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The Lawson Adit is a horizontal mine tunnel, or
Between 1919 and 1930 the adit was used to give mining and metallurgy students hands-on training, specifically to provide "sound, practical training in drilling, drifting, blasting, timbering, and mine surveying." This training included instruction in the use of dynamite as well as the extraction of precious metals and practice and demonstration of rescuing techniques.
In 1935, Berkeley engineering students celebrated the annual March 15 Engineers' Day by putting together "a museum of historical electrical equipment," holding a dance at the Hotel Claremont, and engaging in a "mine rescue" in the Lawson Adit next to the Hearst Memorial Mining Building.
Around 1939 the adit was extended to around 900 feet so that it intersected the
Inside the Campus Mine
{{Coord, 37.87494, -122.256673, format=dms, display=title History of mining Mines in California Underground mines in the United States University of California, Berkeley buildings
The Lawson Adit is a horizontal mine tunnel, or adit
An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits ...
, on the UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
campus, near the Hearst Mining Building Hearst may refer to:
Places
* Hearst, former name of Hacienda, California, United States
* Hearst, Ontario, town in Northern Ontario, Canada
* Hearst, California, an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, United States
* Hearst Island, an i ...
, dug directly through the Hayward Fault
The Hayward Fault Zone is a right-lateral strike-slip geologic fault zone capable of generating destructive earthquakes. This fault is about long, situated mainly along the western base of the hills on the east side of San Francisco Bay. It runs ...
. Started in 1916, the adit is named after Andrew Lawson
Andrew Cowper Lawson (July 25, 1861 – June 16, 1952) was a Scots-Canadian geologist who became professor of geology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the editor and co-author of the 1908 report on the 1906 San Francisco earthq ...
, one-time Dean of the College of Mining at UC Berkeley.
History
The adit was dug under the direction of Frank H. Probert, who had just previously been appointed Professor of Mining. It was dug primarily for instructional purposes, with secondary hopes that it would represent a new source of water for the campus. Much of the equipment to dig and use the tunnel was donated by the mining industry in the San Francisco Bay area. Although an initial report said that it was to go 1,800 feet into the Berkeley Hills, the actual construction resulted in a mine tunnel of about 200 feet.
Between 1919 and 1930 the adit was used to give mining and metallurgy students hands-on training, specifically to provide "sound, practical training in drilling, drifting, blasting, timbering, and mine surveying." This training included instruction in the use of dynamite as well as the extraction of precious metals and practice and demonstration of rescuing techniques.
In 1935, Berkeley engineering students celebrated the annual March 15 Engineers' Day by putting together "a museum of historical electrical equipment," holding a dance at the Hotel Claremont, and engaging in a "mine rescue" in the Lawson Adit next to the Hearst Memorial Mining Building.
Around 1939 the adit was extended to around 900 feet so that it intersected the Hayward Fault
The Hayward Fault Zone is a right-lateral strike-slip geologic fault zone capable of generating destructive earthquakes. This fault is about long, situated mainly along the western base of the hills on the east side of San Francisco Bay. It runs ...
and could be used for a direct study of the fault by George Louderback
George Davis Louderback (April 6, 1874 – January 27, 1957) was an American geologist, known for identifying and describing benitoite and joaquinite.
Biography
Louderback was born in San Francisco, and received an A.B. from the University of ...
, a seismologist at UC Berkeley, to help determine the safety of building a new women's dormitory, Stern Hall. Louderback's studies in the adit revealed that the Hayward Fault at this point is surrounded by a particularly unstable mélange
In geology, a mélange is a large-scale breccia, a mappable body of rock characterized by a lack of continuous bedding and the inclusion of fragments of rock of all sizes, contained in a fine-grained deformed matrix. The mélange typically cons ...
of serpentine and other metamorphic rocks. He suggested that Stern Hall be built approximately fifty feet away from its original planned location.
After 1939, much of the extended adit eventually collapsed, with most collapses around the point where the adit intersects the fault. Today the adit is only maintained to a length of about 260 feet, and is not in use due to safety reasons.
References
External links
Inside the Campus Mine
{{Coord, 37.87494, -122.256673, format=dms, display=title History of mining Mines in California Underground mines in the United States University of California, Berkeley buildings