Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills by Luella Agnes Owen
page 36 of 173 (20%)
page 36 of 173 (20%)
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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, |
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