Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1877-04-02

il Whtcb - runntnk 81 alnost !
strat9ht line 10 the north east. He
fncticed. meevcs, that Il wasTisky bus
iness, lighting natohcs ID that impure
and costiOod atmosphefc, and that
tpr6bably in little time, The air be-
coming rapidly more and more impure
. be advanced, m explosion would
occur. which might, aud probably
4 nnrM bring down the roof ppon him.
/ Not wishing 10 be turied in that uIi-
timely manner, he tns0ed back, and
made his way out, well covered with.
dirt and nsasly exhausted
he now determined to further ex.
plore this opening Of mine. Curio.i-
y alone wouldnot have Induced him
70 waste more time on thu matter.
bus there wAs chance that he could.
by ansintcr,,ai SURVEY of the, hill, dis
a Cover come mineral Of value,--if not
| gold, perhaps 4 vein, OF coal, the pres
cncs Of whtchwas strongly indicated
in the cavern BY the impure and in..
fiammablc air ~ Gre damp, aud which
is pecuiisr to coal mines.
Il Ia order 10 prepare himself TO do
,h with safety and TO avoid sexpb-
| Gus Of FIRE damp, b came that eve
ming down TO Ponca aud procured a
-I lamp, soGe wire gauze, lew candies,
Il etc. By means Of his wire gsuze he
:. could thus make a safety lamp, with
which To eater without danger, any
atmosphere, however confined aud
impure.
, The next morning he was on the
: ground early, aud entered the cavern
for further explorations. He soon
J came to the turn At the big sulphur
stone, and also TO the second turn,
where he paused long enough 70 as
certain the exaqt direction by means
Of his compass. This was 81 degrees
, north OF due east. He then proceed
J! ed onwards counting his steps as he
advanced SO as TO have reasonable
] knowledge OF the direction and dis
tance. His lamp threw out Il good
, light, and he was enabled TO examine
, carefully the layers and formations
througl, whic! he passa2es way ran.
At 81 PAGES, the passage which had
hitherto be,'n sloping downward, be-
! Game almost horizontal. He also no.
4 ticea that il now very considerably
> increased in size, and in IS PAGES fur
: ,her, he found himself at=the entrance
i OF n very large cavern or room. The
r rtwsll. were solid rock, interspersed here
\ and there with thin layers OF coal
OF these he counted three, which
veins laid not far apart, the ,hickes,
Of them, however, he regretted to no.
tice, measured not more than six in
ches in thickness.
The cavern was in shape oblong, AZ
PAGES in length, from S. ITO the N.
~, and twenty PAGES in width; height,
: 30 to 40 feet. Mr. Wsllsce at FIRST
b supposed he WAS the 6rst person who
had ever visited this subterranean sol
itude, but on examination he found tc
his great establishment that he was
: mistaken. inihe center Of the cavern
ne found large square block OF stone
II feet high, and sbeut the same in
length and breadth, on one side d
4 which, steps, evidently cut by human
hands, led to the top. hr. affiscf " afffiscf
assembled and found smooth pla,for N
near the center Of which, WAS square
It hole about 4 feet deep, and d,sble
. that in length ard breadth, the sides
n Of which we're, evenly aud smoothly
cut, the marks Of chisel being plainly
observable. At the bottom Of the
,. hole he saw large number of pieces
e Of pottery similar to those found neal
o the ancient mounds already mentioned
: Also, he noticed several fragments o
human bones, and = skull, all which
= appeared charred as by FIRE. These
?, bones were however, al petri6ed ane
It turned to stone.
Il Mr.. Wallace concluded, and will
reason, that this cavern was, in Lbs
age Of the mound builders, used b,
o them as place for human sacrifices
: Or for the purposes Of cremation, and
9 that this great stone was the altar upor
! which their ceremonies took place
: At that remote period, doubtless tn,
: passage leading to the cavern was no
y at lis entrance well nigh choked ane
9 obliteratcd, ~ by the ceaselcss chang
{ es OF time has since been done. Hav
, ing carefully examined the altar, Mr.
g Wallace descended and further inves
J tlgsted his subterranean discovery
y At equal distances he noticed ener
d nous stalac,ites or cones, pendent
J. from the roof, many Of them reaching
Z to the floor.
e At the end Of the cavern opposit,
'e to the passage by which be entered il
9 he found instead Of the natural wall o
, rocks, an artificial wall Of squar,
J, shaped blocks Of stone, which in sev
\ - 4 = n