Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-03-06
A sUBTERRANEAN VOYAGE
The Story OF N West Virginia PlOyy-
mantle freaks Through the
Crust of the Earth-Falls into N
S,ibterranean RiVer-Six Miles I'm
kOrtY.Eighl Hours

| Sslbtefranean River-SiX Miles In
kOrty-Eight Hours.
From the Muskegan (Nich.) Enterprise.
| When we were publishing a paper il
Lewisburg, West Virginia, several year
ago, a very singular accident befell ;
young man there, which we narrated
briefly at the time. A few days ago w
CHANGED to meet him here in Muskegan,
and he narrated his adventure at our re.
quest. 1t occurred on the farm of Gen.
A. w. G.. Davis, in Greenbrier county, in
1856. We give his story in his OWE
words, as near as we can recollcct them
81 was blowing on Gen. Davis farm
in 1856, said he, ''unsuspiciOus of being
on insecure ground, when suddenly the
earth seemed to fall beneath me. | saw
the horses descending, but was too freight
ened TO let go the plow handles. The
| pitch of the horses with the earth gave
my fall an impetus, and somehow caught
the name of one of them in my fall, and
so held on instinctively. What thought
when falling can hardly tell. At any
rate, did some rapid thinking. When !
landed | fell on the horse whose name /
had hold of, and although the horse was
| instantly killed, | was merely stunned and
eJnfused- On recovering myself | looked
! up, and the hole through which had
fallen looked so small l concluded must
have fallen full $50 feet. Ny firstthOught
was to call for aid, but Instantly recalled
| the fact that was at least mile from
Gen. Davis house, and that there was not
the remotest probability that any one had
cor r,arr hocaar1f int ho
1t was then early morning, and as l
had brought out my dinner with me, no
one would miss me before nightfall.
While going over these facts in my own
mind, | heard the rush of water near at
hand, and it occurred to me that l must
have fallen upon the bed of Sinking
Creek, which, as you know, falls into the
earth above Frankfort, and does not come
out but once till it reaches the banks of
the Greenbrier river. To stay where
was, or to attempt TO follow the subter-
ranean passage, was the next question.
l sometimes took the team to my own
tenant stables, and therefore might not be
missed for days; so l determined to follow
the stream. Waded in it, and, judging
from its depth of from one to three feet,
| concluded it must be the identical Sink
ing Greek spoken of. Leaving my dead
companion behind me, l followed the
stream. For the most part l had pretty
easy work of it, but sometimes came to
deep place, where | was forced to swim
for a considerable distance; again was
often precipitated headlong into deep wa
ter by the precipitous nature of the rocky
bed of the stream.
Talk about the darkness of the grave
The grave itself could not have been
more impalpably dark than the passage l
was following. The occasional ripping
Of the water was an inexpressibly dear
sound to my cars. Day and night were
the same to me. At last, wearied with
my efforts, | laid down on compare
| lively dry rock to rest, and l must have
slept for an hour. When, awOke again
| took to the water, carefully ascertaining
which way it ran, so as not TO lose my
labor by rctracing my steps. 1t seemed
to me that the further | went the more
| difficult progress became. When had
gone perhaps-a mile, | came to place
where the archway narrowed so much
that | had to crawl on my hands and
| knees in the water.
Here was dilemma had not looked
| for. tried either bank Of the river, but
found no passage. / could swim under
water for considerable distance, but the
distance before me was unknown, and
halted long before making the dangerous
venture At last | concluded that my
fate was equally doubtful in returning as
in proceeding, and plunged boldly into
| the current, and soon found that it was SC
swift in its confined passage that l only
needed to hold my breath to go through.
In the course of twenty or thirty feet
| again got my head above water, and took
a long breathing spell. Again the arch
way above seemed to enlarge, and the
bed of the stream become more even.
Owed along comparatively rapidly, keeping
my hands Outstretchcd to prevent my run
ming against the large rocks. Wearied
out, again laid down and slept soundlJ
in my wet clothes.
On awakening, pursued my course
down the subterranean stream, and at las
in the long distance ahead, saw glimmel
that looked very bright in the darkness
was then shut in. Nearing this, l found
that 1t did not increase in brightness anC
when l had got perhaps a mile, | came t.
another place where my path narrowed t.
the very tunnel filled by water. My cas-
was now become more desperate. cOulC
not possibly retrace my steps, so l sub
mitted myself to the current, and wa
immeasurably overjoyed to find myself
rapidly syept into daylight. Exhausted
and half drowned, l crept out upon the
land, and was not long in recognizing thu
objects about me. had come out int
the Grcenbrier river, as knew from thu
familiar look of Gen. Davis mill on thu
bank. On reaching home found that
had been forty eight hours in making my
perilous journey of six miles under
ground" The hole where this man wen
through is now fenced round. On listen
ing one can plainly hear the rush OF waite
below. and a stone thrown down vii
sometimes be heardto splash in the stream