MARBLE CAVE CONTINUED.
On account of the long "crawl" through mud and cold water, it was at
first suggested and then strongly advised, that we should not undertake
to make the trip to Blondy's Throne: and yearning to see what is
considered the cave's chief beauty was not easy to overcome, but after
careful attention to the deep mire of the approach the advice seemed
good, especially as Mr. Powell kindly promised to write a description of
its trials and treasures; which he promptly did, thereby making it
possible for us to continue the journey now without a disappointing
interruption, so we will proceed to wade that mud bank with him in his
own way. He says: "As Mecca is to the Mohammedan, so is Blondy's Throne
Room to the pilgrim who invades the chaos and penetrates the mysteries
of Marble Cave. When the subject is mentioned to the guide, he shrugs
his shoulders and assumes an imploring look, and begins at once to
mention the difficulties of getting there. But if you insist upon it he
will go. The passage by which this room has to be reached, if passage it
may be called, must be entered from the Waterfall Room, and a steep
ascent must be made until an elevation of fifty feet is reached above
the bottom of that room. This ascent has been called Hughse's Slide, as
a man of that name once lost his footing at the top and slid on the wet
and very slippery clay all the way to the bottom, leaving a very sleek
trail. The ascent is difficult, as the soft clay is deep and wet and the
sides are reeking and covered also with soft yielding clay. When the top
of the slide is once reached, a low passage six feet wide and two feet
high is discovered, and stooping low, or actually lying flat down, you
enter. The top of the passage is of smooth rock and the bottom is of wet
clay with an occasional variation of sharp gravel. The air is good, and
as a lizard, you start forward. In places the passage widens to ten or
twelve feet and again narrows to six feet.
"In about one hundred feet you encounter a small pond of water filling
the whole width of the passage and extending twenty to thirty feet, but
the guide tells you it is only one foot deep, and calls attention to the
fact that the water does not come within a foot of the roof of the
passage and you can easily keep your chin above it, and with this
assurance through you go.
"Within the next one hundred feet you encounter and pass in the same
manner three more ponds of varying sizes. The guide calls your
attention to the fact that you are not alone, and looking about you by
the dim light of your candle you see numbers of small eyeless
salamanders, from four inches to one foot long. They are peaceable and
harmless, appear to have no teeth and are easily caught, if you so
desire.
"Another hundred feet and the Rest Room, or Egyptian Temple is reached,
and rising to your feet you may rest. The room is small, but contains
beautifully fluted walls, resembling basaltic columns; and natural marks
of erosion that resemble hieroglyphic inscriptions. From the other side
of this room the passage goes on with the same characteristics, but as
you enter to go forward a sound strikes the ear, and you pause to
listen. It is a confusion of sounds, a babel of voices; and sounds like
a distant conversation carried on by a large number of people. So
striking is this resemblance that you instantly ask the guide if there
are people in the room ahead, and hardly believe him when he says, 'No.'
"You hear voices of men, voices of boys, babies, girls and ladies, and
occasionally loud laughter; but forward is the word and on you go,
encouraged by the assurance of the guide that you are now over half way
through the passage and that the sounds came from Blondy's Throne Room.
Suddenly the passage divides into two much alike, and taking the right
hand one, you make your slow advance until at last, with clothes soaked
and covered with clay mud, and your strength about gone, you begin to
feel desperate and tell the guide that you will go no further, when you
see him rise to his feet, and he says: 'Here we are.' You step over a
steep bank of clay and emerge into a large room. It is almost square in
shape; about eighty feet long and sixty feet wide, and about fifty feet
high, with white, smooth walls and a pure white ceiling, and sloping
gradually downward on the left ends in a small, clear lake of water.
