Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-01-30
CALIFORNIA; LAST MARVEL.
The Recent Discovery In TuOIumne
COunty--.What Came of Resent
Ing a Squirrels Chal-
lenge.

IuOiumne NCal.l independently
A. Gardner has discovered a NAM
moth cave in the dividing ridge be-
tween the South Branch and main
Stanislaus rivers, two miles above the
junction and one mile northerly from
Pine Log, at an elevation of about
1900 feet above the river. The discov-
cry was made under the following
very peculiar circumstances, in which
an insignificant squirrel figures very
c~onspicuously, On the LIST of Deem
Der, 1878, Gardner says he was engaged
in working his placer claim, which is
distant about three hundred feet from
the entrance of the cave. A squirrel
perehed itself upon a tree near by,
aud commenced to chatter and spit
acorn-chucks at him. This he CON
sidered a challenge to fight it out on
that line. SO he repaired to his cabin,
armed himself with a double barreled
shotgun, marched out and faced his
diminutive antagonist. The fight
opened with "a spirited skirmish of
both parties, and ended after Gardner
had fired seven rounds at his SOUR
relship-the seventh just as his little
tormentor was disappearing in the
dark recesses of a crevice in the ledge
above his claim. He pursued it to its
retreat, and then commenced search
ing the crevice to discover, if possible,
the hiding-place of his vanquished foe,
but failed. The search, however, re-
suited in the discovery of the greatest
natural wonder in the country, and,
perhaps, in the State, as future devel-
Opments inAhat direction may prove.
in its class. So closes the history of
its discovery,
1t is adorned with decorations of
dazzling beauty, unsurpassed in char
acter on the Pacific slope. The en-
trance to the cave is situated at the
base of a bluff, and eighty feet above
the gulch. and access is had through
a creyice in the ledge, three feet in
width by six feet in length. Descend
ing by ladder ten feet, you reach the
door Of an inclined archway, dipping
at an angle of 35o, from twenty to
thirty feet in hight, by thirty feet in
width. Descending the incline, which
is one hundred feet in length, we reach
the door of the grand archway, from
forty to sixty feet in hight, varyingin
width from twenty to thirty feet, from
which radiate scores of similar arch
ways leading to spacious chambers,
with their lofty ceilings draped with
brilliant stalactites, that glitter and
sparkle in the light of a lamp like
gems of ocean waves of which we read.
The floors and walls of this subter-
raneous hall are entirely coated with
stalagmites, pure Capitalization. We
can best describe this crystal formation
in this wise: For inetance, it resem-
bles in makeup, and appears to the
vision, like a sheet of snow lying
loosely in large flakes on a pane
of glass. We visited, under the
guidance of the %discoverer. many
large chambers, Of which the grandeur
and brilliancy battle description. Our
rambles through the su%bterraneous
arehways were continued for four
hours. To give the most minute de-
tails of what we witnessed during our
rambles in the cave would I'll every
page of the Tuolumne Independent.
1.-THE Bridal Chamber is sixty feet in
length, twenty feet in width, with
slightly arched ceiling ten to fifteen
feet floor and walls c~rystalized from
the ceiling depend hundreds of ~stalac-
tites from one to six feet in length.
This chamber far surpasses the won.
drous beauties of the Gave City OF
Calaveras county. SO says r.. Bost-
wick, who, in 1859, visited that cave.
THE Crystal Palace" though not SC
spacious as the aforementioned room.
is equally as attractive its crystal
formations are of rare beauty.
: Explorations made of the a v ex-
tend over an area of one-half a mile.
In no direction already explored ha,
there been found any terminating point
to the cavern. Gardner says he viii
continue to explore till every recess o
the cave is discovered and its exten.
known. Through some system of ex.
perimental surveys Of the surface, h,
determined the extent of the cave /,
exceed four miles.