Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 19 -- The Stratemeyer Boys Club Serials
In Tom Swift and His Polar-Ray Dynasphere (1964), our lad
takes on plumbing problems.
"But will not more water be welling up all the time from the
underground river?"
"Not if I plug the inlet first," Tom replied quietly. "After the
water has been vaporized, I can clean out all the poisonous
sediment and plant growth with a machine of mine called a
Spectromarine selector. Then I'll remove the plug and allow
the lake basin to fill up again -- with pure, fresh water."
Fortunately he'd packed along his Spectromarine selector!
Appleton also churned out seven volumes of Motion Picture Chums, 15 of Moving Picture Boys,
and 17 of Movie Boys, leaving others in the Stratemeyer corral to write the Motion Picture
Comrades, but the movie formula failed to include underground rivers.
Frank V. Webster
Webster is credited with some 25 Boys Club volumes, but as the
characters changed, the result is simply known as the "Webster
Series."
A Boys Club enjoys a good chuckle. From Webster's The Boy
from the Ranch, or Roy Bradner's City Experiences (1909),
"Excuse me, stranger," he began, in his broad western tones.
"But how long is this tunnel, anyhow?"
"Tunnel? This ain't no tunnel!"
"No? What is it then? It's a pretty good imitation. Looks like
an underground river that has gone dry."
"Why, this is the subway."
The passing mention of an underground river in An Undivided Union: (1899), a Civil War novel,
merits mention for its authorship.
Crawfish Springs was a most beautiful spot, a typical scene for a landscape painter. The spring
was really the outlet for a subterranean river, and flowed forth between beautiful hills covered
with trees and flowering bushes. It was on the estate of a widow, Mrs. Gordon, whose fine
brick mansion stood not far away. In the vicinity of the spring was the house of Lowry, Second
Chief of the Cherokees, and it was here that the Army of the Cumberland had, for the time
being, established its hospital.
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