Underground river

There are numerous references, some fictional, some perhaps not, to an underground river flowing beneath downtown Birmingham.

A writer named Joe Mulhatton visited Birmingham in 1883. He read an account of a small flowing stream discovered by a well-driller in the city and subsequently expanded it into a sensational report of a huge river flowing beneath the city and endangering the entire area. His fictional report first appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal, but was picked up by other newspapers soon later. Among Mulhatton's claims were that the city rested on a "crust" of stone only a few feet thick which had been broken open during construction of a large building. He claimed that many buildings had collapsed and that the City Hall had settled 4 feet on one corner into a widening fissure.

Walter Bryant collected several less fantastic reports in a 1975 Birmingham News article:

• An office in the vicinity of 5th Avenue North and 22nd Street advertised "Mystic Underground River" excursions during the 1880s and 1890s.
• Access to an underground stream near Highland Avenue and 23rd Street South was sealed by the city in the early 1900s.
• A spring surfaced at 5th Avenue South and 22nd Street.
• Construction of the Tutwiler Hotel (1914) was delayed by the need to add steel beams to the foundation in order to span the river's cavern.
• The Florentine Building (1927), which was planned as a 10-story building, only went to 2 stories because of the presence of the underground stream.
• The Federal Reserve building's 1957 annex was beset by foundation flooding. The excavation was pumped out continuously during construction.
• Construction of the Daniel Building (1967) was delayed as engineers searched for areas of solid bedrock on which to erect caissons.

Reference

• Walsh, William S. (1892) Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. B. Lippincott Co., p. 473
• Bryant, Walter. "Underground river helped shape city". (November 27, 1975) Birmingham News.