For one of the earliest accounts of this stupendous cavern, which is
unparalleled in the entire history of subterranean wonders, we are
indebted to Dr. Nahum Ward, who published it in a monthly magazine, in
October, 1816. It is in what was formerly Warren, but now Edmonson
county, in the state of Kentucky, about ten miles from the great
Louisville and Nashville turnpike. The territory is not mountainous but
broken, differing in this respect from the vicinity of most other
caverns of the same general kind. Not far from the entrance, a hotel is
now kept for the accommodation of visitors, as the cave is quite a
fashionable resort for travelers during the summer season. Perhaps we
shall best gain correct ideas of this wonderful cavern, which is almost
a world in itself, having its own seas, mountains, lakes, rivers, &c.,
by reading first the account given by Dr. Ward, and then that of a
visitor who explored it in 1854.
Dr. Ward, provided with guides, two large lamps, a compass and
refreshments, descended a pit forty feet in depth, and one hundred and
twenty in circumference; having a spring of fine water at the bottom,
and conducting to the entrance of the cavern. The opening, which is to
the north, is from forty to fifty feet high, and about thirty in width.
It narrows shortly after, but again expands to a width of thirty or
forty feet, and a hight of twenty, continuing these dimensions for about
a mile, to the first _hoppers_,[2] where a manufactory of saltpeter had
recently been established. Thence to the second of these hoppers, two
miles from the entrance, it is forty feet in width, and sixty in hight.
Throughout nearly the whole of the distance handsome walls had been made
by the manufacturers, of the loose limestone. The road was hard, and as
smooth as a flag pavement. In every passage which the doctor traversed,
the sides of the cavern were perpendicular, and the arches, which have
bid defiance even to earthquakes, were regular. In 1802, when the heavy
shocks of earthquakes came on which were so severely felt in this part
of Kentucky, the workmen stationed at the second hoppers, heard about
five minutes before each shock, a heavy rumbling noise issue from the
cave, like a strong wind. When that ceased, the rocks cracked, and the
whole appeared to be going in a moment to final destruction. However, no
one was injured, although large portions of rock fell in different parts
of the cavern.
-----
Footnote 2:
A hopper is an inverted cone, into which corn is put at a mill before
it runs between the stones.
-----
In advancing into the cavern, the avenue leads from the second hoppers,
west, one mile; and thence, south-west, to the chief area or city, which
is six miles from the entrance. This avenue, throughout its whole extent
from the above station to the cross-roads, or chief area, is from sixty
to one hundred feet in hight, of a similar width, and nearly on a level,
the floor or bottom being covered with loose limestone and saltpeter
earth. “When,” observes the doctor, “I reached this immense area (called
the chief city) which contains upward of eight acres, without a single
pillar to support the arch, which is entire over the whole, I was struck
dumb with astonishment. Nothing can be more sublime and grand than this
place, of which but a faint idea can be conveyed, covered with one solid
arch at least one hundred feet high, and to all appearance entire.”
Having entered the area, the doctor perceived five large avenues leading
from it, from sixty to one hundred feet in width, and about forty in
hight. The stone walls are arched, and were from forty to eighty feet
perpendicular in hight before the commencement of the arch.
In exploring these avenues, the precaution was taken to cut arrows,
pointing to the mouth of the cave, on the stones beneath the feet, to
prevent any difficulty in the return. The first which was traversed,
took a southerly direction for more than two miles; when a second was
taken, which led first east, and then north, for more than two miles
further. These windings at length brought the party, by another avenue,
to the chief city again, after having traversed different avenues for
more than five miles. Having reposed for a few moments on slabs of
limestone near the center of this gloomy area, and refreshed themselves
and trimmed their lamps, they departed a second time, through an avenue
almost north, parallel with the one leading from the chief city to the
mouth of the cavern; and, having proceeded upward of two miles, came to
the second city. This is covered with a single arch, nearly two hundred
feet high in the center, and is very similar to the chief city, except
in the number of its avenues, which are two only. They crossed it, over
a very considerable rise in the center, and descended through an avenue
which bore to the east, to the distance of nearly a mile, when they came
to a third area, or city, about one hundred feet square, and fifty in
hight, which had a pure and delightful stream of water issuing from the
side of a wall about thirty feet high, and which fell on a broken
surface of stone, and was afterward entirely lost to view.
Having passed a few yards beyond this beautiful sheet of water, so as to
reach the end of the avenue, the party returned about one hundred yards,
and passing over a considerable mass of stone, entered another, but
smaller avenue to the right, which carried them south, through a third,
of an uncommonly black hue, somewhat more than a mile; when they
ascended a very steep hill about sixty yards, which conducted them to
within the walls of the fourth city. It is not inferior to the second,
having an arch which covers at least six acres. In this last avenue, the
extremity of which can not be less than four miles from the chief city,
and ten from the mouth of the cavern, are upward of twenty large piles
of saltpeter earth on the one side, and broken limestone heaped up on
the other, evidently the work of human hands.
