New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-05-02
A Night in the Crater,

| A letter to the Cleveland Leader tells thu
following thrilling stroy:
| l succeeded in reaching an altitude O.
nearly $4,000 feet and then gave out on &C
| count OF a previous illness, from which
had not fully recovered, and was compelled
to return to ranch down on the .'timbe
| line Here l waited the return of the
| party, which was composed of CoIOne
| Grasty, of Virginia, and Mr. Harry Stevens
| OF Cleveland, who had accompanied us
| from home.
The gigantic crater is about one mile in
| diameter and $500 feet deep, and, almos,
| Incredible to believe, but new ertheless true.
| there Is a settlement consisting of forty
| sulphur miners in the bottom of this awful
cavity, their only mode of ingress and
egress from this internal region being by
by the means of a windlass and 1000 feet of
rope. by which they are lowered down to a
shelf in the side of the abyss, the rest of the
journey downward being performed on foot
over long and steep descent.
The thoughts OF Grasty and Stevens
were now turned to the horrible gulf that
yawned before them, for in it 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
their letter of Introduction to Senior Core.
hadO, the superintendent of the mine who
Immediately repaired to the summit.
where he met them half or three quarters
of an hour after their arrival.
They zigzagged down the bleared and
blackened rocks about 200 feet. and came
to windlass called "El Malacate." From
this was suspended cable about an inch
and halt in diameter and 1000 feet long
h'rOvp this nninf fbav oh oip cd
view of the crater, whose walls rose in all
directions in frightful wildness and sublim-
ity. They at once appreciated it's enormous
dimensions. Nearly mile below them was
the bottom, almost lost in the darkness and
distance.
Grasty and Stevens peered over the ledge
where stood the windlass and saw, far, far
below 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 the declivity by the rope, having
accepted Corchado's invitation to spend the
night below. Corchado and Stevens went
first. They were tied to the bic in such a
manner that they sat side by side.
For about the distance of 80 feet the
ledge from which they made their wild leap
projected out over the precipice, and conse-
quently they hung free and dangling in
U.
however before they came to a place where
the cliff belied out further than the wind
lass rock, and they were compelled to kick
against its strong front to keep clear of it.
Immense clouds of sulphurous steam and
gases rolled skyward from beneath this
projection. These nauseated Stevens, and
set him to vomiting badly.
They were now out of sight of the people
above them. Stevens afterward said he
left that he was going straight into the Jaws
OF hell. On every side of them was a
gigantic and hideous ruin of cracked cliffs
and blistered crags. Beneath them were
pools of liquid and burning sulphur that
trickled in little Tivulets from the gashed
and fire marked walls of the crater. Nox-
ious vapcrs tloated through the air-all
seemed horrible nightmare. They reached
the declivity in safety after a fearful Jour
ney OF ten minutes, and united themselves
The rope was then pulled up.
The colonel proceeded to tie himself on
Through some mistake the rope that went
round his back slipped down too low He
dropped from the crag, still weak from the
suffering he had experienced in the ascent,
Everything went well until he got to the
place where the precipce bulges out Here
the disaster overlook him. A cloud of gas
laden vapor enveloped him, and he tainted
away, with yet 700 feet to descend. Cor
chado and Stevens saw him let 90 of the
rope, throw his arms out, grasping at the
air, and tall back until his head was lower
than his heels, then spin round, striking the
sharp rocks in a fearful manner Stevens
said it fairly IHade his blood run cold, and
he turned his head from the awful sight.
Meanwhile Corchado had given the man at
the wlndlass a sign to lower faster, and
Grastys apparently lifeless and mutlIated
body soon reached where they stood.
His face was severely bruised and his
clothing badly torn, while the blood was
trleklipg from his nose and ears, but he still
breathed. After an hours rubbing and
throwing of snow in his face he came to,
and the whole party, now augmented by
the arrival of a number of peon 10iners from
below. descended the slipping side of the
crater. CoIchado and his Indians led the
way, slowly followed by Grasty, who was
by Stevens and peon After
they had got about half way down the steep
they experienced from the ice and stones
great difficulty in travelling. The most
thing, however, was the constant
danger they were in OF being crushed by
huge hunks of ice and rock that we're con
tinually rolling down. This debris is the i
matter that is loosened daily bv the sun.
whose warmth strikes off it's icy letters and |
suffers gravity to have its way. After two |
hours slippery descending they reached the |