Litchfield enquirer., 1868-10-15
Correspondence of the Winsted Herald,l
 THE SALISBURY CAVE.

FRIEND VA111:-The account of this cave given by MT. s. c. Beckley in the columns of the Herald two weeks since, with some further particulars given by him on the Fair grounds at Falls Village, awakened great curiosity about here and a party of gentlemen made an appointment with MT. Beckley, to meet him at the mouth of the cave on Friday, the 11th inst, for the purpose of making further ex- ploratlons. In accordance with this ap- continent about dozen gentlemen, array ed ln the habiiments of ore diggers, reach ed the spot on the day named. As Mr. 6eckley did not make his appearance ow- ing to the state of the weather, they deter mined to proceed without him.
 The cave is situated on the sotuherly edge of the farm of r. Miles, Esq., some twenty-five or thirty rods from the road running between the lakes, and nearly half Q mile from the lake. The entrance is at the bottom of Q singular sink hole, of which there arc several in this vicinity. This sink is shaped like an inverted cone, is per haps 50 feet across, and 20 feet deep. At the bottom of the sink on the north side IS a rough hole in the rocks, not by any means inviting Ill appearance,-large enough for
 
 entrance it takes turn to the, right, and de- scends at an angle of 45 Q, some 10 or 12 feet farther. This aperture is quite small, must be descended head first and is tight squeeze at that.
 Hero occurred our first difficulty, as some of the party were too large for the hole. Albert Moore, K. w. Brink, and Mir. Finkle having to remain outside. Tho party who finally effected an entrance were J. B.. Spencer, J. N. Dexter, R. H. Ball, J. H.. Russell, c. H. Glens, T. F. Dexter, Walter Nlyer, Martin Harris, J. H. Pierce of Sal lsbury, and Henry Preston of Dover, N. Y. Fortunately we were joined, soon after our entrance, by W. A. Miles, son of the pro- prletor, and the discoverer of the cave.
 The first cave is yery irregular ill shape, IF or l5 feet high, and contains several beautiful stalactites. These are not pen dant from tho roof, but from shelves of rock on the sides. From this room there are several galleries or lateral Assures, lead ing into the rock, enlarged in two or throe places to spacious chambers; ono of these takes winding course through tho rock, and you descend by it to tho brook at the bottom of the cave, which at the time of our visit, although nearly dry, still contain ed water enough to make our progress un- comfortable. The route to the chambers below lies along the bed of this brook. The passage is from 10 to 20 feet wide though Tn the center rarely moro than feet in height, the rocks coming together at the sides. It IS simply a space between two strata of rocks washed out by the water. I cannot give any guess as to the length of this passage, l only know it took twenty minutes of hard travelling to get through it. The water had collected in the hollows of the rock, and these pools usually came in places where it was impossible to get around them, so we all got pretty thoroughly damp ened. At the end of this passage we came to the most beautiful chamber yet discover ed. It is nearly regular in shape, perhaps by 12 feet, the roof of which is 0 perfect dome,-in the centre of which is an open ing, 8 perfect elipse ill form, about feet long by 2 feet wide. Above this is 8 small chamber, the roof of which is white lime- stone rock; from the cliptical opening hangs fringe of stalactites connected to- gether and fluted like the folds of a curtain forming indeed curtain of the most ex- quisite pattern. They do not hang perpen- dicularly, but recede toward the sides of the chamber, forming the order of the dome. At the sides of the chamber are large portions of the same formation as the stalactites, in wavy masses of greenish cast and looking very much like ice, probably carbonate of lime; while from the shelving sides hang myriads of small stalactites no bigger than a pipe stem, transparent at the tip from which the water is continually dropping. Illuminated with dozen candles it cer- tainly was most magnificent spectacle and is entirely beyond my powers of des- cription.
 Near this apartment of Palace Beautiful are several other larger chambers connect ed by galleries One of theso is about f feet square and 50 feet or moro in length, and leads to the largest room yet discover ed, the entrance to which is Q steep incline up stairway of stalagmites. It contains many beautiful specimens of the same de- posit of carbonate of lime. This chamber was thought by many of our party to sur pass the dome in beauty.
 From near the dome the brook takes turn to the left, descending rapidly for some distance. The passage contracts so as to bar further progress except by crawl ing. We had reached the limit of previ- ous explorations and most of us declined going further.
 W. A. Miles our guide, T. F. Dexter and c. A' A AOAOCs oCoSCAuGA DtsoSitSC SOuiS 200 feet further, where they found cham Der so large that their candles did not give light enough to show either the top the bot tom or the opposite side of the chamber. The entrance was too marrow for them to get in. When they shouted into it, they could hear the sound reverberate for.some time, and apparently from great distance. There is no doubt but there is cavern , there, of great extent.
 In the vicinity of the dome chamber there are numerous galleries and passages, but few of which have been explored. In one of these there is thin broad shelving rock which, when beaten, emits a sound like a heavy drum and heard at the end of one of the long corridors, sounds like distant thunder.
 l have neither the space nor ability to describe the endless variety of the lime stone formations. They are all very beau tiful and must be seen to be appreciated. But we were wet and tired ,and chilly sensa- tions warned us to be moving Getting out was moro difficult than getting in. MT. Harris had tight squeeze near tho en- trance. He has the satisfaction of knowing that he is the largest man who can get ln and out again. We reached the surface safely, having been three hours under ground.
 Tho cave is certainly the greatest natural \