From the course of his needle, the doctor expected that this avenue
would have led circuitously to the chief city; but was much disappointed
when he reached the extremity, a few hundred yards’ distance from the
fourth city. In retracing his steps, not having paid a due attention to
mark the entrances of the different avenues, he was greatly bewildered,
and once completely lost himself for nearly fifteen or twenty minutes.
Thus, faint and wearied, he did not reach the chief area till ten at
night; but was still determined to explore the cavern so long as his
light should last. Having entered the fifth and last avenue from the
chief area, and proceeded south-east about nine hundred yards, he came
to the fifth area, the arch of which covers upward of four acres of
level ground, strewed with limestone, and having fire-beds of an
uncommon size, surrounded with brands of cane, interspersed. Another
avenue on the opposite side, led to one of still greater capacity, the
walls or sides of which were more perfect than any that had been
noticed, running almost due south for nearly a mile and a half, and
being very level and straight, with an elegant arch. While the doctor
was employed, at the extremity of this avenue, in sketching a plan of
the cave, one of his guides, who had strayed to a distance, called on
him to follow. Leaving the other guide, he was led to a vertical
passage, which opened into a chamber at least eighteen hundred feet in
circumference, and the center of the arch of which was one hundred and
fifty feet in hight.
It was past midnight when he entered this chamber of eternal darkness;
and when he reflected on the different avenues through which he had
passed since he had penetrated the cave at eight in the morning, and now
found himself buried several miles in the dark recesses of this awful
cavern—the grave, perhaps, of thousands of human beings—he felt a
shivering horror. The avenue, or passage, which led from it was as large
as any he had entered; and it is uncertain how far he might have
traveled had his lights not failed him. All those who have any knowledge
of this cave, he observes, conjecture that Green river, a stream
navigable several hundred miles, passes over three of its branches.
After a lapse of nearly an hour, he descended by what is called the
“passage of the chimney,” and joined the other guide. Thence returning
to the chief area or city, where the lamps were trimmed for the last
time, he entered the spacious avenue which led to the second hoppers.
Here he met with various curiosities, such as spars, petrifactions, &c.;
and these he brought away, together with _a mummy_ which was found at
the second hoppers. He reached the mouth of the cave about three in the
morning, nearly exhausted with nineteen hours of constant fatigue. He
nearly fainted on leaving it, and on inhaling the vapid air of the
atmosphere, after having so long breathed the pure air occasioned by the
niter of the cave. His pulse beat stronger when in the cave, but not so
quick as when on the surface.
Here the doctor observes that he has hardly described half the cave, not
having named the avenues between its mouth and the second hoppers. This
part of his narrative is of equal interest with what has been already
given. He states that there is a passage in the main avenue, upward of
nine hundred feet from the entrance, like that of a trap-door. By
sliding aside a large flat stone, you can descend sixteen or eighteen
feet in a very narrow defile, where the passage comes on a level, and
winds about in such a manner, as to pass under the main passage without
having any communication with it, at length opening into the main cave
by two large passages just beyond the second hoppers. This is called the
“glauber-salt room,” from salts of that kind being found there. Next
come the sick room, the bat-room, and the flint-room, together with a
winding avenue, which, branching off at the second hoppers, runs west
and south-west for more than two miles. It is called the “haunted
chamber,” from the echo within: its arch is very beautifully incrusted
with limestone spar; and in many places the columns of spar are truly
elegant, extending from the ceiling to the floor. Near the center of
this arch is a dome, apparently fifty feet high, hung in rich drapery,
festooned in the most fanciful manner for six or eight feet from the
hangings, and in colors the most rich and brilliant. By the reflection
of one or two lights, the columns of spar and the stalactites have a
very romantic appearance. Of this spar, a large elevation, called
“Wilkin’s arm-chair,” has been formed in the center of the avenue and
encircled with many smaller ones. The columns of the spar, fluted and
studded with knobs of spar and stalactites; the drapery of the various
colors superbly festooned and hung in the most graceful manner, these
are shown with the greatest brilliancy by the reflection of the lamps.
In the vicinity of the haunted chamber, the sound of a cataract was
heard; and at the extremity of the avenue was a reservoir of water, very
clear and grateful to the taste, having, apparently, neither inlet nor
outlet. Here the air, as in many other parts of the cave, was pure and
delightful. Not far from the reservoir, an avenue presented itself,
within which were several columns of the most brilliant spar, sixty or
seventy feet in hight, and almost perpendicular, standing in basins of
water; which, as well as the columns, were of surpassing splendor and
beauty.
