Waterwegenroute.

The path runs practically straight from the Albert Canal. From the peak of the intended junction on the Albert (junction 56), follow the limestone path north toward junction 57 under the E34 bridge. In about 2 km (just past junction 57, direction 26) you reach the first fort, named Oelegem for the neighboring town. The area is now privately owned and a nature preserve. The fort itself houses a bat colony. A bit over 2 km later (past junction 26 direction 45) near Koeputten you reach a lunette - a strong point. The fortifications have been partly destroyed. The area is now used by a fishing club. Two km further is another fort, 's-Gravenwezel. This is a designated recreation zone that has been partly taken over by illegal county houses. Nearly 4 km later past junction 42 direction 41 you reach the north end of the path at St-Job-in-'t-Goor where you turn right and then left to the bridge over the Turnhout Canal (junction 41). (Route description based on material from André Maes December 2002) (Junction numbers added 21 November 2008)
Dan Gamber

THE NEW HA-HA

The 18 th century English garden appears as a sort of middle landscape, a naturalistic composition mediating between culture and wilderness. John Dixon Hunt writes that the key to the garden is enclosure, a separation between it and not-it. The picturesque garden blurs this separation with the invention of the ha-ha: a trench ringing the garden, its outer side sloping and turfed, the inner side a vertical stone wall. Viewed from within the garden, the ha-ha disappears into the landscape, making an unbroken vista of the garden and its surroundings. Walpole in 1785, in his Essay on Modern Gardening, gives an etymology for this strange term: "the common people called them Ha! Ha’s! to express their surprize at finding a sudden and unperceived check to their walk."

In an age where monuments and prominent buildings are viewed as perpetually subject to attack, where fortification must co-exist with dynamic urban sites, and where the landscape designer is asked once again to artfully confound, the ha-ha has become relevant again. Although we are accustomed to seeing systems of control as metaphysical rather than physical structures, the fortification of American cities since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing reminds us that control, under threat, must manifest itself. The construction of U.S. embassies in the new age of terror is illustrative. Circa 2003, as Berlin emerged from a decade of reconstruction following reunification, the rebuilt Pariser Platz was lined with branch offices of major governments and banks. But the site of the U.S. embassy, vacant since the Second World War, lay fallow in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate, mired in security negotiations. Until 2008, the embassy operated out of temporary quarters off Unter den Linden, surrounded by an astonishing array of concrete bollards, guard booths, lift-arm gates, Jersey barriers and fencing. Amid the formal neoclassical order of central Berlin, the embassy conveyed a shocking image of power under siege.
The new embassy finally opened in May 2008. With its steel bollards, which extend across and block the street in front, it cuts a bulkier profile than its glassy-walled neighbor, the Gehry-designed DZ Bank headquarters. Design architect John Ruble was quoted by Bloomberg as saying "Pariser Platz has been completely redesigned to address the security issue in a way that’s not visible. It looks like a normal part of the city." Here design is called into service to mediate between enclosure and openness just as the ha-ha once softened the boundaries of the garden. The picturesque garden was developed in a century when the English countryside was undergoing a massive transformation. The Commons system of shared land-use succumbed to enclosure, causing radical economic and social upheavals. England, according to David Watkin, is "a country which has specialised in preserving the picturesque facades of ancient institutions whilst making fundamental changes to the reality behind them." The ha-ha disguises changes in relations between Lord and tenant. When viewed from the manor house, whose garden it encircles, it acts as a symbolic mediation.
Today, the image of the city as a system of circulation is compromised by the image of the city as fortress. Landscape architects are called upon to aestheticize the rude barriers surrounding potential targets, as in the NoGo designed by Rogers Marvel for the front of the New York Stock Exchange: faceted bronze over steel bollards, publicized with photographs of children climbing on them. More sophisticated design work secures the monumental government core in Washington. For half a decade, an uneven ring of Jersey barriers prominently encircled the Washington Monument, until a proposal by Olin Partnership was realized. Now, a low ha-ha, designed in the form of a continuous bench, surrounds the monument to protect it from vehicular assault.
The project of naturalizing security features is highly developed in the new rash of architecturally ambitious Federal Courthouses erected in cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and Minneapolis under the General Services Administration Design Excellence program. Although their plazas aim for a more pastoral environment, the buildings resemble the sterile tower-in-plaza style of
late 20th century American urbanism. The landscapes are ingenious in design: Martha Schwartz’s system of tear-shaped mounds, inspired by glacial drumlins, gives a Teletubbies landscape quality to the front of the new courthouse in Minneapolis, while preventing vehicles from reaching the building’s walls. The plaza itself is a thin sheet over an excavated pit, designed to carry visitors on foot and to collapse under heavier loads (such as a Ryder truck filled with fertilizer). This solution, known as the Tiger Trap, is invisible until you’re in it: Ha! Ha!

