600 Foot Crevice Opens In UP

Questions are flying after a more than 600-foot-long crevice suddenly opened up this month in the Upper Peninsula.

Residents around Stephenson in Menominee County are asking about what caused the earth to open up Oct. 4.

Rory Mattson, executive director of the Delta Conservation District in Gladstone, tells the Daily Press of Escanaba that the crevice, or fissure, may be the result of fractured rock deep beneath other rock layers.

Mattson says the phenomenon is not unusual in the Upper Peninsula. Mattson says his assessment was based upon information provided by others and he has not visited the site himself.

The fissure at its narrowest is about 12 inches wide and a few inches deep. It widens to more than 2 feet wide and 5 feet deep.

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