So far we have followed the brief and general account of Dr. Ward.
Turning now to other accounts, we find that the cave extends for miles
under the earth, and that the end of it has never yet been reached by
any explorer. The air is not only pure, but delightful and exhilarating,
and has been highly recommended for diseases of the lungs, so much so,
that quite a number of small houses have been built within to
accommodate consumptive persons, who at times have resided there with
benefit. The temperature there is uniformly the same, being in both
winter and summer, from fifty-five degrees to fifty-nine degrees
Fahrenheit. Combustion is perfect in all parts of the cave, and
decomposition is nowhere observable. No reptiles, of any description,
have ever been seen within it. The loudest thunder can not be heard a
quarter of a mile within, and the only sound is the roar of the
waterfalls, of which there are some seven or eight.
The entire cave, so far as explored, contains two hundred and fifty or
more avenues, nearly fifty domes, twenty-two pits and three rivers. Many
of the avenues contain large and magnificent stalagmite columns,
extending from the floor to the ceiling, and some of very grotesque and
fanciful shape. Graceful stalactites may likewise be seen pendant from
the ceilings, as uniform and regular as if they were cut by the hand of
man. The engraving gives a view of one of those avenues where the
stalagmites and stalactites abound in great profusion. In another part
of this avenue, in what is called the Gothic Chapel, these stalactic
formations are still more striking, very much resembling a monkish
cathedral. In the Fairy Grotto, the formations likewise assume a great
many fanciful shapes.
Passing now to the second account of a visit to the cave, to which we
have already alluded, we find the visitor saying, that the cave is every
way so wonderful, that it is impossible to give more than a faint idea
of its magnificence and splendor. “As in exploring the cave,” he
continues, “there are three rivers to cross and a great deal of climbing
over rocks and crawling through narrow places, ladies adopt the Bloomer
costume from necessity, and gentlemen are provided with dresses
according to their fancy, so that a party starting out for a trip
through the cave, present a most grotesque and comical appearance. On
arriving at the mouth, the visitor is provided with a lamp, and makes an
abrupt, though comparatively easy descent of some seventy or eighty
feet. Here he enters a dark avenue, about five rods wide, called the
Narrows, and soon finds himself far beyond where daylight ever shone. At
the distance of about six hundred yards from the mouth, this avenue
expands and forms a large circular room, called the Rotunda, or Great
Vestibule. The guide stops here, and ignites a light, a compound of
sulphur, saltpeter and antimony, prepared for illuminating the various
points of special interest through the cave. This forms a most brilliant
light, and reveals a room some two or three hundred feet wide, and
forty-seven feet high. The view revealed by this first illumination is
most imposing and sublime. I told my guide that he was certainly right
in his ideas about describing the cave. As he saw me getting my paper
and pencil ready at the mouth, he began laughing very significantly, and
said, ‘Writin ’bout the cave aint no use, sir. Most everybody that goes
in writes, but they gin’ally throws it away when they comes out. Writin
don’t do no good. If anybody wants to know ’bout the cave, they must
come and see it.’ Although I had barely commenced my journey through it,
I told my guide that I could heartily subscribe to the whole of his
speech on this subject.
“And right here, in the great vestibule, I will stop to say a few words
about my guide. There are four guides to the cave, all of whom are said
to be entirely familiar with it, and to give the most perfect
satisfaction to visitors. At all events, I was entirely satisfied with
‘Alfred,’ with whom I made four different journeys through the cave,
traveling under ground through various avenues more than fifty miles.
Alfred formerly belonged to Miss Mary Croghan, whose elopement from a
boarding-school on Staten Island about a dozen years ago, with Captain
Shinley, created so great a sensation in New York and elsewhere. After
she went to England, she gave Alfred to some of her relatives, and he
belonged to Dr. Croghan at the time of his death, who was the owner of
the cave. By the terms of Dr. Croghan’s will, Alfred and his wife and
children will be free in about eighteen months. He is now drawing wages
for his services, which, with the liberal presents he receives from
visitors, will enable him to make a very fine start in the world. Alfred
has evidently been a great pet, as he learned to read when very small;
and he astonishes visitors by his use of scientific terms, and his
knowledge of chemistry and geology. He has now been a guide to the cave
about sixteen years; has visited it with a great many scientific men;
has most of the standard works on geology, and is altogether an
interesting character. He sees persons from all parts of the union, and
understands all the excitements at the north, from that created by Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, down to the Forrest divorce trial. He was anxious to buy
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and was told that he had better buy a Bible. So he
paid four dollars and a half for a Bible, and bought Uncle Tom too. I
can not do less than recommend all my friends who may visit the cave, to
try and secure Alfred for a guide.