Written by Eric Fredericksen

WE ALMOST LOST DETROIT

The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie near Monroe, in Frenchtown Charter Township, Monroe County, Michigan, USA, approximately halfway between Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. Two units have been constructed on this site. The first unit's construction started in 1963, and the second unit reached criticality in 1988.

The 94 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor Fermi 1 unit operated at the site from 1957 to 1972. On October 5, 1966 Fermi 1 suffered a partial fuel meltdown. There was no abnormal radiation release to the public, and no one was injured. At the time of the accident, two fuel rod subassemblies reached high temperatures of around 700°F (with an expected range near 580°F), causing an alarm.
Following an extended shutdown that involved fuel replacement and cleanup, Fermi 1 continued to operate until September 22, 1972. It was officially decommissioned December 31, 1975. It is currently in SAFSTOR with a gradual "final" decommissioning in progress. Details of the accident are verified by the book Fermi-1 New Age for Nuclear Power[2] published by the American Nuclear Society in 1979. It also led to a book by John Grant Fuller (subtitled "This Is Not A Novel")[3] and a song by Gil Scott-Heron, both titled We Almost Lost Detroit.



It stands out on a highway
like a Creature from another time.
It inspires the babies' questions,
"What's that?"
For their mothers as they ride.
But no one stopped to think about the babies
or how they would survive,
and we almost lost Detroit
this time.
How would we ever get over
loosing our minds?
Just thirty miles from Detroit
stands a giant power station.
It ticks each night as the city sleeps
seconds from anniahlation.
But no one stopped to think about the people
or how they would survive,
and we almost lost Detroit
this time.
How would we ever get over
over loosing our minds?
The sherrif of Monroe county had,
sure enough disasters on his mind,
and what would karen Silkwood say
if she was still alive?
That when it comes to people's safety
money wins out every time.
and we almost lost Detroit
this time, this time.
How would we ever get over
over loosing our minds?
You see, we almost lost Detroit
that time.
Almost lost Detroit
that time.
And how would we ever get over...
Cause odds are,
we gonna loose somewhere, one time.
Odds are
we gonna loose somewhere sometime.
And how would we ever get over
loosing our minds?
And how would we ever get over
loosing our minds?
Didn't they, didn't they decide?
Almost lost Detroit
that time.
Damn near totally destroyed,
one time.
Didn't all of the world know?
Say didn't you know?
Didn't all of the world know?
Say didn't you know?
We almost lost detroit...
Gil Scott-Heron

THOREAU'S COVE

Walden Pond is a 102-foot (31 m) deep pond.[1] It is 61 acres (250,000 m2) in area and 1.7 miles (2.7 km) around, located in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000 - 12,000 years ago.

In 1845, Thoreau went to live and work at Walden Pond. He stayed for two years, keeping a journal of his thoughts and his encounters with nature and society. Over the next few years, Thoreau wrote and rewrote (seven drafts in all) Walden; or Life in the Woods, one of the most famous works in American literature. Published in 1854, this classic has never been out of print and is still read by people all over the world. Until his death in 1862, Thoreau combined surveying, lecturing, and writing; in 1849, at the height of the anti-slavery struggle, he published On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, (a lecture originally entitled Resistance to Civil Government). Many years later, this essay inspired Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other nonviolent protesters.

Thoreau became increasingly involved with the social and political issues of his time. He often spoke out against economic injustice and slavery, refusing to pay taxes to a government that supported slavery. With other members of his family, Thoreau helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in Canada. He opposed the government for waging the Mexican war; he delivered an abolitionist lecture, Slavery in Massachusetts. He even supported John Brown's efforts to end slavery after meeting him in Concord, defending his character after Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, in A Plea for Captain John Brown.

On May 6, 1862 at the age of 44, the self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms and author renowned for motivating the world to value our natural environment, died after a prolonged struggle with tuberculosis. He is buried on Authors' Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

SINKHOLE IN GUATEMALA CITY

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, February 2007 - A 330-foot-deep sinkhole killed three people, swallowed about a dozen homes, and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main.

When the pit appeared, it emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities feared it could widen or others could open up.

The dead were identified as Irma and David Soyos, emergency spokesman Juan Carlos Bolanos said. Their bodies were found near the sinkhole, floating in a river of sewage. Their father, Domingo, was later found dead in the enormous fissure.

Authorities had apparently suspected something was wrong with the site before the sinkhole appeared.

“We knew, and the INSIVUMEH (the country’s seismology institute) had placed a seismic meter there,” said Alvaro Rodas, the director of social development for Guatemala City. “The city government had contracted a robotic camera system to go down there, but the disaster occurred first.”

Cristobal Colon, a spokesman for the municipal water authority, said the sewage main ruptured after becoming clogged. He said the city was aware of the blockage and the army had been considering a controlled explosion to clear the pipe, which carries both rainwater and sewage for much of the capital.

