Legends and Lore of Birmingham & Central Alabama

Marine monsters once dragged ships of a prehistoric race from what is now Birmingham to the Gulf of Mexico via an underground river. Not convinced? Would you believe that Birmingham was in danger of collapsing into that underground river and being swept away? Legends have been passed down through the years about this “Mystic River,” as it was called.

Much of the Birmingham area lies on a bed of primarily limestone, which is a relatively soft, sedimentary rock, easily worn and shaped by eons of water flow. Add to that slightly acidic runoff, and you have the ingredients for the formation of caverns, which become sinkholes when they collapse. The area is certainly known for that. But what about an actual river underground?

A writer named Joe Mulhatton visited Birmingham in 1883, when he read an account of a small flowing stream discovered by a well driller in the city. He began expanding the story into a sensational report of a huge river flowing beneath the city, threatening the safety of the citizens above. His fictional report first appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal and was later picked up by numerous papers. He claimed the city of Birmingham rested on a “crust” of stone only a few feet thick and that many buildings had collapsed after that crust had broken open during construction of a large building. He even claimed that city hall had settled four feet on one corner. The story spread like wildfire when it was printed. For two days, the telegraph office was overwhelmed with telegrams from all over the country asking if the story were true.

Underground Rivers, by Richard Heggen, cited the November 29, 1884 edition of the Saturday Evening Post, in which Professor Mulhatton stated:

The great subterranean stream recently discovered under the city of Birmingham is undoubtedly the most remarkable discovery ever made on the American continent. The river is greater in volume than the mighty Mississippi. Its vast subterranean bed is undoubtedly due to the grinding and cutting of immense icebergs during the glacial period. Then at a subsequent preadamite period violent upheavals of the earth toppled over the mountains which forms the present grand archway through which the iceberg continued to cut leaving it as it is now—a natural ship canal to the Gulf of Mexico. A prehistoric race undoubtedly utilized it for the transportation of metals from this section to the sea where they were transported to various points of the world. Furnaces on a scale scarcely so magnificent yet as satisfactory in results to those prehistoric people undoubtedly existed on the present site of Birmingham, as ruins of those, and of ancient sun-temples are found in various parts of the country.

Added to this, we discovered in niches of the cave numerous articles of bronze, also statuary, numerous Masonic emblems, and mummies with sandals on their feet —all in perfect state of preservation. We also discovered the remains of marine monsters on the dais or old red sandstone period, prominent among them the huge Ichthyosaurus, which was undoubtedly used by these prehistoric races to drag their ships from what is now Birmingham to the Gulf of Mexico. These extinct sea monsters were docile and harmless, and were harnessed to the ships laden with pig iron, which they pulled to the sea with the greatest of ease. They were more powerful than the most powerful locomotives of the present day. Hulls of these subterranean ships are scattered all along the banks of this great subterranean stream.

It was hard to suppress such a sensational story. An article in the March 25, 1886 edition of the Atlanta Constitution announced:

Much excitement exists over the report made today by W.C. Kerr, who is boring artesian wells for the water supply of the Birmingham rolling mills. Two holes have been bored a depth of five hundred feet beneath the surface. Water, pure and clear, filled the wells within twelve feet of the top. It was announced by Mr. Kerr that the water came from an underground stream, the size of a village creek, on which is built the city water works. The stream is large enough in places for boats. Persons placed their ears to the top of the hole, and heard the water rushing below.

Stories more in the realm of possibility were collected by Walter Bryant in a 1975 Birmingham News article:

• Native Americans informed early settlers of an underground stream that ran the full length of the county.

• R.H.L. Wharton purchased the “water privilege” for the infant city in 1871 and dug wells on Second Avenue North at Twentieth and between Twentieth and Twenty-first Streets. The latter well was reported to have struck an underground stream.

• An office in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue North and Twenty-second Street advertised “Mystic Underground River” excursions during the 1880s and 1890s.

• Access to an underground stream near Highland Avenue and 12 Avenue South was sealed by the city in the early 1900s because it posed a danger to children.

• 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 ten-story building, had only two stories, due in part to the expense of shoring the foundation.

• The Federal Reserve Building’s 1957 annex was hit with foundation flooding. The excavation filled with clear water and was pumped out continuously during construction.

• Construction of the Daniel Building (1967) was delayed as engineers searched for areas of solid bedrock between limestone cavities.

• Numerous downtown structures are said to use underground water, reached by wells, as part of their cooling systems.

More recently, in January 2013, a sinkhole, reportedly more than one hundred feet deep, appeared near the intersection of Fifteenth Street and Third Avenue South during construction of Regions Field.

So the legend of the “Mystic River” continues. Is the river real? Does Birmingham have a lot of groundwater playing havoc with the city’s architecture? Factor in one more piece of information as you ponder the question.

“It is a common misconception that groundwater is found in underground rivers like those that form limestone caverns,” according to the Alabama State Water Program. “In fact, groundwater is more like the water in a sponge, held within the tiny pores of the surrounding aquifer material. It is important to note that the rate of groundwater flow, especially in confined systems, is very slow compared to the flow of water on the surface. It is typically in the range of several inches per year to several feet per year.”

So what do you think of our mighty underground river system? Does it belong in books of science or legend?