“Leaving the vestibule and passing the Kentucky cliffs, so called from
their likeness to the cliffs in Kentucky river, we come to what is very
appropriately named the Church and Galleries. At various points upon the
route thus far, we have seen the leaching vats and other remains of the
saltpeter works that were erected in the cave nearly fifty years ago.
The manufacture of saltpeter was carried on quite extensively in the
cave for several years, and the guide says the saltpeter was
manufactured here with which the powder was made which was used in the
battle of New Orleans. There is a very plain cart-path through this part
of the cave, and we saw the tracks of oxen which were made forty-seven
years ago. The church is the point in the cave where the miners
assembled for worship. The rude pulpit or stand from which the preacher
addressed his congregation, still remains. But besides this there is a
natural pulpit and galleries which are easily ascended by steps in the
wall, from which sermons are now frequently preached to visitors, for
whom seats are provided. When illuminated, this church is more awfully
imposing and solemn, than any temple built by human hands. The cave is
more than one hundred feet wide, its massive rocky walls about fifteen
feet high, and stretching away in each direction until lost in the most
impenetrable darkness. For myself, I could not understand how any man
would consent to lift his puny voice where God speaks so impressively.
But there is a difference in tastes, and many, I doubt not, are
persuaded against their own will to gratify the strong desire of the
visitors to hear preaching in the cave. Going on from this point we pass
the Grand Arch, a natural arch sixty-six feet high, and about seventy
yards wide, and one hundred and fifty yards long; and some distance
beyond are shown the Giant’s Coffin. This is a huge rock, so formed that
the top of it is a fine representation of a coffin. The shape is almost
precisely that of a modern metallic coffin. This rock lies exactly east
and west, by the compass, and is fifty-seven and a half feet long.
“Here we left the broad main cave in which we had thus far been
traveling, and which stretched on indefinitely before us, and turned off
into a narrow, circuitous, irregular avenue, and wandered indefinitely.
Clambering over rocks, going down precipitous steeps, passing a great
variety of rooms, lofty domes, intricate labyrinths, pits from
seventy-five to one hundred and seventy-five feet deep, and a great many
other points, all appropriately and often very significantly named, we
at length came to Gorin’s Dome, so called from the name of its
discoverer, by far the most imposing I had yet seen. Coming to the end
of a narrow avenue, the guide directed me to look through an opening in
the wall, a kind of window, and our lamps revealed hights above and
depths below, that seemed interminable! He then kindled one of the
lights that I have already described, and placing it upon a board,
thrust it through the opening and told me to look, first below and then
above. The view was utterly indescribable and almost overpowering. The
opening was not more than thirty feet in circumference, and I have
already forgotten the hight and depth as given me by the guide. But I
felt for hours and still feel the tremblings of those emotions that
thrilled through my whole frame as I peered into those abysmal depths,
and looked up into those giddy hights. None but Jehovah could build such
a dome.
“I can not undertake to give the details of our route from avenue to
avenue, nor mention the various points of interest that we passed. We
were at length in a vast open space; the guide took our lamps, and going
a short distance from us, told us to look up, and we at once discovered
that we were in the far-famed Star Chamber. The cave here is some twenty
or thirty yards wide, and about sixty or seventy feet high, and in a dim
light the arch above presents the appearance of the sky in a very starry
night. On looking up you see innumerable stars, and as you gaze for a
long time the sky seems to be very distant, the stars increase in
number, and it seems quite as if you were really looking through an
opening in the cave into the heavens. Our guide Alfred was with
Professor Silliman when he examined this arch by the aid of a Drummond
light, to discover the cause of this appearance, and found that it was
crystals embedded in the wall. After we had satisfied ourselves with
viewing this artificial sky, Alfred took all our lamps and going into a
cave below us, by the shadows from his lamps gave us a representation of
clouds passing over the sky, obscuring the stars, thunder-clouds rolling
over and the stars appearing again, and other interesting illusions.
After this he went still deeper in the cave below us, leaving us in the
most pitchy darkness. We were so deep in the bowels of the earth that
the loudest thunder has never been heard there, and the silence and
darkness were awfully impressive. Suddenly we saw in the direction in
which our guide had disappeared, a light like the rising of the moon,
which grew larger and larger, until Alfred emerged through some opening
from the regions below, and appeared in the distance in the same cave in
which we were standing.