Source: Associated Press

MANHOLE LID BLOWS OFF

SEWERS OF THE WORLD

A collection of photographic images of manhole and other access covers to water and gas pipes, electrical and telecommunication cables, etc., including gutters and grillwork (whether constructed of cast iron, welded or forged, or made from wood or stone) related to sewers of all kinds.
http://sewers.artinfo.ru/exhibition/exhib-e.htm

ATLES-F SITES

The Atlas-F missile sites were activated in 1961, and after a short operational period, were decommissioned in 1965. These sites were the first of the "super hardened" missile silos, built to withstand a 200 pound per square inch blast. Atlas F (structure only) construction costs range from $14 to $18 each in 1960’s dollars.

Missile Silo: The missile silo is a huge structure 52 ft. inside diameter and approximately 176 feet deep. Access is from a 40 foot tunnel with 3 blast doors leading from the LCC. The Missile Silo has 2 overhead 90 ton doors that can often be reopened. There were originally 7 floor levels inside the silo, however app, 2/3 of the F silos have been salvaged out and only bare walls remain. Multiple levels could be rebuilt in the silo. A deck built in the silo would provide almost 2,000 sq. ft. of floor-space.
Land: Land sizes with the Atlas-F series vary greatly, due to post-government division. The minimum typical acreage is 5 acres, although some are still deeded with the original 10-22 acres the government used. Originally, the inner 5 acres of these sites were surrounded by a 8 ft. barbed wire topped chain-link security fence. This fence remains on some sites. There are two concrete (quonset) pads 40 ft. by 100 ft. on each site. An antenna silo, 8 ft. diameter and 29 ft deep, remains in the ground on each site.

BEIJING'S UNDERGROUND HIDEOUT

With the Soviets breathing down his country's metaphorical neck, Chairman Mao ordered the construction of a vast underground city to serve as a shelter during an invasion, air raid or nuclear war.
This was no minor undertaking. In the late 1960s, the population of Beijing reached 7.5 million residents [source: CPIRC]. In short order, the residents of the capital city were put to work excavating their enormous air raid shelter. Most of the digging was done by hand, and the work was shared by adults and schoolchildren alike. This communal venture fit nicely into Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution -- a massive campaign to support the communist movement and thwart counterrevolutionary ideas. From 1969 to 1979, the people of Beijing focused their attention underground.



When the Dixia Cheng (underground city) was completed, it was capable of housing 300,000 people for about four months [source: Time]. Between 26 to 60 feet (8 to 18 m) beneath the city, tunnels stretch about 18 miles (approximately 30 km) in length and spread over a more than 52 square mile area (85 square km) [source: Zhiyong]. Ancient city gates throughout the city were recycled into construction material for the tunnels. Secret entrances aboveground were located in shops, homes and parks around Beijing. A map of the tunnels drawn using a fluorescent medium to render it invisible to the naked (Soviet) eye was found on the wall of one of these shops [source: Lonely Planet].
The massive bomb shelter complex was never used for its intended purpose. Had the occasion arisen, the Beijing residents who made it underground wouldn't have died easily. The Dixia Cheng is outfitted with ventilation shafts that resist fallout from nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons. In addition to the safety provided by the depth of the tunnels, the complex is outfitted with bomb shelters. Other chambers in auxiliary tunnels held grain, weapons and other supplies. The underground city also has sites for growing sunless crops like mushrooms and areas prepared for well drilling [source: Zhiyong].
Subterranean dwellers wouldn't have died of boredom, either. Classrooms were constructed for the children living in the underground city, and amenities found aboveground like a movie theater, barber shops, restaurants and a roller skating rink were all awaiting the flood of Beijingers seeking shelter underground from Soviet bombs.
After the USSR disintegrated, and Beijing was no longer under the threat of attack, the underground city lost its purpose. Its existence faded into obscurity and conjecture. In 2000, the Dixia Cheng found new life as a tourist destination (it's inexplicably not open to Chinese visitors). Most of the complex is shut off; a mere fraction of it is open to tours, and some businesses have set up shop in the open areas. A few air raid shelters are now hostels for thrifty travelers. Urban explorers' unsanctioned investigations of the untouched portions of the tunnels have yielded reports of a labyrinth frozen in time: posters of Chairman Mao still adorning walls of rooms where bunk beds stand silently [source: CNN].
As the 2008 Olympics approached, Beijing officials reinvigorated districts in the city. This included tearing down some of the shops that housed the most well-known entrances to the underground city. Some are fearful that the Dixia Cheng will be lost forever: Without entrances and the luminescent map to show the way, Beijing's Dixia Cheng may return to its shroud of secrecy.

taken from: http://geography.howstuffworks.com/asia/beijing-underground-city1.htm

THE UNDERGROUND MAN FINDS WORLD CLOSING IN ON NANTUCKET

NANTUCKET, MA - For 10 years, Thomas Johnson lived cocooned in an
underground bunker he called ''my self-help tank.''

