The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1858-10-08
Terrific Adventure i'm the Mammoth Cave.


At the supposed end of what has al
ways been considered the longest avenue
of Mammoth Cave, ninc miles from ia en-
trance, there is pit, dark and deep and
terrible, known as the Maelstrom. Tens
Of thousand DIS have gazed into it with awe,
whilst bengal lights were thrown Gown to
make its fearful depths visible, but none
ever had the daring to explore it. The
celebrated guide Stephen, who was decm-
ed inScnsible to fear, was offered six huu-
drcd dollars by the proprietorS Of the cave
if he would descend to the bottom Of -, ,bHt
he shrank from the peril. y few year
ago, a Tennessee professor, lsarned and
bold man, resolved to do what no one be.
fore him had dared do, and making his
arrangements with great care and prccau
ton, he had himself lowered down by a
strong rope hundred feet, but at that
point his courage failed him, and ho called
aloud to be drawn out. No human power
could have induced him to rcpoat the ap.
palling experiment.
\ couple of weeks ago, however, a gen
tleman of Louisville whose nerves never
tren,ble at mortal danger, being at Nam-
moth Cave with Professor Wright of our
city aud others determined, no matter
what the damages and difficulties might
be, to explore the depths of the Maelstrom
MIR. Proctor, the entsrprising propric-
tor of the cave, sent to Nashville and
procured a long rope of great strength OK
pressly for the purpose. The rope and
some necessary timbers were borne by the
guides and others to the point of proposed
exploration The arrangements being
soon completed, the rope, with fragment
of a rock affixed to it, was let down and
swung TO and fro to dislodge any loose
rocks that would be likely to fall at the
touch. Several were thus dislodged, and
The long continued reverbation, rising up
like distant thunder from below, proclaim
ed the depth of the horrid chasm Then
the young hero of the occasion, with sew
eral hats drawn over his head to protect
it as far as possible against any masses
falling from above, and with light in his
hand and the rope fastened around HE
body, teok his place over the awful pit,
and directed the half dozen men, who held
the end of the rope, TO let him down into
the Cimmerian 2 Dom.
We have heard from his own lips an ac.
count of his descent. Occasionally masses
of earth and rock went whizzing past, but
none struck him. Thirty or forty feet
from the top, he saw ledge from which,
as he judged by appearances, two or three
avenues led off in different directions. -
About hundred feet from the top, cat.
aract from the side as the pit went rush.
ing dawn the abyss, and off he descended
by the side of the falling water and in the
midst of the splay, he felt some sppreheu-
sion that his light would be cxiinguiShed,
but his care prevented this. He was
landed at the bottom Of the pit, hun
dred and ninety feet from the top. lie
found it almost perfectly circular, about
eighteen fest in diameter, with a small
opening at Que point leading TO q fine
chamber Of no great extent. He found
on the floor beautiful specimens of black
silex Of immense size, vastly larger than
were ever discovered in any other part of
TIE Mammoth Cave, and also a multitude