“After leaving this chamber, which was more beautiful than any we had
entered, we made our way to the Gothic Gallery. This avenue was unlike
anything we had yet seen. It is some four or five rods wide and
three-quarters of a mile long, the path over which we walked being much
more level than the most of those we had walked over, and much of the
wall over our heads looking almost as smooth as if it had been
plastered. In this avenue we visited the Haunted Chamber, so called from
the fact that two mummies were discovered here many years ago; Vulcan’s
Forge, so called from being very dark, and a formation resembling
cinders; and near its end the Gothic Gallery. This room has a great
variety of stalactite and stalagmite formations, many of which have
formed solid massive pillars. As we approached the Chapel, our guide
made us all stay behind, while he went ahead, taking all our lamps with
him; and when we went forward at his call, we found each of our lamps
hung upon some one of these pillars, and illuminating a room, compared
with which Taylor’s saloon on Broadway, or the most gorgeous saloon New
York can boast, is simplicity itself. These formations are a wonderful
curiosity. They are of a very light color, are nearly as hard as
granite, and are said to be formed by the drippings of lime water. They
are in a great variety of shapes, to which a great many fanciful names
have been given, such as the Pulpit, the Devil’s Arm-Chair, the Pillars
of Hercules, &c.
“I had intended in this letter to speak of the chief points of interest
in what is called the short route through the cave; that is, the portion
of the cave that is visited without crossing either of the rivers. I
made two visits on this side of the rivers, the first time traveling
about six miles, and the second time traveling ten miles and a half. But
I am the more willing to pass by the Bandit’s Hall, Mammoth Dome,
Persico Avenue, Crockett’s Dome, Snowball Arch, Bunyan’s Way, and other
places of special interest, with a mere mention of their names, from the
fact that it is so entirely impossible to describe them. Some of these
are but rarely visited, and it costs no little effort to reach them. But
however narrow the fissures in the rocks through which we squeezed,
however steep and slippery the ascent, however long the distance we had
to crawl on our hands and knees, we were always more than paid for our
pains.
“Omitting, then, any detailed account of what is called the short route,
I pass to a notice of the long route, to which most of our time was
given. In taking this we entered the cave as before, passed through the
great vestibule, and on for a mile or two through the main branch, over
the same route we had already traveled. It seems impossible to realize
that this is a cave, it is so high, so wide, so vast. Several of our
company remarked this fact. We seemed rather to be in some deep, dark
ravine or mountain gorge, wandering by the light of our dim lamps, in
some night that was utterly rayless and starless. We at length reached
the Bottomless Pit, where we entered upon a path that was new to us.
This pit is a deep, dark, fearful chasm, and received its name before
anything like bottom had been found. It has now been measured to the
depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet, and there may be fissures in
the rock descending indefinitely below. Near this pit, we passed over an
artificial bridge, and entered the Valley of Humility, through which we
made our way, stooping and crawling, until we reached what is the most
comical and laughable point in the cave, which is most appropriately
named the Winding Way, or Fat Man’s Misery. This is an exceedingly
circuitous opening in the rock, about eighteen inches wide, and between
three and four hundred feet long. At the entrance of this way, the
fissure through which we pass is not more than about two feet deep, and
the ceiling above us is so high that we could stand erect without
difficulty; but in advancing, the fissure becomes deeper, the rocks on
either hand are higher and higher, and the ceiling above becomes lower
and lower, and it seems to be, indeed, not only fat, but tall men’s
misery. It is a most laughable sight to see a party edging their way
through this zigzag path; a path that gives every indication of having
been washed and worn by the action of the water for innumerable years.
Our party was a decidedly lean one, so that we did not, like many
others, have the amusement of seeing some one of aldermanic proportions
squeeze and worry his way through. Finally, however, we got through, and
came into a large open space, which our guide called Great Relief, and a
_relief_ it was, sure enough. Passing on, we entered a large, roomy
avenue called River Hall, where we were shown the high-water mark in the
cave; where, in times of freshets, the river rises fifty-seven feet,
perpendicularly, above low-water mark in the cave. We turned aside from
this hall into a large room, to witness a great curiosity called the
Bacon Chamber. Here the formations overhead are such as to make the room
look remarkably like a large smoke-house filled with hams; and near by
we were shown a smooth circular excavation in the wall above us, which
was pointed out as the _kettle_ for boiling these hams, now turned
bottom upward. Returning to the Hall, we went forward, passing several
points of interest, until we came to a pure and beautiful body of water
called Lake Lethe, upon which we embarked in a small boat provided for
the purpose. We were now all on the look-out for the eyeless fish that
are found in the waters of the cave, and were so fortunate as to catch
in a small net, first, what was called a clawfish, having legs like a
lobster, but eyeless and apparently bloodless, being almost precisely
the color of potato sprouts that have grown in the spring in a dark
cellar. Afterward we caught a very small fish of the same color, and
having no eyes. Where the eyes should grow, the flesh was smooth and
just like the rest of the body. Whatever our doubts might have been
before, we here had ocular demonstration that the fish in these waters,
which are never illumined except by lamplight, are entirely without
sight.
