A great cofferdam built near the Elephant's base diverted the river into a concrete flume that ran along the foot of one of the mountains.
Every man who was not digging gingerly at the sand slide was turned to throwing bags of sand on cofferdam and flume edge to hold back the river as long as might be.
And the night shift began to repair the cofferdam for old Jezebel had dropped suddenly back into her old trail.
A cofferdam with double sides, composed of charred stakes fastened together with ties, should be constructed in the appointed place, and clay in wicker baskets made of swamp rushes should be packed in among the props.
A cofferdam burst yesterday at the works at Woolwich, having blown up from the foundation.
The cofferdam may be repaired, and very easily too, but an irruption into the Tunnel--what a difference, particularly at this early period!
At the river end the excavation was, at some places, almost entirely through the fill and mud and was made in a cofferdam composed chiefly of sheet piles.
The cofferdam was then pumped out until the bedrock was exposed and on this bedrock the masonry courses were laid.
