Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-09-27


Editor Telegraph This cave Is In Monroe
county, about one mile from CcntrevilIo and
about eight from the Red sulphur Springs. II
is on the farm Of Mr.. John Mnddy. He owns
one thousand acres Of good blue grass land
there, and Is estimated 10 he worth upwards
Of one hundred thousand dollars lie was
raised on this farm. Is now seventy years old,
and is Ms familiar with every nook aud corner
OF the dark rcccsses of the cave ~ he is wiib
the surface land above IL. | saw him the day
before visited The cave aud he very kindly
offered to pilot me through ils dark lurking
places, If / would be there without fail on the
following morning. Mr.. Maddy's cousin offer.
ed TO accompany me, and 10 procurea bundle
Of red pine sticks to make the torches with.
The next morning we mounted our horses,
with our bundle Of pine all ready and after
travelling nine miles we reached The place aud
found Mr.. Maddy in readiness waiting for lis
We unsaddlrd, turned our horses into good
pasture and commenced our days exploration
We were first conducted TO what is called tie
Little Water cave" Here the water CONES
out from under the mountain and continues its
course in an open creek distance of 200
yards to the "Great Water cave" where II
again enters the base of mountain and is not
seen any more for a distance Of upwards ofa
mile, when il again boils up TO the surface and
is made to feed large mill.dam--the water of
which runs very fine grist.mil '" % Htyl.
These water caves" are places Of a good
deal OF natural curiosity and the study of them
I
Of those immense, dark caverns with which
they are connected. In the small water cave
there are several chambers which are easy Of
,ccess to visitors; IN some ot these are natural
Windows formed in The soil rock In front of
this cave, and little 10 one sile. is solid,
natural bridge, with a span of about thirty II.
A team and wagon might pass over il with
but little diIIieulIy. Ium, dately in front of
the bridge is a large natural ampiibeatre, tie
shade or covering of which is composed OF
beautiful, large sugar naples. II would be
grand place for Il picnic, or any such gather
ing. .......
Visitors do not enter the great water cave,
and there is no chance TO look into il only
very short distance. The front presents per-
pendicular smooth, solid rock, rising TO the
height of one hundred feet ahd the entrance
for the water is abou; forty feet square. On
this front. about ninety feet up from the bed OF
the creek, is a very small projection running
clear across it, which does not seem more than
wide enough for u squirrel To run upon. A
young man who was partially insane, once
crossed on this projection-a feat which seems
incredible 10 any one who has ever seen the
place. ...r.
We passed on from the water caves dis
tance of about one hundred yards, to the east
ern opening of the great subterareous cavities
which will now attempt to describe. This
opening is not very lurge-perhaps twenty
feet across, and in the highest place about six
feet--formed in an ovcrhanging solid lime
stone rock Mr.. Maddy, our pilot, lighted his
torch and led the way. AS stepped into the
enlranccI was suddenly arrested by the sol
cmnly grand and impressive scene which
opened before me. l found myself upon the
threshhold of an immense subteraneous cav
ern, the ground floor of which rapidly de-
scended, while the smooth, rocky roof rose in
abont the same degree. asked Mr.. Maddy
to advance with his torch about one hundred
yards and then stand and give me Il chance TO
take survey of this solemn underground
chamber. The sight was quite imposing.
There he stood, solitary and alone, distance
from the entrance of one hundred yards, about
twenty feet below the level of the threshold,
with his flaming torch lighting up the dark
recesses ollthat immense rocky den A mid
night stiffness reigned, which added to the i'm
| ,l, -, I
read Of solemn grandeur, and have seen some
OF it-bui nothing like this. -,..
We travelled in u straight direction in this
room, continuing 10 descend, about two hun
dred yards. Ii is estimated that at this point
il is about seventy feet lower than The level ol
the entrance. Here we turned to The right,
hand into another large room Tor a consider
able distance we found good gravel bottom
and the roof overhead was about fifty feet
high; then we came TO rough, rocky bot
tom. We climbed over huge rocks and kept
| gradually ascending for distance of eighty
yards. Here we stopped and standing on one
of the large rocks looked down into large,
dark, irightrul pit, fifty feet below.
At this point The passage branches off in
three different drcclions-one to the south
running three quarters of u mile and one tC
the northwest half mile and one TO tue
southwest a quarter of mile. We turned
into the south passage, which is about forty
feet wide; after climbing about seventy five
yards over great scrsggy rocks, we came SO
near the roof that we had to stoop. Here we
began 10 descend into what is called the
Singing Cave" Descending gradually fol
about twenty yards we reached the place
where the sal,-petre dirt is found. This dirt is
OF reddish brown color, slightly adhesive
. and rich in nitrate of potash. There are hun
dreds of thousands of tons of it in this cave
A good deal of it has been worked over once
SOME OF it twice or three times, and II is now
ready TO be worked again. When 1t has been
leached, and has lain eight or ten years, il is
ready for another leaching Thus Nature i;
constantly and silently at work in this heI
w0nd' rtul underground labratOry.
They made salt petre in this cave in thu
time of the revolutionary war, in the war U
1912, and again in the last war.
In this room the roof is quite damp. and il
places the wafer drips from it. 1t is very low
| FIR nnuch eli - Yards hod a., stoOn