The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-05-06

The Myandotte Cave, Indiana.
Wyandotte Cave is In Crawford Coun-
y, Indiana, near the Ohio River. Il ID
not accessible by rail, but must DO
reached by packet from Louisville or
Evansville, and from there by carriage.
The carriage ride is five miles, over -
Dad road as can be found this sidc 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 Mammoth,
and, like the latter, is vastly inferior to
the Virginia caves in beauty. 1t ID un-
guarded, and visitors have been accus-
toned to wander through 1t Unattended,
committing every kind of vandalism.
Patent medicine advertisements have
been painted upon the walls, ceilings
have been blackened with smoke, and
the best Of the stalactites have been
broken.
1t is said to be 234 miles long, but
this estimate is untrustwOrthy. The
writer carefully paced, in the presence
of one OF the proprietors, q section en-
bracing four of the supposed z34 miles,
and found it to measure Z, 500 yards. This
ratio of reduction applied TO the whole
estimate makes the entirs distance
about nine miles, and this il probably
about the actual length of the cave.
The overestimating in this case is not
exceptional. Few caves have been sur
veyed, and measuring by even steps,
when the way is through low passages
and over jagged rocks, is very laborious,
while distance underground is very de-
ceptive. One of the caverns in Vir-
ginia. which is said to be two miles in
length, and is comparatively level and
straight, measures just three-fourths of
. mile, and another, that contains q
route for visitors said to be five miles
long. all lies within the diameter of
half mile.
At Wyandotte, as at Luray 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 Weyer's
and one or two others of the smaller
caverns an end to progress is found in
heavy stalagmitic walls or accum,la-
tons of clay. The older part of Wyan-
dotte 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 passages
are exceedingly narrow and tortuous,
and some of them are so low as to
make the travelling painful, but most OF
the way is through broad and lofty
avenues. The story is told of a very
corpulent man, who is prominent Re-
publican politician, that in gong
through one of the narrow places he
became so tightly wedged in that the
combined efforts of several friends wei q
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 vaulted tops, having a
mound of rocks on the floor correspond
ing in outline to the curve of the cell
ing. These have been formed by the
gradual disintegration of the rock
above and its deposit below. One OF
these is !, 900 feet in circumference and
245 feet in height, and the hill in the
center rises IT'S feet above the level OF
the original floor, nearly blocking up
the approaches. One apartment is ESQ
feet long, so feet wide and 25 feet high;
another, 100 feet in diameter; third,
40 feet wide and 12O feet long; anofa er,
200 feet in diameter and SO feet high:
and still another, 25O feet long. 100 feet
wide and 80 feet in height. One pas.
sage very closely resembles a railway
tunnel in size and form. The most
notable of the formations are stalag.
mite 25 feet in diameter and 80 feet
high, and a semi-circular group OF
stalactites having the appearance of q
canopy. Flint in veins and nodules il
plentiful in some of the rooms, and
syPoun and opson salts are abundant
in others. But little water is seen. One
spring is strongly impregnated with
sulphur, and small stream contains
eyeless fish. The temperature of the
air is Sc degrees throughout the year.
The Indians, and probably the mound
builders, were familiar with most or all
of the parts of the cave that have vet
been opened, as flint chips, stone ham.
mers. and other relics of their visits are
found in the branches most difficult OF
access and latest explored. A singular
feature of the place is the presence OF
bats in the rooms nearest the entrance
in such vast numbers as to give dark
shade to the ceilings. They suspend
themselves head downward. and re-
main in a dormant condition during the
cold weather.-C0r. New York Sun.