Yesterday, the world began to intrude.

As news of Johnson's life as a subterranean hermit spread around this island yesterday, federal and state law enforcement agents made their way to his hideaway. Armed with a pistol, the agents approached Johnson as he was about to reenter his 8-foot-deep, three-room home yesterday afternoon and asked for the barn owl's wings and the talons of a red-tailed hawk they saw photographed in yesterday's Globe. Both are illegal keepsakes. Johnson surrendered what he called ''priceless totems'' to the agents, but only after a distraught, angry exchange with an agent from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and an armed sergeant from the state Environmental Police. The authorities said they would recommend that he not be prosecuted. To Johnson, such news is small comfort for a man who fears reemerging from a world where he purposely shunned a materialistic society he abhors. After spending 2 1/2 years in an Italian prison for carrying heroin in a drug deal, Johnson said, he fled back to the United States to fashion an uncomplicated, self-dependent life. Underground in the woods, Johnson explained, he could commune with nature and create a radical lifestyle that would free him from the routine burdens of modern life and allow him to grow stronger morally. ''I'm not a religious nut - I'm not another Randy Weaver,'' said Johnson, referring to the ntigovernment zealot whose wife and son were killed in a standoff with federal agents in Idaho. An FBI agent was also killed. ''I'm a dignified person. I'm not a dog. I'm not an animal - and that's what some people would like to make me.'' ''This is my self-help tank,'' he added, looking admiringly around his comfortable home. ''I've gone into the earth, almost like a seed to regerminate.'' Even as authorities intensified their scrutiny of Johnson, the travails of the sometime-woodworker and house painter generated considerable support on an island where building development has made housing less and less affordable. 'Everybody I've talked to so far has said, `All right!''' said Wayne Viera, a former selectman who drives a cab, sells real estate, and carves scrimshaw to make a living. ''The year-round people know the hoops you have to go through to get housing.'' Chet Curtis, the WCVB-TV anchorman who owns about 5 acres of undeveloped land close to the bunker, said he is inclined to support Johnson's wish to remain in his home. ''He's not bothering anybody,'' said Curtis, who arrived on Nantucket yesterday. ''I thought it was incredible that he had accomplished this.'' Authorities informed Curtis and his wife and co-anchor, Natalie Jacobson, a couple of weeks ago that Johnson's dwelling might be on their land. At the time, Curtis said, his feeling was that ''if he's on our property, and he's not hurting anybody, why not leave him alone.'' A surveyor later placed Johnson's structure within the Boy Scouts' Camp Richard. Nantucket officials said the bunker has health code violations and poses a danger to people who might walk on top of it. They have drawn up a list of violations, such as inappropriate toilet facilities and no water under
pressure, but appeared to have taken no other steps to force him to leave. The home, which is furnished with a queen-size bed, TV, stone stove, refrigerator, kitchen, and makeshift shower and toilet, was discovered by a deer hunter who stumbled over a stovepipe that protrudes a foot above ground. Boy Scout officials from the Cape Cod Council, which also covers Nantucket, could not be reached for comment. Nantucket health inspector Richard Ray has said he believes the Scouts plan to begin eviction proceedings that could take up to 90 days to complete. However, Police Chief Randolph Norris said it is his understanding that the Boy Scouts intend to let Johnson stay. Johnson said he has chosen another underground site on Nantucket if he is forced to move. Such a prospect wouldn't distress Steve Tornovish, co-owner of the Thrifty car rental agency here. ''I'd let him do it in my yard, but my family and dog might be upset,'' Tornovish said. ''I'm something of the opinion: No harm, no foul.'' However, he added, Nantucket has many well-to-do landowners with big tax bills who ''will be riled up'' about Johnson's tax-free alternative. Dennis Kelley, a construction worker from Hyannis who works on Nantucket during the week, empathized with that thinking.''He's been here for 10 years? How about paying back some rent or giving some money to the Boy Scouts?'' Kelley said. ''Some townspeople are very upset. They've got a $2 million to $3 million house, and here's this guy
living tax-free.'' Whatever the outcome of Johnson's saga, the emergence of what some townspeople are calling ''the subterranean guy'' is viewed as one more colorful chapter in island lore. ''This takes the expression of `going underground' to a whole new level,'' Tornivish said. ''But you know, Nantucket is an island of characters. And the story of this guy is just another example.'' Johnson shudders at the thought that he might become an island attraction. As the environmental authorities approached him, Johnson tossed aside camouflage brush from the hatch to his home, pointed to the earth-covered dwelling, and said, ''This is the trouble I went to for peace, and the last thing it'll get me is peace.''

By Brian MacQuarrie