Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-05-12
From the Cleveland Leader.

dNS
From the Cleveland Leader.
[ succeeded in reaching an altitude of
nearly 5000 feet, and then gave out on
account of previous illness, from which
] had not fully recovered, and was COM
PEELED to return to a ranch down ON
the climber line" Here [ awaited the
return of the party, which was COM
posed of Col. Grasty, of Virginia, and
Mr.. Harry Stevens, Of Cleveland, who
had accompanied me from home,
The gigantic crater is about one mile
in diameter and 1850 feet deep, and,
almost incredible to believe, but never
theless true, there is settlement con-
sisting of forty sulphur miners in the
bottom Of this awful cavity, their only
mode of ingress and egress from this
Internal region being by the means Of a
windlass Of ! 900 feet of rope, by which
they are lowered down to shelf in the
side OF the abyss, the rest of the Jour
ney downward being performed on foot,
over a long and steep descent. The
thoughts Of Grasty and Stevens were
now turned TO the horrible gulf that
yxwned before them, for In 1t they must
pass the night, which would fall in the
course Of two Or three hours; for it was
alike impossible to spend it on the
mountain top, Or to return down to the
timber line" An Indian employee of
the sulphur mine had preceded them
up the volcano, bearing their letter of
introduction to Senior Corchado, the
superintendent of the mine, who imme-
diately repaired to the summit, where
he met them half or three-quarters of
an hour after their arrival.
Corchado, "the Old Man of the
Mountain" is singular character
Born at Tiamacas, he has always lived
on the mountain, or in his present brim-
stone home, where his father lived and
died before him. He has been intimate
~ connected with Propocatapetl, and
everything associated with the great
volcano, for over half century, He
now lives at the bottom of the crater,
$500 feet below It's rocky ruin. To this
strange abode he welcomed Grasty and
Stevens with heartiness and real hospi-
tality.
ENTERING THE VOLCANO.
They zigzagged down the bleared and
blackened rocks about 200 feet, and
came to a windlass called Gel Mala-
cate" From this was suspended Ca
BILE about an inch and a half in diameter
and a thousand feet long. From this
point they obtained magnificent view
of the crater, whose walls rose in all di-
rections in frightfu1 wildness and sub
Unity. They at once appreciated its
enormous dimensions. Nearly a mile
below them was the bottom, almost lost
in the darkness and distance. To illus
trate the great depth, it would be no
exaggeration to say that if you were to
take Mount Vesuvius, which is 4, SOC
feet high, and turn it upside down and
stick it into the crater, it would about
fill it.
This gulf presents one of the grandest
sights on earth, and has o terrible fas-
cination for the beholder. The most
stolid are greatly impressed, while the
susceptibleare completely overwhelmed
by It's awful sublmity. Grasty and
Stevens peered over the ledge where
stood the windlass, and saw far, far be-
low them a level rock that formed the
top of long steep declivity, at the foot
of which was black spot This they
were told was the miners house. They
were to descend to the declivity by the
rope, having accepted Corchado's invi-
tation to spend the night below. Corch-
ado and Stevens went first. They were
tied to the cable III such a manner that
they sat side by side.
For about the distance of $50 feet the
ledge from which they made their wild
leap projected out over the precipice.
and consequently they hung free and
dangling ia mid-air It was only a
minute OF. two, however, before they
came to a place where the cliff beIlied
out further than the windlass rock, and
they were compelled to kick against it's
strong front to keep clear of it. I'm
mense clouds of sulphurous steam and
gases rolled skyward from beneath this
projection. These nauseated Stevens,
and set him to vomiting badly. They
ssyere now out of sight of the people
above them. Stevens afterward said
he felt that he was going straight into
the jaws of hell. On every side of them
was a gigantic and hideous ruin of