The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-04-06
MySTERIES OF THE EARTH.

Wonderful aud ineXplicable physical
facts are not Confined to the lowlands along
the route of the Mississippi aud stranger
than the works OF prImtval man, consist
ing nf mounds, canals aud fortified strong
holds, are cavcruuus depths, within which
rivers flow from the mountains 10 the great
drain of the continent. Eour;een miles
southeast of Bow ling Green, Ky, in a
cavern more extraordinary aud wonderful
than Mammoth Cave. Not far away, un
stone at The entrance of the latter, the
wonder of Il country pumpkin is Inscribed
III words once quoted III the Senate of the
United States:
The Mammoth cave! what a spott
In summer cold, aul winter hot.
Yr puUerS abuVri Great q nd! / wonder
Andrew JackSoui h-il auG thunder.
Ihe entrance 10 the more mysterious pit
is on the front uf "A perpendicular height,
made almost inaccessible 10y vines, biam
bi,s aud drusely gr"wiug furest tees
Trammeis enter DTakrs Creek Just above
the stIauge apeT' uIe To unknown depths
aud ImpenetI ble dan Ikness below. Tins
adyium Us ten fee. long aud four wide. and
the chasm seems To yam, and its great
mouth is horrible 10 contemplate.
Rude people in the vicinity call it ''Ileii's
Hole or the Indian Put" From the
meaSureless abyss here issues ceaseless as
Ilie lapse of hours aud days and years.
Nbluitlt tt U4lSt cl CoHt. llOStN
mornings it rises in spinal columns far
above the tree tops, and, whitened as it as
ceuds, aud cleaning in the sunlight, it
fiuais away aud Is last in the clouds. At
some unknown period in the world s history
mother earth bIeathed heavily, and great
ID ul,ieTs, worn round and smooth as If
ground by friction When upheld by cur
rents of AIR, aud falling back again and
again, lifted up and rubbed by other stones,
hI li>.I,- and y,,iis.d ti.,.
caveIns mouth iuto the valley below.
People datiliug near by tell that ia fall and
winter the heavy ste nfm fmiuus bIeathingsfio ON
the cavern are much warmer than sharp
blasts sweeping along the deep gorge, While
ia summer the misty vapor from within Is
cuuler than tie exterior atmosphere. This
fa,hUmlesS pit grows wider in its downward
course, aud nothing living :uauinate
that has entered eves found exit. Not he
fainiest echo was ever heard when great
! stones have been oiled into The a~fui depth
| or this desceasvs iUerEi. If such massive
! bouldcIs had encountered any object with
| in miles Of the entrance the Suwnd produced
would have been surely beine to listeners
above by the strong. steady air-cuirert.
The impression fixed from childhood to
! age, that the solid earth must he forever
imniuvable beneath our feet, as surely
! immuvable as the sun aud stars and blue
J vaulI above our heads. is rudely shaken
! When one stands in the presence ol such
t dcmunsi rable holluwness and emptiness as
! this. Very much the same sensations are
! excited when standing at ia" PTS mouth
I as when AN earthquake shakes land aud
! sea aud makes men and women shudder.
When, not long ago, il was sought "a
! ascertain the depth of :he chasm, a heavy
I weight WAS attached TO a strong coId, the
! lead went down, down. down, till the line
! and Iiummet Lad measured the greatest
. p.,ssil,le depth but no sound came back TO
| tell the eud of unutitIable hull"wneSs be-
! low. The ~eighi, When withdrawn, was
unsettled aud by the moisture un its surface
/ showed that in its descent aud ascent 1t
! touched nuiiiimp but mist and darkness.
The very auiluwutss uT life and it, evan
| esc-ut plei;SuIes are almost illustrated ina
,IN >ical facis discovered every nheie in
Kentucky and eI;nessee. The iivei, down
III the depths of Mammoth Cave, If il fiud
its way to the green fields and sunshine, Is
3 never iecognizrd above a. the stream noted
for its eyeless fishes h-iUw the earihs sur
face. aud though the gIea. cavern has been
ext,lnrpd twelve miles from it's entrance.
Those who have tIaverSed its depths aud
lahy.inths concur IN the assertion that here
are other caves beyond the renoieSi yei ex-
nIored. AND vfander aud deeper than those
that attract the curious fr"m all lands.
Near Jniua City. in Tennessee. and near
the southwestern cniiTi'fS "a NetlihchN, u
Rrellu,i Lake. iicie She roof ui mighty
cavern WAS shaken down lay the earthquake
of 1sfl-i2. Lofty forest trees. the taiiesi
thar tower above the lowlan0s, Disappeared
with the laIi s,n which they grew, and >
sea. bn,a1i-r aud deeper than that al Gai
lee, WAS ouispiesd i'm crystal ciearnrSs u
the midst uf tie lnwlai4ds. Ducks anc
geese iirck it's surface and trout abound u
the modern lake that had never reflected
the suu's fscu up lie ia,hc'nless depths ~