Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-30
VI GnderfuI Cayerns.

On the way to Vienna I stopped over
for one day at Adlesberg, fifty or sixty
miles from Trieste, in order to visit the
celebrated stalactite cayerns in that i'm.
mediate vicinity The remarkable feat
ures of those caverns are the vast ex-
tent of the chambers and the wonderful
variety and beauty of the stalactites sus-
pended from the roof, and of the stalag-
mites which grow upward from the floor
Many of them are Of the most fantastic
forms possible TO imagine. Most of them
are pearIy white and clear as CRYSTALS.
Others are of all colors that can be
formed by oxide OF iron and Parian
marble. The mountain under which
those grottoes are found is partly COM
posed of limestone, with traces of iron
and as the water impregnated with those
substances percolates through the rocks
and drips down into the caverns the iron
imparts the most beautiful hues to the
pure whiteness of the lime. In some
places the incrustations assume the form
of curtains and drapery, which, by
placing a light behind them, show most
exquisite folds and colors. At other
places the formations take the form of
waterfalls and in others bear fanciful
resemblances to human skulls and faces.
and heads of various animals. Some of
them take a cone shape and resemble
evergreen trees, and others the twining
and interlacing eff the ascending and de-
scending branches of the banyan tree.
Hundreds of white columns reach from
the floor to the roof-tWenty, thirty or
fifty feet in height-and seem as if
placed there by human hands for the
support of the latter Some of those pil-
lars are of enormous dimensions. one
being twelve feet in diameter and
about forty in height, and when
the lights were held before it
it sparkled as if incrusted with
diamonds. In places the vaulted roof
reflected gIittering spangles, looking like
stars in the dark In some chambers
hundreds of stalactites, depending from
the ceiling like great icicles, have
corresponding ones growing up toward
them from the floor; and several which
[ observed had, seemingly, just touched
their delicate white or purple tips to-
gether. In most instances, however, the
junction had not vet been formed; but
one was growing gradually downward
and the other upward to meet 1t, and in
the course Of time they will surely meet
and then proceed to form pillar.
In some of the caverns, the dropping
water had created masses which looked
like stumps of trees thickly placed in a
newly cleared field, of all diameters from
that Of sapling to that Of q full-groWn
oak; but the height of these stone stumps
differed considerably In other places
the accretions had formed irregular
shaped rocks, resembling mountains in
miniature This peculiar shape was
caused by the falling of water-drops from
several places near each other, some
more slowly than others. The pyramidal
form of accretiOn was common. The
undermining wear and tear of the water
OF the little river, in some places, had
upset great columns across chambers,
thus forming bridges like trees over
streams.
The largest of the chambers, called
"Mt. Calvary" is very wonderful
cavern. 1t is perhaps 400 or 500 feet
long by one-half or one-third as
broad, and Of great height. The floor is
irregular and abrupt, rising like the side
of Il mountain, and covered over with
what, in the dim, uncertain light of the
candles, bore a strange resemblance to a
cemetery filled with tombs, monuments,
headstones vaults, ETC.; and the sepUl-
chral appearance is heightened by what
looks much like the sunken graves in a
Potters Field, 1t required no great
stretch of the imagination to believe this
cavern peopled with ghosts.
In another part of the grotto is the
" Cathedral'-a space 200 feet long by
50 broad, with a Gothic roof sup
1,or4ad Tlvr Gothic IoCJ~i,r ,,;lI,re :
one end is a good representation OF q
chapel and pulpit. Onone of the walls
is great organ, composed of stalactites,
which, when struck in quick succession,
gave out musical sounds similar to those
Of a piano, while one resembled and
sounded like q charch-bell Musical
sounds were produced by touching the
pendant crystals and curtains in many
other parts of the 'grotto Within half
a mile of the entrance is the grand ball
room, 400 feet long and $50 broad by 100
high, with smooth, level floor, and, in
one part, a suitable elevation for the
band of music Annually, on Whit
Monday, a great ball takes place in this
hall, when it is brilliantly lighted up.
1t is connected with a number Of side
grottoes, which are used as dressing
rooms, store-rooms and servants rooms.
The beer glasses, wine-bottles, tables,
chairs, etc, used at the last ball had not
yet been removed when we visited the
grotto. The dancers must have had a
merry time The whole length of the
cavern accessible to tourists is perhaps
three miles; but there are many
branches and side-rooms, not easy
of access, into which strangers are
not shOwn-one of them more than a
mile long, and said to be grander than
anything exhibited; but it is exceedingly
difficult and dangerous to traverse, as one
is obliged to climb up and down ropes
sailor-fashion. These caverns and sta
lacite formations are the joint product of
the little river Poik-which runs under
the mountain into valley on the oppo-
site side several miles away, emerging a
thousand feet lower than where it enters
and by the percolation of water i'm
pregnated with marble and iron, falling
drop by drop in thousands places from
the roofs of the vaults. The one agency
has torn away millions Of cubic yards of
rock, leaving vast chasms in the bowels
of the mountain, while the other is filling
this space with "things of beauty and
joys forever. Cor. Chicago Tribune.