“Leaving Lake Lethe, we entered a most grand and imposing avenue, with
lofty rocky walls towering about two hundred and fifty feet high, called
the Great Walk. This leads to the Echo River, one of the greatest of
these subterranean wonders. We sailed down this river a distance of
_three-quarters of a mile_, and such a sail! Where on the earth or under
the earth, could another such a sail be taken? The water was cold, clear
and pure, and in color remarkably like the Niagara, as it plunges over
the falls. At many places we could see the bottom, and in others it
seemed of very great depth. It flowed in placid stillness, unrippled by
a single breeze, between, above and beneath walls of massive and eternal
rock. Now the channel was deep, narrow and tortuous, and now it spread
out into a broad, pellucid stream. Now the massive ceiling above us was
high, and smooth, and beautifully arched; and now it was so rough,
broken and low, that we had to stoop as we sat in our boat, in order to
pass under it. We did not pass rapidly down this stream. None of us were
in a hurry. We seemed scarcely to belong to this driving, go-ahead
world. Now a shout echoed wildly and magnificently through the rocky
chambers; and now we sat entranced while one of our company, a splendid
musician, sang some beautiful song, never as beautiful as now, when it
echoed and reëchoed along these walls, and died away in the darkness
that our dim lamps could not penetrate. This river, too, is most
appropriately named. The echoes are most perfect and beautiful. We
experimented in a great variety of ways, singing alone and in concert,
shouting, whistling, clapping our hands, and finally, the whole company
sung Ortonville. But there was one thing more impressive than all these,
and that was silence! We sat in our boat as quietly as possible, no one
speaking or moving for some time; and the stillness and the darkness by
which we were surrounded, were solemn and awful beyond all description.
We were deep in the bowels of the earth, I know not how many feet below
its surface, but so low that no ray of light from the sun had ever
penetrated its depths, and no voice of loudest thunder had ever waked an
echo there. The silence was perfect, save the sound of breathing which
each one tried to suppress, and the throbbing of our hearts that
‘Still like muffled drums were beating,
Funeral marches to the grave.’
“God spoke in that stillness with a voice such as I had never heard
before. I had never before so realized how awfully impressive were
darkness and silence. I had entirely new ideas of the awful solitude of
that period when the ‘earth was without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep.’
“On getting beyond this river, we entered a region of avenues of
incredible if not of interminable length, which have been discovered
within the last twelve or fifteen years. One of the first of these is
called Silliman Avenue, in honor of Professor Silliman, who has made
very thorough explorations of the cave. This avenue is a mile and a half
long, about three rods wide, and has various interesting features which
I have not time to notice. At the termination of this avenue, the cave
widens into a large room, several rods wide, and some fifty or sixty
feet high, which is called Ole Bull’s concert-room, from the fact that
this musician gave a free concert there to the visitors who were at the
cave at the time of his visit.
“Beyond this room, we entered an avenue two miles long, called the Pass
of El Gor. This is an exceedingly rocky and uneven avenue, leading, by a
most circuitous path up and down great piles of rock, along a most
rugged and desolate way, near deep holes and fissures in the rocks,
until at length we come to a fine sulphur spring called Hebe’s Spring,
which we found very refreshing. Here, through a narrow opening in the
rocks, we climb a ladder eighteen feet high, and find a scene that
abundantly compensates for the rough walk we have taken to reach it. On
reaching the top of this ladder, we find ourselves in Martha’s Vineyard.
Here is a vast room, the sides of which are covered over with a
formation resembling grapes. They hang on the wall above, plump, round
and perfect in form, and in the greatest profusion. They are so solid
and hard that it is difficult to break off any of the clusters, and are
said to be formed by the drippings of the water through the rocks. Near
the head of the ladder there is a fine representation of a vine, of
solid rock, running along the wall; and apparently connected with this
vine, there are seemingly cart-loads of these rocky grapes. Our guide
illumined the vineyard with one of his Bengal lights, and the view was
magnificent.
“Going on from this point through Elindo’s Avenue and Washington’s Hall,
we reached another of the remarkable rooms of the cave, called the
Snowball Room. The cave is here about a hundred feet wide, ten or
fifteen feet high, and the ceiling quite even and beautifully arched.
Nature has here played most fantastic tricks. I know of no way so good
to describe this room, as to say that its walls and ceiling overhead
look like the end of some building that a score of school-boys have
completely covered over with snowballs. We examined these formations for
some time with our lamps, and then Alfred gave us the benefit of an
illumination. But of its appearance when thus lighted up, I will attempt
no description.
“We were now about seven miles from the mouth of the cave; and with
appetites sharpened by our long walk, we sat down to the dinner which
our host had sent along for us. It was a magnificent dining-saloon in
which we were seated. Taylor’s saloon on Broadway is splendid, and has
dazzled and bewildered multitudes, when they first entered it; but
neither Taylor, nor prince, nor potentate, ever built a room so gorgeous
as that in which we were seated. None but the God who built the skies,
and bent and decorated the arch above us, could build another comparable
to it.
