On the Sunday of the blowout, apparently the sediment in one shaft had settled to such an extent that the water no longer weighed enough to contain the pressure inside. The normal precaution had been to keep a small stream of water playing into the shafts to make up for just such a likelihood during days when the work was halted and no dredging was going on. But this time that had not been done. Sounding very much like his father, Roebling said, “To say that this occurrence was an accident would certainly be wrong, because not one accident in a hundred deserves the name. In this case it was
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