This lake has a beautiful beach of white pebbles, and though shallow on
the edge seems quite deep at the center; in fact it is believed to have
there a concealed opening that gives exit to its waters. On the opposite
side from you, a stream of clear water pours into the lake, and in doing
so it gives off the sounds that in the passage you mistook for human
voices; and this noble stream has been named Mystic River. It enters the
lake from under a beautiful natural arch, about thirty feet across at
the bottom, and six feet above the water at the center. The bed of the
stream is eroded from strata of sandstone that is extremely hard,
containing corundum, and so perfect is its continuity that it conveys
sound distinctly for a distance far beyond the reach of the human voice,
when tapped upon with a hammer. The top of the arch is studded with
lovely stalactites, clear as glass, that extend to the outer edge of the
arch and form massive and beautiful groups there. Above the arch is a
large opening. In truth the side of the room is out, and a great dark
space appears like a curtain of black. A natural path leads up over one
side of the arch, and following the lead of the guide you go up above
and learn that a room on the higher level extends off in that direction
and gets larger and higher. The walls are stalagmitic columns in cream
color and decked in places with blood-red spots or blotches of Titanic
size. The ceiling you cannot see. It is too high for the lights you have
to reach. On the left you are suddenly confronted by a stalagmitic
formation so large and so grand that all others are dwarfed into
insignificance. You think of the dome of the Capitol at Washington. You
are standing at the sloping base but cannot see the top. Just here the
guide announces in an awestruck voice 'Blondy's Throne.' And who is
Blondy? Only a fair-haired, blue-eyed, intrepid and daring
fifteen-year-old boy, named Charles Smallwood, who assisted the writer
in exploring the cave in the early days of 1883, and going on in
advance, reported back that he had found another and a greater throne
than the Great White Throne in the Auditorium.
[Illustration: Blondy's Throne. Page 47.]
"Well, here we are at Blondy's Throne at last, and surveying the base,
we find that it is actually only half in the room we are in; the other
half forms the side of another room. In a word, the Great Throne divides
the room into two parts and makes two rooms of it instead of one. Yet
the one half of the base has a measurement, by tape line, of one hundred
and fifty feet. The guide now makes preparations to ascend the Throne. A
chain has been fastened up towards the top, and by taking hold of this
the climb can be made up the sloping sides of the Throne. We pass on and
up over the clearest and most ice-like formation, resembling the great
icebergs seen at sea. Reaching an elevation of sixty feet an opening
into the dome is found, and stooping, you enter. It is a room about
twenty feet across, with a white ice-like floor, a roof or ceiling ten
feet above, and from it hang thousands of brilliant stalactites and from
the floor stalagmites rise up to meet them. They are in all sizes, from
an inch to two feet across. The sides are of the same material joined
and cemented lightly together. Strike any of them and clear musical
notes are given off; a musician has found two full octaves. Water is
dripping in many places, and in the center of the floor is a tank full
of clear water. It is four feet wide, twelve feet long and of unknown
depth.
"On the opposite side of the room from which you enter there is a hole
or opening in the wall. It is large enough to go through but it goes
into the great dark room on the other side of the Throne. An abyss
confronts you, a sheer precipice which descends for many feet, perhaps
hundreds. No man knows. This outer room of Blondy's Throne has been
named the Chamber of the Fairies. Leaving it and continuing the ascent,
the top of the Throne is soon reached and is about twenty feet across;
and from several points still higher, rise stalagmitic spires.
"The actual height of Blondy's Throne is not known, but is probably
about one hundred feet. Again look upwards for the ceiling from the
dizzy height on top of the Throne; you cannot see it. Burn magnesium
ribbon and look up, and you see a white ceiling spangled with groups of
stalactites. It is surely one hundred feet away. Then look off into the
unknown room which is called the Great Beyond. No human being has ever
explored or even entered it, but fire balls thrown in reveal the fact
that it is of great extent; and part of the bottom water and part land.
No way of getting into it has ever yet been found, so its mysteries,
lessons and revelations are still safe from human intrusion. How far it
goes, where it stops, and what it leads to, are facts for some future
explorer to discover. Bats and white salamanders are found in Blondy's
Throne Room, and some larger animals have been heard to jump into the
water and escape on the approach of man, but their species is not known.
"The arched passage of Mystic River has been followed up for a journey
of an hour, but further than that its extent is unknown. It was hoped
that a way would be thus found into the Great Beyond, but it did not
prove successful. A well equipped party could find there a chance for
some grand discoveries, and it would be one of the notable pleasures of
the life of the writer to be one of such a party.