“The Snowball Room is at the entrance of an avenue more extensive and
beautiful than any other in the cave. This is called Cleveland’s
Cabinet, and is altogether indescribable. It is about five rods wide and
two miles long! Think of its dimensions a moment! About as long as
Broadway from the Battery to Union Square, and with walls, not of brick,
granite and marble, shaped and graven by art and man’s device, but with
walls and ceiling above covered all over with the exquisite and
beautiful workmanship of its divine builder.
“We passed slowly through this cabinet, two miles long, the guide
conducting us from point to point of remarkable interest, and all the
way along showing us new and strange developments. We went to Mary’s
Bower, Virginia’s Festoons, Saint Cecelia’s Grotto, Flora’s Garden,
where were roses and lilies, rosettes and wreaths, as perfect as though
they had been chiseled there by the most accomplished sculptor. The
formation on the wall in which these various flowers and other beautiful
things are developed, is gypsum of the most snowy whiteness; and our
guide said it was in three separate layers, and that the forming process
was constantly going on, the inner layers crowding off the outer. The
floor was covered with tuns of these layers, which had been crowded off,
and which visitors are at liberty to carry off as specimens, while they
are strictly prohibited from breaking anything from the walls. But still
it is with the utmost difficulty that the guides can preserve some of
the most beautiful views in the cave from the destruction of vandal
visitors. This part of the cave is less beautiful than formerly, having
become a good deal smoked by the lamps of the thousands of visitors who
have examined it. But our guide took us into an avenue immediately under
this, which is but rarely visited, and conducted us to a most enchanting
spot called Egeria’s Grotto. Here the formations were as pure, and
beautiful and white, as if fresh from the hand of their Maker. Here were
formations, not only of the purest white, but of other most exquisite
coloring. We remained a long time in this grotto, examining its various
wonders, and deemed ourselves very fortunate in seeing it, as from this
we could better understand how Cleveland’s Cabinet above us appeared
during the long ages that intervened before it was polluted by the
presence of man. Another beautiful grotto was perfectly brilliant and
gorgeous, and looked as though its rough walls were a solid mass of
diamonds. The most gorgeous and brilliant room ever built in the palace
of an earthly monarch, is tameness itself compared with this diamond
grotto.
“Emerging again into Cleveland’s Cabinet, we passed on to its
termination, where we ascended the Rocky Mountains, a vast pile of
loose, broken rocks, one hundred and sixty feet high, which have
apparently dropped down from the cave above, leaving a vast vaulted
opening in the cave above, to indicate the place from which they have
fallen. Beyond these mountains, the cave branches in three directions.
We took the branch leading to Croghan’s Hall, the remotest point in the
cave that has yet been visited, and _nine miles from its mouth_. On the
right of this room there is a deep, awful pit, into which we threw
stones, as we had into many others, and heard them roll and bound from
rock to rock, down a distance of one hundred and eighty-five feet. The
water from some point below us runs over these rocks, and flows off, no
mortal knows where. This hall contains large, massive pillars,
elaborately carved and ornamented by the Invisible Architect,
stalactites and stalagmites of various beautiful forms, and its walls
are festooned with that rich drapery which no art can imitate, and which
only decks the grottos, bowers and halls of this wonderful cave.
“After refreshing ourselves here from a pleasant spring, we started on
our nine-mile tramp for the mouth of the cave, taking only a hurried
glance of the varied objects of interest as we passed them. We, however,
sailed very leisurely down Echo River, or the Jordan, as it is also
called. We again had solos and choruses, and drank in rich delights from
this enchanting sail. When we reached Lethe, some of our party
determined to send their clothes across in our boat and swim over. They
accordingly plunged in very boldly, but hurried out in the quickest time
possible; and the chattering of teeth, shivering, leaping and running to
get warm again, seemed more befitting a bath in February, than in one of
the hottest days in August.
“I had now made four different visits to the cave, traveling, according
to the reckoning of my guide, about fifty-four miles. Very few visitors
explore it as thoroughly, and yet I had not gone over one-third of the
space that has already been explored. The guide says that two hundred
and fifty different avenues are already known, measuring the distance of
one hundred and sixty-five miles. The temperature of the cave is
uniformly about fifty-five degrees, and its bracing, invigorating
character may be judged from the fact that ladies, some of them quite
delicate, are constantly taking this ‘long route,’ traveling a greater
number of miles than most men would think of going on foot above ground.
“We felt but little fatigue from our rough, clambering walk of some
twenty miles, until we emerged from the cave, and came in contact with
outer air. After breathing the air of the cave from eight A. M. till
five P. M., the atmosphere seemed very impure. We could smell every
tree, and plant, and old log; and the air was so sultry and sickening,
that we had to rest awhile at the mouth before starting for the hotel,
some fifty rods distant.
