The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1880-05-06
A BIG CAVE.

EVANSVILLE, April I1.-Wyan dotte
Cave is in Crawford County, Indiana,
near the Ohio Riyer. 1t is not access
sible by rail, but must be reached by
packet from Louisville or Evansville,
and from there by carriage. The car
riage ride is five miles, over as bad a
road as can be found this side of the
Sierras. The country is very billy,
heavily wooded, and sparsely settled.
Wyandotte is smaller than Mammoth
Cave, and much larger than either of
the Virginia caverns. In its general
character it resembles the Mamm 9th,
and, like the latter, is vastly inferior to
the Virginia caves in beauty. 1t is un-
guarded, and visitors have been accus-
toned to wander through it unattend-
ed committing every kind of vandal-
ism. Patent medicine advertisements
have been blackened with smoke, and
the best of the stalactites have been
broken.
1t is said to be 23% miles long, but
this estimate is untrustworthy. The
writer carefully paced, in the presence
of one of the proprietors, section en-
bracing four of the supposed 231@
miles, and found it to measure $500
yards. This ratio of reduction applied
to the whole estimate makes the entire
distance about nine miles, and this is
probably about the actual length of
the cave. The overestimating in this
case is not exceptional. Few caves
have been surveyed, and measuring by
even steps, when the way is through
low passages and over Jagged rocks, is
very laborious, while distance under
ground is very deceptive. One of the
cayerns in Virginia, which is said to
be two miles in length, and is COM
paratively level and straight, meas
ures just three-fourths of mile, and
another, that contains a route for visi-
tors said to be five miles long, all lies
within the diameter of half q mile.
At Wyandotte, as at Lursy and the
recently discovered Newmarket caves,
openings are to be seen that lead to
chambers beyond the furthest points
that have been visited, while IN Wey.
ers and one or two others of the small.
er caverns an end to progress is found
in heavy stalagmitic walls or accumu.
.lations of clay. The older part of Wy.
andotte has been known since the first
settlement of the country. In 1850 an
extensive addition was opened, and
quite recently another large section
has been explored. A few of the pas
sages are exceedingly narrow and tor
tuous, and some of them are so low as
to make travelling painful, but most OF
the way is through broad and lofty
avenues. The story is told of very
corpulent man, who is prominen!
Republican politician, that in going
through one Of the narrow places be
became so tightly wedged in that the
combined efforts of several friends
were required to extricate him.
None of the funnel.shaped domes
caused by surface drainage, that are
common to Mammoth Cave, are to be
seen here, but there are several enor
nous halls with vsulted tops, having
a mound of rocks on the floor CORES
pondlng in outline to the curve of the
ceiling. These have been formed by
the gradual disintegration of the rocks
above and its deposit below. One o.
these is 1000 #. in circumference and
245 feet in height, aud the hill in the
center rises It's feet above the level o.
the original floor, nearly blocking uI
the approaches. One apartment j.
25O feet long, so feet wide, and 25 fee
high; another, LOO feet in diameter
third, 40 feet wide and 120 feet long
another, 200 feet in diameter and 81
feet high: and still another, $50 fee
long, 100 feet wide, and 80 feet il
height. One passage very closely re
sembles railway tunnel in size ant
form. The most notable of the form
ations are stalagmite 25 feet in di
ameter and 80 feet high, and a semi
| circular group of stalactites having
the appearance of a canopy. Flint il