A Trip Through Ann Arbor's 'Underground'

ANN ARBOR'S 'BLACK HOLE': Odd patterns of light and shadow, twisting into a depth of black void, meet the peering eye as it looks down the outlet to the Allen's Creek drain which follows the approximate path of the Ann Arbor Railroad through the city's business district. The "paths" along the sides of the heavily silted stream make walking look easy but actually proved so slippery with slime that a touring party took to the water.

NARROW ESCAPE: New Photographer Eck Stanger (right) ruefully appraises his mud-plastered right leg after he stepped off the concrete entrance to the Allen's Creek Drain at its Huron River outlet. What looked like solid ground turned out to be a quicksand of silt, apparently bottomless. Drain Commissioner Ceilon Hill (left) averted possible more serious consequences by pulling Stanger out. The sinkhole is a source of danger to children playing in the area.

LOW BRIDGE, EVERYBODY DOWN: Four members of the party which made an inspection tour of the Allen's Creek Drain bend low under the arched tile in their passage upstream. Pictured from left to right are Drain Commissioner Ceilon Hill, Sewage Disposal Plant Superintendent C. Preston Witcher, News Reporter Bill Mullendore, and Public Health Engineer Joseph Price. Witcher lugged the box, heavily weighted with water pollution test samples, the entire two miles and managed to preserve the precious bottles despite the soaked cardboard bottom of the box.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE: Drain Commissioner Ceilon Hill gathers a water sample from an inlet to the Allen's Creek Drain while Sewage Disposal Plant Superintendent C. Preston Witcher looks on. Between the two men is a ladder leading to a manhole in the street above the gloomy, damp underground cavern. Results of the water tests, for pollution, which was evident to the eye, will be known in a few days.

ROCKS CLOG DRAIN: Apparently washed down from the three golf courses through which Allen's Creek flows before it becomes a drain at Stadium Blvd., rock accumulations like the one pictured clog the drain passage at intervals. News Reporter Bill Mullendore is shown looking the pile over.

DAYLIGHT AND FRESH AIR AGAIN: Mud-spattered and wet, three members of the party which toured the Allen's Creek Drain offer relieved smiles as they stand around the manhole from which they emerged after two and one-half hours and two miles underground. Pictured are Drain Commissioner Ceilon Hill, Sewage Disposal Plant Superintendent C. Preston Witcher, and Public Health Engineer Joseph Price. Witcher still clings firmly to his water bottle box.