"The exit from Blondy's Throne Room is always made with deep regret that
the waning lights and meager supplies will not allow a longer stay. The
long crawl, the mud and the water are all forgotten, and notwithstanding
the terror of the trip one feels well repaid."
We thank Mr. Powell for a charming journey without its discomfort and
danger, and resume our travels at the Waterfall.
From the foot of the Waterfall we returned again to the Auditorium, in
time to enjoy a sight such as we supposed could exist only in a
brilliant imagination; and the return at that hour was not a lucky
accident of fate, but the result of careful attention to a prearranged
design that we should not fail to witness a marvelous display never
surpassed by lavish Nature. The day outside was one of cloudless
summer sunshine.
[Illustration: Blondy's Throne Room. Page 50.]
[Illustration: Foot of Waterfall. Page 50.]
Our eyes having grown accustomed to the dim light of candles in passages
where absolute darkness, unrelieved by the stars of midnight, always
reigns, the great Auditorium appeared before us softly flooded with
daylight diffused from a broad white beam slanting down in long straight
lines from the entrance as from a rift in heavy clouds; only this rift
displayed around its edges a brilliant border of vegetation that the
rough rocks cherish with tender care.
As we stood lost in almost speechless admiration, and without the
slightest warning of treasure yet in store, the white beam was stabbed
by a narrow, gleaming shaft of yellow sunlight. The glorious, radiant
beauty of the picture presented is utterly indescribable, but it was of
short duration, and in a few seconds the golden blade was withdrawn as
suddenly as it had appeared.
If the genius of Elkins had been granted the privilege we enjoyed, the
artist-world of Europe that graciously yielded the highest honor to his
"Sunbeam on Mount Shasta," would have knelt in rapturous humility.
Speaking of his great work, as we stood before it only a few months
before his death, Mr. Elkins said quietly: "It is no great achievement;
I simply painted it exactly as it looked. Anyone could do the same."
But no one ever has.
The white beam was more enduring and by its aid we were able to view the
expanse of the great Auditorium far better than could have been done in
the momentary glare of any brilliant artificial light. Every part of the
cloud-gray walls shows a stratification as regularly horizontal as if
the laying of each course had been done with the assistance of line and
level; while in every direction are now seen hundreds of stalactites
that had not been noticed before, and although they look small, the
average length, taken with the surveying instruments, is fourteen feet.
The Hill beneath the entrance is an accumulation of debris, drifted in
from the outside, and rising to a height of more than one hundred and
twenty-five feet; while the great circumference of its supporting base,
revealed by the banishment of shadows, suggests the possibility of
tragic history of which the only evidence lies buried there and may or
may not ever be discovered; but let us step lightly, since our feet may
press the covering that shields a final sleep; and also let a grieving
sister in her old age take comfort in the knowledge that here, as in few
other spots, nature provides a certain and gentle burial for the
unfortunate, and for a few seconds each day lights the dim chamber with
a heavenly glory--perhaps in appeal to the sons of one country to
harbor no such feelings as deprived Abel of life and for all time and
eternity tarnished the honor of Cain.
[Illustration: Entrance to Cave--Interior View. Page 52.]
The chilliness presently recalled us from further indulgence in that
great scene, to ordinary affairs; and consulting the reliable
thermometer, it was found to register 42°, while in some of the lower
passages the temperature is 58°; but the variation is not in accordance
with the accepted theory of one degree to the one hundred feet descent.
A return to the beautiful Spring of Youth Room was now a necessity, but
we were careful to allow no drop of water falling from clay-stained
hands to reach the purity of that lovely bowl, and then being happy and
hungry, we retired to the piano's protecting tent for refreshment.
The atmosphere in Marble Cave has the peculiar bracing and invigorating
quality common to the majority of caves, that seems almost to defy
fatigue and encourage exertion that under ordinary conditions would be
impossible.
