The floor is poured concrete, and the passage is well lighted. Just inside the mine is a small chamber with red vinyl benches, called the Poodle Parlor, where people can bring their ailing, blanket-wrapped dogs to take the cure. At the back of the mine is the section for humans. Orange, glowing space heaters hang from the ceiling to ward off the underground chill, which hovers at about 55 degrees. A half dozen other people, wrapped in sweaters and jackets, sit on green bus seats bolted to the floor, reading old magazines and suspense novels.
Claustrophobia strikes some who walk into the bowels of the Earth.
The Free Enterprise mine has solved that little problem. Gas isn't the only reason people travel to the Merry Widow. The water here has healing power, some say. The clear, cold liquid trickles from an underground spring through a red rubber garden hose and into a trough that runs along the cavern wall. An elderly woman, her head festooned with curlers, is toweling her gnarled feet after bathing them in a plastic pan.