The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1880-09-30
ABURIED SHIP.


Marvellous Discovery Made by the
Miners In Colorado Cave---A
Fui1-Rissed Ship Underground.
Leadville Chronicle.
A little more than week ago two
wandering prospectors, while sinking a
shaft near Red cliff, made discovery
SO marvellous and astounding as to seem
more like tale from the arabian
Nights" than sober nineteenth cen
tury reality. Imagination never pic
tured a wilder or more desolate spot
than the western slope of Red cliff
The ragged rocks and Line-clad gorges
are in as native solitude as if the eyes
of man had never looked on them, and
the tortuous streams, the steep descent,
torn by some fierce upheaval of nature,
and the granite hills combine to form a
scene behind which the wierdest mag
cry of Dore would fall far short. It
was in this place that two miners, grub
staked by a Denver speculator, found
THAR way. The names of these men
were Jacob Cahee and Louis Adams,
the latter q resident of Leadville, and
the former from some locality in south
ern Colorado, we believe near Alamosa.
Both were mining experts, and finding
favorable indications on a wide plain,
at the foot Of quite steep hill, began
to sink shaft, first passing through
thirty feet of wash and then striking a
lime formation stained with iron and
evidently not in place. They were on
the point of stopping work in despair,
but thus encouraged pushed on their
digging with renewed activity, until at
a depth Of fifteen feet a hollow sound
responding to the blows of their picks
gave warning that they were nearing
some subterranean passage or gallery.
Unwilling to give up what appea: ed to
be so fine q prospect, they secured
themselves from the top by ropes, and
proceeded very cautiously with their
work. After a days digging the bot
tom, which has been constantly grow
ing thinner, gave way with a crash, and
the two adve nitrous miners found
themselves suspended midway in what
appeared to be large, irregular cave,
some 240 feet long and about $50 feet
wide at the broadest point. They had
pierced the cavern in its extremity, and
had no difficulty in swinging themselves
against a sort of natural stairway Of
granite boulders >heaped against the
sides,
Down this they scrambled, impelled
by curiosity and spirit of adventure,
holding their miners lamps above their
heads, and soon stood On a tolerably
level sanded floor, with here and there
a huge crystal of quartz, while from
the roof, which arched overhead at n
distance of about fifty feet, enormous
stalactites depended like icicles, and
catching the feeble rays of light, threw
them back in a myriad Of rainbow
hues. The cave seemed at first empty,
but as their eyes gradually became ac-
customed to the deep gloom, the men
saw in the further extremity a huge
black object, which, not without some
trepidation, they approached.
AS they neared it, to their unbound
ed amazement they made out the out
lines of some sort Of sailing craft, but
the idea Of a ship fifty feet under
ground was SO preposterous that they
thought it some fantastic mass of rocks,
and not until they fairly touched the
timbers would they believe the evil
dence of their own senses. a ship it
plainly was or had been, but ship diff
ferent from any that the eyes of the
astonished miners had ever looked
upon. 1t was, as nearly as they could
judge, about sixty feet long by some
thirty feet wide, and lay tilted forward
at an angle of about fifteen degrees
over rough pile of stone. The body
of the craft was built of short lengths of
some dark and very porous wood, re-
sembling our black walnut, if it could
be imagined with the grain pulled
apart like sponge or a piece of bread,
and made perfectly square. Both ends
lit was evidently intended for sailing
either way), were turned abruptly up
like the toe ola peaked Moorish slipper.
The planking was apparently double
rivited on with nails of extremely hard
copper, only slightly rust-eaten, and
with the heads cut or filed in an octag-
onal shape, while along the upper edge
of the ship eleven large rings of the
same metal, and evidently for the Sc
curing of rigging, were counted. At
the bottom edges of the craft, and run
ming its entire length, were two keels
some four and half feet deep and six
inches thick, hung on metallic hinges,
and at the end were fastened rough
copper rods, extending upward and
bent over SO as to attach to two
masts rising from the utter edges. If
the cross of an inverted letter V be
conceived to represent the deck lines,
the two stems are at about the angle
and position of the masts. These were
upward of twenty feet long, and, as
evidence that sail was at one time
stretched across. some ragged remnants
of what appeared to cocording were
found clinging to the inner edges. The
ends of the masts were secured in piv
OTIS, and it was evident that in tacking
one could be moved forward and the
other back, thus bring the sail at an
angle with the body of the ship-an
idea which it might not be bad for our
modern navlgators to emulate. This, it
is believed. also explains the copper
rods which moved the keels SO as to
reciprocate the position of the masts.
While the whole ship was intact, the
wood crumbled like dust beneath the
finger touch, and fearful of trap-falls
the two prospectors did not venture to
explore the interior. Lying on the
ground near by, however, was discov-
cred good instrument bearing rude
resemblance to the sextant of the pres
ent day and possibly used to calculate
the longitude. No trace of any writing
was found save at one end of the ship,
where about midway on the bow of the
ship, inclosed in a metal ring, were
twerty-six copper characters riveted
to the wood, and bearing much resem-
blance to the Chinese hiereglyphics of
the present day. No human remains
of any sort were found, although it is
possible that search in the hold will
reveal something of this sort.
Without pushing their investigations
further, the two miners, lost in wonder
ment, retraced their steps to the upper
air, leaving the CHASTITY ship once more
in gloom and silence.
By this time it had grown quite dark