Seattle suffers blockage, orders 500 tons of anti-constipation medication.

[Denis]

Not really. I bet Bertha has run into some old locomotives or a steel ship hull or something.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/20/us/under-seattle-a-big-object-blocks-bertha-what-is-it.html?_r=0

[uwe]

I was worried Mark might be the culprit when I read the thread's title. Now I'm relieved (no pun intended), they've only hit a UFO made of some non-Milky Way indestructible metal, triggered it out of hibernation and it will now destroy North America over Christmas.

[Pilgrim]

Could be a big rock, a ship hull, or maybe a building foundation that sank.

It would be more fun if it were a big pile of empties from one of Seattle's early brothels.

[Denis]

I keep wondering about the big rock frequently mentioned but wouldn't the teeth on that boring machine be able to handle that? I mean, hell, it's a boring machine made for making tunnels!

[TBird1958]

Seattle is a quite a place, that part of town is only about 15 mins. drive from my house, again very near BassNW and Seattle Lighting's downtown store. The article mentions how most of the city was destroyed by fire and also how much of the land was dramatically reshaped with high pressure water hoses. The area was also part of a rather notorious red light district and the location of labor riots back in the early 20th C. Also that area was somewhat tidal in the past and served as the lacation of early sawmills (Logs were skidded thru the early streets of the city, thus the origin of the term "Skid Road") the area is unstable geologically, with older buildings suffering some damage in the Nisqually earthquake of 2001 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Nisqually_earthquake
SLF's downtown store was damaged in that quake, I'm quite glad I didn't work there at the time!
It's not well know because the city isn't as old as many others but this is a very storied and strange place - I fit in well!

[Pilgrim]

Absolutely!  I finally took the underground Seattle tour (starts at Doc Maynard's) after hearing about it for years.  Lots of fun, and you learn about the unique way Seattle's  downtown was elevated above the tidal flats where the first downtown was built.