Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills by Luella Agnes Owen
page 131 of 173 (75%)
page 131 of 173 (75%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
short description of the other cave, which he kindly did, and it is here
given. He says: "In trailing a deer I came across a hole on top of a long divide. On throwing a rock down the opening, I could hear it rattling against the walls until the sounds gradually died away, but there seemed to be no bottom to the hole, and I resolved to come again prepared and make explorations. After the snow had gone my twelve-year-old son, Ray, and I, mounted on our trusty horses, Bonnie and Dee, equipped with ropes, candles, hammers and a pocketful of matches, set out to explore the new cave. It was a beautiful, bright spring morning, and after an hour's hard climbing over fallen timber and rocks, we reached the summit of the mountain. A search of half an hour revealed the opening which was barely large enough to allow me to pass through. "Fastening our ropes securely to a stout log rolled across the chasm, we began to pay it out, and although we did not feel it touch bottom, I started down to explore, the length of the rope at least. As I descended I found the opening gradually widened out to eight or ten feet, a sort of inverted funnel-shaped hole with irregular wall but smooth and affording little footing. As I neared the bottom I saw the end of the rope was within four feet of it, so I landed on terra firma and called to Ray, 'All right, come down!' "Lighting our candles we found ourselves standing on a mound of pure onyx, and on looking around could see we were in an immense cavern, whose walls sparkled and glittered as if studded with diamonds. Going down twenty feet we found a smooth-floored room that measured three hundred feet in length, twenty five feet in width, and thirty feet in height. The walls were solid white onyx lined or banded with pink and |
|