After the exertion necessary in the warmer portions of the cave, the
temperature of 42° proved rather low for comfort and finally was
admitted to be a sufficient reason for either leaving the cave or
sending out for the wraps. Slowly and reluctantly the party walked up
the long winding path to the summit of the Hill where the stairway
finds support, stopping many times to admire again the perfect curves
and fine color-tones of that wonderful high arch--within a mountain yet
softly radiant with the light of day.
Still lingering regretfully among the fern-decked rocks before quite
finishing the ascent to the actual outside world, the mercury lost
little time in registering eighty degrees.
Since no official, or even approximately correct map of Marble Cave has
yet been published, and the desirability of maps is particularly urged
by Monsieur E.A. Martel, a special effort was made to secure one, which
was accompanied by the following remarks from Mr. Prince in regard to
its incompleteness:
"There are several passages and rooms which do not appear on the map,
though some of them are well known, but have not been surveyed and
platted.
"Much further exploration is possible in this great cavern. Lost River
Cañon ends abruptly in a bank of red clay, the volume of water being
undiminished. The water from the Great Fall flows by a small serpentine
into a passage which has never been followed up; its entrance being
several hundred feet higher than the nearest water level."
Unfortunately the quantity of water in the cave at the time of the
visit just described was so unusually great as to render the Lost River
Cañon trip impossible.
During the previous season the cave and its surroundings were visited by
a prominent naturalist who appears to have been delightfully liberal in
the diffusion of scientific knowledge and the explanations of methods of
pursuing investigations. His practical instruction in snake catching is
particularly interesting as it was never before introduced into this
state, where the copperhead and rattler are known to have survived among
the fittest. Seeing a snake hole and desiring information as to the
family record of the proprietor, he inserted a finger, and while waiting
for results explained that there is no better way to secure a specimen,
as the enraged reptile will fasten its fangs into the intruding member
and then can be easily withdrawn. It is a pleasure to state that even
snakes recognize the claims of friendship, and no injury was
experienced.[2]
In the vicinity of Marble Cave there are several choice varieties of
onyx and marble, among them a rare and beautiful onyx in black and
yellow. The coloring, tinting and banding of onyx seem generally to be
regarded as one of the unexplainable mysteries of nature, but is in
reality an extremely simple process that can be easily studied in any
active cave.
When the percolating acidulated water passes slowly through a pure
limestone it is filtered of impurities and deposits a crystal, either
pure white or transparent; if it comes in contact with metallic bodies
of any kind, it carries away more or less in solution to act as coloring
matter; the beautiful pale green onyx in several Missouri counties
taking its tint from the copper; in South Dakota, manganese in various
combinations produces black and many shades of brown; in both states an
excessive flow of water often carries a quantity of red or yellow clay
which temporarily destroys the beauty of exposed surfaces, but in after
years becomes a fine band of brilliant color.
Small wind caves are numerous in the Ozarks and being cold are
frequently utilized for the preservation of domestic supplies. The
entrance to one in the neighborhood of Marble Cave is high up on the
hill-side south of Mr. Powell's house and being visible from the porch
was too tempting to be ignored, and the walk up to it for a better view
was rewarded with a most charming bit of scenery as well. All the quiet
valley, divided by a rushing little stream, lay before us in the shadow
of early evening, while to the north and east the hills were brilliant
in summer sunshine, with one small open glade gleaming vividly among
the darker shades of forest green.
The cave was a very small room at the bottom of a steep, rocky, sloping
passage, and contained no standing water, although there had been a
heavy rainfall the night before and the opening is so situated as to
especially favor the inflow, which naturally indicates a greater cave
beneath a hidden passage. Here, as in most of the caves of the region,
is found a small lizard: it is totally blind but its ancestors evidently
were not, as is shown by conspicuous protuberances where the eyes should
be, but over which the skin is drawn without a wrinkle or seam to
indicate a former opening. These harmless creatures are not scaly, but
are clothed in a soft, shining, well-fitted skin, and the largest seen
were little more than six inches long.
Those who love perfect Nature in a most smiling mood should hasten to
visit Marble Cave while yet no railroad quite touches the county.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] The naturalist referred to is the late Prof. E.D. Cope.