Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-06-26
Discovery Of Cavern In the Palisades,
near New York.

THE Metrop0Zitdn Record has CORE
spondent who writes to that journal to
say:
am the discoverer Of an immense cav
ern in the Palisades of the Hudson, fully
one mile in length, and at least half a mile
wide, with vaulted roof, higher than that
of Trinity Church, supported by immune
rable pillars, which must have been erected
by the hand of man many centuries since,
and furnished with innumerable side re-
cesses, ante chambers and long winding
passages of the most wonderful construc-
| ton.
Ruins of what have evidently been affairs,
erected thousands of years ago, are album
| dant, together with the Wondering bones
of beings of enormous stature, as belong
| ing to race of giants that formerly inhab-
| tied the earth. The floors of this remarka-
BILE cavern are as smooth and hard as gran
lite though covered deep with the dust of
centuries. Here and there lower deep is
discernible through the all-pervading
gloom, with spacious stone steps leading
thereto. From these mysterious cavities
the sound of rushing waters fall upon the
ear, with other reverberations of a strange,
unearthly character. The cavern, it is
manifest, is not like the Kentucky cave, a
freak of nature, but as already conjectured,
the work of man in some early period of
the worlds history. Cabalistic signs cover
the bases of some of the pillars, while fig
ures bearing close resemblance to sphinx
es, deaths heads, and mummies, as if of
Egyptian design, adorn various portions of
the walls and roof 1t is certainly passing
strange that the existence of this remark
able subterranean palace (for it richly de-
serves the name) should have so long re-
manned profound mystery, lying as it
does close to the most populous city in
America. It's grassy roof even now, con-
stitutes the favorite playground Of thou
| sands of unsuspecting school children, as
well as the favorite resort of innumerable
picnic parties on summer afternoons. Its
mode of discovery by myself was as fol-
| lows: Wandering along the Palisade
| ridges one afternoon last summer, for re-
creation and study, I sat down to rest N.Y.
| self under the shadow of tree. Immedi-
ately afterward a couple Of rabbits darted
past me, and the endeavor to capture
them brought me to a small crevice in the
| hill, partially concealed by q clump of
| shrubbery. Into this crevice the animals
| darted, and roofing up the shrubbery in
order to dislodge them, judge of my sur
| prise on discovering an opening spacious
enough to admit of the entrance of a
mans body. A feeling of fear at first crept
over me, and [ looked around to see if
any person was near to help me examine
| the place. but not soul at the time was
| in calling distance; and so, after recover
ing my selfpossession a little, I resolved
to look in-not, however, without some
serious misgivings as to the possible pre-
| sence OF some huge anaconda that might
deprive me of my head. Gradually mus
tering courage, in | went, and to my sur
prise discovered that the farther I went
the wider grew the aperture. Ny cour-
age, however, had been severely tested,
and after making such observations
as the darkness and close atmosphere
would permit, CROPPED back to the light
of day and carefully closed up the en-
trance to the place, mentally resolving to
return next day to pursue my explorations.
| My first impulse was to communicate the
secret to some friend in whom l could
confide; but the reflection that the cave
might contain hidden treasure, which, in
that case, would have to be divided, per-
suaded me that it were best to keep the dis
covery private. The next day was stormy,
and | did not go, but, providing myself
with a dark lantern, ON the following
morning | renewed my research, with
what result, exciting my wonder and
amazement, you are already informed.
From that day to this my explorations
have been on an average once a week,
unless intermitted by i'll health. Every
| succeeding visit reveals something new,
and the marvels of to-day are quite thrown
into the shade by the yet more startling
discoveries which break on the eye and
ear tomorrow. A remarkable circum-
stance which have forgotten to note is,
that the atmosphere in the body of the
cavern is perfectly pure, though I have
not been able to discover any outlet or in
let for ventilation, apart from the orifce
through which I obtained ingress. My
theory is, that the rushing waters in the
sub cavern furnish the means of renewing
the atmosphere. There are small pools of
| salt water imbedded in the floor of the
cavern, but no fish inhabit them For that
matter, indeed, no signs of animal life are
visible. In all that dark, deserted man
sion, a death-like silence reigns, broken
only by the wall of the aforementioned
unseen waters in the recess beneath.
|