"WARE BOG."

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 30, 4 February 1905, Page 13

"WARE BOG."

■ THE StjßSTEttGryG OF CUOOSI SHBBVH ; Onfy then who** feet have beea la tie > ; clntca of c. quicksand or % bog can readily ( appreciate tie terror with which the ia- • habitants et the small Irish nur&et-town : o£ Castlere*, and the villages recnd about : heard a few days ago tint the great hot i Ciooagheeve was on the more. This bog • is a dreary trace of semi-iajTiM peat somei eleven miles in extent, lying gome three ; miles away from Castlerea. It lies well I above the town, from which it is separat- ; ed by a tract of rising jremad whitfh forms a perfect safe natural dam so loos as the t bog retains its normal leveL Of late* . however, the rainfall ha* been so persist- . ent In tie neighboarbood th»t that, pact of the dam which kept in check the upper portion of the beg on the Castlerea. side i wus no longer able to resist the tremendous pressure of the mass of liquid filth, . and on Satarday the news flew throngh the district that Cloonsheeve was mariag. ; At ooce the entire district became panicstricken. The farms and cottages bet trween the bog and the township were evacuated forthwith, and furniture, cattle, sheep and pigs hastily driven away, la many cases fligbt was only taken jnst ■in time, for the escaped, bog—a brown mass- of semi-Scld peat eight te ten or twehT! feet and over a mile In. width— : made rapid progress down the steeper i slopes, and before nightfall the nearest ■ cottages were engulfed in a slimy, oozy • J mass from which there Is no escape far man or ffeast once it gets a bold. On Sunday morning the bog had moved : nearly hai-f a mile towards the town, aad : every cottage aad farm Iα ita wide path was engnlfed. Nothing effective coold : be done to cnedr its progress owing to ! the en-ormona extent of its front. The •' town of Castlerea lay direct ia ks path, ; J aad on Sunday Eight it seemed that noI thing could save that place from destruction. The residents made all preparations i for a hasty departure, aad every vehicle I for milea round waa requisitioned for the removal of household sooda. Happily, by Tuesday evening, the bog had lost a great : deal of its fluidity, and its movement became slower, until it had to all Intents and pnrpescs come to a standstill. Here and there along its lengthy front a section con-tinned its onward crawl for a. space, only, however, to halt as soon as It had lest Its dtie proportion of water, and on Wednesday all danger was practically at and end so far as Castlerea waa concerned. The bog, howerer, had done , fell wort in its progress. Tbe little vii- ' Tagc of Clooasheeve, from which it takes [ its name. Is practically wiped oat. The I 1 interiors of all the houses are filled with . J tee liqTifii slush as Ugh as the windows, and great tracts of country hay« been rendered useless for cultivation for some J I years. Happily, so far as can be aseer- , j tamed. no lives have been lost .and no reI port 3 are to hand indicating that either , ; she-ep or cattle aave been overwhelmed. i Bog-slidea have on many occasions , i wrought great havoc in Ireland. Th.« . I most serines, on record occurred In De- \ cumber, lSGt>. in Conutry Kerry, when, the i J KEocknageciia bog at Rathmore save way, ; and sw-cpt everything In its course for ! abo*rt two miles. A family of eight per- , j sons living on Lord -Keamare's estate waa ( j submersed and destroyed, while hundreds jof small farmers were mined. There was ', I another eerions bog-slip in liscannor, "West Clare, in Nevember, 1901, whaa ' mctdi lire stocla wae lost.