Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-01-22
GREATERvILLE, Santa Rita ]
 Plscers. IanuarY Q. 1

A~NNASt oohNoi9 "s
 EDITOR CITIZEN: l promised you An account of any further discoveries that might be made in regard to the exploration of the Aztec Cave. On Sunday. January 9, party of eleven started out to reach the bottom of the (so far) bottomless pit, and how we succeeded I will tell you. According to arrangements made the day prev ious, we were to meet at the cave with everything prepared, each man furnished with two candles and rope. Henry Fucher, Isadore and myself reached there first. We tied one rope and descended into the first chamber, which was about 12 feet deep. leaving a note behind us stating that we were waiting for the balance of the party at the mouth of the pit. Fucher hay ing a compass and thermometer, we began the exploration. Before we entered the cave the atmosphere was cool and down 10 40 degrees. In the first chamber it was co degrees and m the second apartment 62 degrees. Having exhausted our supply of rope. we had to await the arrival of the bal sDce of the party, who were not long in coming, including pr. Cubberly, Profs. Williamson and Finely, J. NJ. Williams and brother, T. F. Whitson, Jose Valdonado and Don Chapo, all with candles sblaze and packed with ropes, picks and scientific insiru- ments. Having science, muscle and nerve combined, we commenced our onward march. We did not proceed very far before we had to depend upon cur ropes. Twelve feet down brought us to the landing of the Ind ian Chamber" where rest the poor bones of |" Lo"-I believe the Doc tor pronounced the relics to be those of 1rdiPns. On former trips l had found old pots, dart-hesds, painted feathers, etc.
 There is pillar in this Indian room that is beautiful beyond description. A kIng might envy his resting place. We returned and ascended 6 perpen- diculsr wall of about 25 feet, then wound around great pillars, climbed oyer fallen masses of stalactiles and reached 8 passage which led us to |" Coyne Casa" Going down for about one hundred yards we came to the entrance of" Williams Casa" which lead 10 Pompey's Pillar" which you described in former number of your paper. Here the party divided. Dr. Cubberly, Henry Fucher and myself started toward the Pit" while the balance of the party went to explore Herculsneum.n l packed one hun dred and fifty feet of halt-inch rope. In reaching the pit we had to pass through " Hutchings' Casa" thence down the long tunnel on an incline of about 45 degrees and about eighty feet in length. Having descended as far ss we could we tied the rope to the wall, and to Henry Fucher belongs the credit of descending first. He packed 6 compass and thermometer along to take observations. He pro- ceeded well for a distance of sixty feet. Then the rope became entan- gled, and he struck q streak of clay anG mud, and the small rope became very slick, rubbing against the wall. he had to Ioid the c.ndle in his mouth and cling by his fingers and toe nails for about twelve feel, then il was all right again until he came to the " Pilgrims Landing" He stopped 10 rest and l proceeded to follow hIm. When l reached that landing l think I felt . lttle warm. l asked Fucher what made it so warm. He replied by pulling out his thermometer, which stood st o5 degrees--in the shade, too. At that the beautiful scenery began to disappear, or it seemed so to us. The ornaments were but few, but they were of a different quality, and the mag nificence of the cave began to dwIndle down to \ common coal shaft. Look. ing up we saw Dr. Cubberly bearing . candle; he looked like an eclipse on the moon. Ten feet further down was another landing. Here We got to the end of the rops. l sang out to Prof. Phoeby to tie on more rope and drop it down. Now everything was round and ss slick as an onion. There were two small holes down here-one was SO small that I could not crawl into it, the other one was funnel shaped. Into this funnel l Iproceeded to descend, went down about twenty five feet and came 10 another landing. I sang out to Fucher to come down, and he descended. The heat appeared op- pTessive, and the thermometer rose up 10 110, with not . breath of air. IL opened out hgain. how far or how deep 1 will never tell. 1 broke of some stalacLites snd dropped them down. They fell, they scattered and rolled and echoed. My hair stood on end. I told Fucher, I had had enough of this, and started up with the candle in my mouth. When l got to the "Pilgrims Landing" l waited for Fucher. There we found the skeleton of an animal Fucher took the under Jaw and 1 took the skull and four lex homes and tied them