“I have thus attempted to redeem my promise in regard to writing you
from the cave. I had no thought of writing at so great length. If the
cave were possessed of mind and sensibility, I would take off my hat to
it, and feelingly ask its pardon for the great injustice I have done it
in these letters. But as it is, I will only say that I have over and
over again assented to the truthfulness and justice of my guide Alfred’s
idea of all descriptions of the cave: ‘Writin don’t do no good. If
anybody wants to know how the cave looks, they must come and see it.’
And I can not conceive of any journey for this purpose so long and
toilsome, that those making it would not be abundantly compensated for
their pains, by a view of this wonderful work of a wonder-working God.”
Still another visitor, writing to a friend in Europe, says of this
wonderful cave, “I had heard and read descriptions of it, long since;
but the half, the quarter, was not told. Its vastness, its lofty arches,
its immense reach into the bosom of the solid earth, fill me with
astonishment. It is, like Mont Blanc, Chimborazo, and the falls of
Niagara, one of God’s mightiest works. Shall I compare it with anything
of a similar description, which you have seen on the other side of the
Atlantic? with the grotto of Neptune, or that of the Sibyl, at Tivoli,
or with any of Virgil’s poetic Italian machinery? No comparison can be
instituted. I speak, as you are aware, from personal knowledge. You,
seated on the opposite bank of the Arno, have seen me clamber up, from
the noisy waters below, to the entrance of the far-famed grotto of
Neptune, which I leisurely explored. In point of capaciousness, that
grotto has little more to boast of than the cellar of a large hotel,
and, like that, was, as I think, excavated by human hands. That of the
Tiburtine Sibyl is still more limited in its dimensions. Indeed, every
cavern which I have ever seen, if placed along side of this, would
dwindle into insignificance.”
The same writer says, “I can not refrain from giving you an account of
an incident that happened in this cave last spring. A wedding party went
to the cave to spend the honeymoon. While there, they went to visit
those beautiful portions of the cave which lie beyond the river
‘Jordan.’ In order to do this, a person has to sail down the river
nearly a mile before reaching the avenue which leads off from the river
on the opposite side, for there is no shore, or landing-place, between
the point above on this side, where you come to the river, and that
below on the other; for the river fills the whole width of one avenue of
the cave, and is several feet deep where the side walls descend into the
water. This party had descended the river, visited the cave beyond, and
had again embarked on the water for their return homeward. After they
had ascended the river about half-way, some of the party, who were in a
high glee, got into a romp and overturned the boat. Their lights were
all extinguished, their matches wet, the boat filled with water and sunk
immediately; and _there they were_, in ‘the blackness of darkness,’ up
to their chins in water. No doubt, they would all have been lost, had it
not been for the guide’s great presence of mind. He charged them to
remain perfectly still; for, if they moved a single step, they might get
out of their depth in water; and swimming would not avail them, for they
could not see where to swim to. He knew that, if they could bear the
coldness of the water any length of time, they would be safe; for
another guide would be sent from the cave house, to see what had become
of them. And in this perilous condition, up to their mouths in water, in
the midst of darkness ‘more than night,’ _four miles under ground_, they
remained for upward of five hours; at the end of which time, another
guide came to their relief. Matthew, or Mat, the guide who rescued them,
told me that, when he got to where they were, his fellow-guide, Stephen,
(the Columbus of the cave,) was swimming around the rest of the party,
cheering them, and directing his movements, while swimming, by the sound
of their voices, which were raised, one and all, in prayer and
supplication for deliverance!”
In conclusion it may be interesting to state, that Colonel Croghan, to
whose family the Mammoth cave belongs, was a resident of Louisville,
Kentucky. He went to Europe some twenty years ago, and found himself
frequently questioned of the wonders of the Mammoth cave, a place he had
never visited, and of which he had heard but little at home, though
living within ninety miles of it. He went there on his return, and the
idea struck him to purchase it, and make it a family inheritance. In
fifteen minutes’ bargaining he bought it for ten thousand dollars, and
shortly after he was offered one hundred thousand dollars for his
purchase. In his will he tied it up in such a way that it must remain in
his family for two generations, thus appending its celebrity to his
name. There are nineteen hundred acres in the estate, though the cave
probably runs under the property of a great number of other land owners.
For fear of those who might dig down and establish an entrance to the
cave on their own property, (a man’s farm extending up to the zenith and
down to the nadir,) great vigilance is exercised to prevent such
subterranean surveys and measurements as would enable one to sink a
shaft with any certainty. The cave extends ten or twelve miles in
several directions, and there is probably many a back-woodsman sitting
in his hut within ten miles of the cave, quite unconscious that the most
fashionable ladies and gentlemen of Europe and America are walking
without leave under his potatoes and corn.