Litchfield enquirer., 1870-11-10


 the shoulder, every one of thA being per- feet in shape and size; the shhlders them
 selves and the waist giving ob the appear
 ance of very stont person; md the dress
 which hangs in folds very gracefully, is
 fiuted all around the bottom irregular lines.
 Directly beneath the centelOf the figure
 is another small pool of wat, which trick ] les off into some remote fare. This GU
 rious freak of nature was ira part of the
 cave very diffic llt of accesfand only three
 could be admitted at a timto the presence
 of the lady, who persistenf kept her back
 toward us. First we clibed slippery
 rock, some four or five feet, and then
 squeezing through n smtlhole slid down
 the other side, after Hch we inspected
 the curiosity, and retfned in the same
 manner. One of our Hty got wedged in,
 on the bridge of this nsrow opening, and
 for full five minutes cod stir neither way.
 While awaiting the rettn of each success
 i've party from this rSeption room, the
 others gathered togethepn the damp rocks,
 and pestered our guide D much the same
 Mir. Fergnsons" Bu his good nature stood it all, and amongi all the badgering T obtained consideHble information
 dOOub ku0 Chp0s 1t &UOub 6WO yOAl6 since it was discovered nd since then the explorations have confined from time to time but as yet the full Extent of 1t has not been found, though it hs been penetrated
 to distance of several niles, extnnding in part beneath Lake Wasknee. The discov- cry of the cave was mad by dog, who, in chasing coon, ran hisgame into hole. The young lad who wasput hunting, heard the echoing sound of tlb dogs deep bark ing, far inside, and crawling in himself, pursued the winding trackabo fifty feet. The rock is Of & limestone formation. and abounds in stalactites which hang like icicles from the roof. h many places could be seen the water pecolating through the rocks, and dropping rom the points of the pendant stalactitesnpon the conical shaped stalagmites beloy which though not so beautiful in shape were equally won : derful in the manner of tleir construction. The stalactite formation in a great many places was continuous, bdrg about 4 of an inch in thickness, anl hanging down some four or five inches extending along the roof for many feet in wavy lines, which, upon a candle being held behind them be- came transparent, revealing themselves in stripes of different colors, not quits as beautiful as the rainbow, but resembling the borders of handsome shawls, which, in deed is the only simile have as yet been able to compare them to. e.l
 After the ''sulky princes came the "candle factory" and this was one of the things in the whole cave Here the stalacitites hang in great quantities, having the appearance of inverted candles. Ian,, rha nnnroach to thonn is tie ,nsnna, of the serpent of which we read: "On thy belly shalt thou go all the days of thy life. . The guide worked his way up to them and holding his torch far in their midst, reveal. cd picture of surpassing loveliness. When we first entered the cave we were cautioned against defacing or approprIating anything therein, MT. Odenbreit saving that he would not for thousand dollaes have it said that one of his stalacitites had been taken out of the cave. But the beauty oi those in the ''candle factory proved too much for the honor of some of our party, and am compelled with pain to record that some of them were guilty of not only breaking the tenth commandment, but also of the eighth.
 The next place of interest to which our guide led us was pillar of carbonate ol lime, which had been formed by the grow ing together of stalactite and stalagmite. When struck gently by our torch handles il gave out a beautiful, clear, ringing sound. like the tolling of bell. The approach to this place like that of the others, is not SC difficult as it is unpleasant. Your cores pondent was literally showed through one opening while extended lengthwise upon the slippery rock. Not far from this place Is the largest room in this portion of the cave the floor is shelving and the rool not high enough to permit of our standing erect, and hardly enough space was found to hold us. By this time the closeness oi the air had become almost insrfferable, and as the dampness had penetrated our cloth ing we concluded We had '.got enough .o1 1t, and so beat retreat. for the outel world. Two of us Jagged behind. and com ing to side passage near the foot of the stairway thought we would explore a ittle for ourselves. We found good passage way leading gently downward for quite 2 distance. Then came 8 perpendicular des, cent of fifteen or twenty feet through 6 hole about the size of four barrels Down tdis we wriggled and twisted, holding our torches between our teeth, and ut the bot tom found another passage much better than any we had seen in the other portion of the cave. This we followed till we came to several large rooms, the ceilings of some of them being ten or twelve feet high, and presenting an area of ten or fifteen feel square. The beauty and size of the stalac itites in these rooms were much greater than in that part of the cave which we traversed under the direction of the guide Our torches had now burned very low and it was with great difficulty that we kept them burning while we retraced our steps The ascent of the perpendicular passage was accomplished by 'ssquirming." Ar rived at the mouth of the cave, we found our guide preparing to institute 8 search for us. We had been in the inner recesses of the earth just two hours. Mir. .Oden. brett had previously told us of the existence of the large rooms, and of the difficulty oi access to them on account of the perpen. dicular passage. He is going to remedy this by blasting and putting ina stairway. Already there had been several thousand dollars expended in widening the passage in different parts of the cave, and when the improvements are completed which are now in progress, a visit to the cave vii well repay one. Asit is now. it requires 3 great deal of patience and courage to ex- plore its depths, and one comes out tired, wet and dirty, and is apt to call the cave a humbug, which, however, it is not. Next summer Mir. Odenbreit will have every. thing in good shape and plenty of suits .fo1 all who may wish to visit this wonder oI ~gN L #4.e4 ss131