by Michael R. Allen
What is shown in this photograph? Does someone in Old North St. Louis own an incontinent elephant? Are Mississippians returning? Is this a previously-unknown north side mountain?
The answer is mundane: It’s a pile of fill dirt in our yard that will be used to level out sinking foundation cavities from buildings that once stood on the lots next to our house. Once leveled, the lots can become a staging area for our mason as he begins the masonry work needed on our house.
The dirt is completing a cycle: it comes from the excavation of a foundation for a new house in Old North St. Louis on North Market Street.