Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-06-26
ANEW GAVE.
Discovery OF q Cavern In La Crosse County
Prehistoric Descriptions and Images ON shc
Walls-An Interesting Find.

Special Correspondence Of the Sunday Telegraph.
LA Crosse, June 18--A reporter
of the La Crosse Chronicle has visit
ed newly found cave containing
prehistoric descriptions in that
county. The site OF this new find is
near West Salem and the labor of
opening the cave was performed by
the Rev. Edward Brown, of that
village, who has some local repute
as scientist and explorer. The
entrance to the cave was discovered
by Frank Samuels, young man of
eighteen, who is in the habit of
trapping for woodchucks. For sev-
eral days past he has placed one of
his traps at the mouth of q small
hole in the side of bluff on his
fathers farm. meeting with great
success. Out of curiosity he crawl
ed into the hole and discovered the
cave but thinking il of little impor
lance kept the matter secret be-
tween himself and few friends. A
couple of weeks ago its existence
became known through some means
to persons with curious minds, who
made an exploration. This resulted
in their sending for the Rev. Brown
and he gave the reporter the follow
ing account of the find: The cave
is in a hill on the farm of Mr.. David
Samuel, in Hamilton. 1t is thirty
feet long by thirteen feet wide and
its largest dimensions about eight
feet high above the sand, which is
from three to six feet deep. Upon
the wall are very rude carvings rep.
resenting men. animals, arms, i'm
plements, and something that APP
pears to be hieroglyphics. One pic
ture represents man with bow and
arrow shooting at an animal There
are three buffaloes and one rabbit
represented. Three animals, which,
if large must have been hippopota-
mi, and one that appears to repre-.
sent the mastodon and one moose,
quite plainly delineated. There are
eight representations which are
either canoes much carved, or,
which they moro resemble, ham
mocks. One sketch of man is
quite plain. He wears a kind of
chaplet or crown and is probably
chief of his tribe or clan. There are
many fragments of pictures where
the rock has decomposed. 1t is a
coarse, soft white sand stone. On
one side there is space about two
feet high and two and half feet in
the wall that has in the wall that
has in time decomposed and fallen
out. Above are the upper fragments
and below the lower, showing that
they were made when the rock was
entire. From the depth to which
the decomposition had reached, in q
dry and dark cavern they must
been quite ancient. If the one re-
sembling the mastodon ia really
such the work must have been that
that of the mound builders. There
was an American hippopotamus in
the post pliocene, probably contem
porary with the mastodon. The &C.
cumulated sand in the bottom Of
the cave needs to be cleared out to
get full view. and possibly human
remains may then be found as it is
probably tomb.
The opening has been enlarged
so that grown person can pass
through by slightly STOPPING. When
discovered it was not more than
two feet high and very narrow. 1t
had evidently been closed by land
slide years ago. In fact a poplar
tree had grown to the diameter of
eighteen inches, died and rosted
since the land slide took place.
From this | am led to the conelu.
sion that centuries must have
elapsed since it occurred.
The impressions taken by the
Rev. Brown have been copied and
further study will be made. of The
images and descriptions.
The Chronicle prints cuts of the
images copied from the walls of the
cave. They do not display any ar
tistic skill, and are about of the
same order as the figures sometimes
seen on the flesh side of buffalo
robes tanned and trimmed by the
Indians of the plains.