Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1858-10-02
Adventure in the Mammoth Cave

N~~~
The Louisville Joenmoz, of tht
18th inst, contains the following
thrilling narrative:
/ At the supposed end OF what has
always been considered the longes1
avenue Of the Mammoth Cave. nine
miles from its entrance, there is g
pit, dark, deep and terrible, known
as the Maelstron. Tens OF thous.
ands have.gazed into it with awe:
whilst Bengal lights were thrown
down it to make its fearful depths
visible, but none ever had The dar
ing to explore it. The celebrated
guide, Stephen, who was deemed
lnsenslble to fear, was offered 5000
by the proprietors Of the cave ifhe
would descend to The bottom Of II,
but he shranA from the peril. 4
few years ago Tennessee profess
or, learned and bold man. resoly
ed to do what no one before him
him had dared do, and, making his
arrangements with great care and
precaution, he had himself lowered
down by q strong rope q hundred
feet. but at that point his courage
failed him, and be called aloud to
be drawn out. No human power
could ever have induced him to re-
peat the experiment.
A couple of weeks ago, however,
a young gentleman Ct Louisville,
whose nerves never trembled at
mortal peril, being at the Nam
9th Cave with Professor Wright,
Of our city, and others, determined
no matter what the dangers and
difficulties might be, to explore the
d pths - Of the Maelstrom. Mr.
Proctor, the enterprising proprietor
OF the cave, sent to Nashville and
procured a long rope Of great
strength, expressly ortbe purpose.
The rope and some necessary tim
bers were borne by the guides and
others to the point OF proposed ex-
ploration. The arrangements being
soon completed, the rope with a
heavy fragment Of rock attached to
it, was let down and swung to and
fro to dislodge any loose rocks that
woulddae likely to fall at the touch.
Several were thus dislodged, and
the long-continued reverberations, |
rising up like thunder from below,
proclaimed the depth Of the horrid
chasm. Then the young her of
the occasion, with several hats
drawn over his head to protect it |
as far as possible against any mas |
ses falling from above, and with a
light in his hand and a rope around |
his body, took bis place over the
awful pit and directed the half.doz-
81 men who held the end Of the
rope to let him down into the CHM
merriam gloom: |
" E have heard from his own lips |
an account Of his descent. Occas-
onally masses Of earsh and rock
went whizing past, but none struck
1im. Thirty or, forty feet from the
;op he saw Q ledge, from which, as
le Judged BY appearances, two Or
;hree avenues led off III different
About hundred feet
rom the top cataract from the side
j the pit went rushin down the
.byss, and as be descended by the
'ide Of the falling water and in I'll 9
midst Of the spray, be felt some
apprehension that bis light would
'e extinguished, but his care pre-
rented this. He was landed atthe
bottom Of the pit, a hundred and
ninety feet from thetop. He found
t almost perfectly circular, about Is
Get in diameter, with s small open
ng at one point, leadlnu TO a tire
;hamber Of no great extent. He
ound on the floor beautiful speci-
mems Of black siiex OF immense
ize, vastly larger than were ever
discovered in any other part of the
Mammoth Gave, and also a multi
ude Of exquisite formations as pure
nd white as virgin anoW. Making
|imself heard, with great effort, by I;
lis friends, be atlengtu asked them
Q pull hip partly up, intending to /
top on the Way and explore q cave !
bat he had observed opening at