National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-06-10
WONDERFUL LURAY.
A MAGNIFICENT CAVE IN VIRGINIA.
Visit to the Great Curiosity Graphically Described
What Marvellous Things Can Be Seen In the
Caye-The Country Surrounding
1.-THE Attractions.


hours. As it is approached the mountain peaks
grow more rugged and majestic, and the railroad
track, as if in imitation runs over a more rugged
bed, and for majesty mounts on tall trestle works
that make the nervous passenger wish he was safe
on terra tirmG and wonder whether his ticket en-
titles him to erial flights of this kind. The town
of Luray is beautifully situated the slope of the
mountain, within plain sight of Stony Man
Mountain, said to be one of the highest points
! in Virginia. Its houses straggle along
one steep street, part of the excellent Culpeper
pike-a former famous highway for transportation
during war times. To the east lies the Blue Ridge
and 1t stretches away to the southwark till lost in
the dim distance, and in the west the Massanuttan
| Mountains shut out the natural horizon. OF the
town itself little be said in its favor. The geo.
logical stratum of this region is limestone, which,
being readily dissolved by water containing car
bonic acid percolGting through it, is the natural
| material for the formation of caves.
! THE COUNTRY SURROUNDING LCRAY
| is filled with many small caverns that have been
known for years, varying in size from a few feet
| to many yards in extent, which are said to have
| been utilized during the war as hiding places by
runaway slaves and men wishing to escape enlist
ment About two years ago some wide-awake
citizens of Luray, with an eye for rather unique
| speculation, formed themselves into company
for the purpose of tapping the earth at points
| MHSIS the lHulcdlIOH OI caves appeared laVOr-
| able. They methodically set to work. and, after
repeated failures, their efforts were sue
cessful. The discovery of the present cave
was not therefore the result of pure accident, but
of determined effort to uncover the secrets of ma
ture The credit of the discovery belongs to An
! drew and William Campbell, two genial and en-
terprising gentlemen and it is to their efforts that
| the developments afterward made are open to the
public to-day. Campbell and his associates after
discovering the cavern and partly exporingits vast
extent, went quietly at work TO buy the BToaddus
property, on which the cave was found, and the
sale was made to them at ST. an acre. They were
HAPPY IN THEIR BONANZA
and saw millions i'll it." when their bright dream
was disturbed by lawsuit in behalf of Broaddus
asking to have the sale aside various technical
grounds, the immense value Of the property con-
cealed beneath the rocky pasture ground having
leaked out The first suit for the contested right
resulted in the success Of the Campbells, but on
| appeal, the decision was reversed and the Broad
duS managers" were put in possession of the
property A few weeks ago the cave was sold TO a
jointstOck company for $4,000, and the Campbells
who thought themselves the owners, have the
doleful satisfaction of being hreings to look
after it, At two O'Clock the cave
HAD BEEN ILLUMINATED
and the visitors, divided into squads each with
guide to lead the way and to give information,
were ushered into the grand entrance chamber,
magnificent compartment twenty feet long and
eighty feet wide, worthy to be the vestbule of the
wonders that lay beyond. The arched walls were
hung with hundreds Of stalactites glstening III
the light, while from the centre hung one far
longer than the rest, which had been cleverly uti-
lied as a chandelier, from the point Of which
was hung @ circle bearing twenty candles. No
conscientious correspondent will pretend that he
Is adequate to the task Of describing the marvels
of beauty that burst upon him at every step he
takes from the beginning to the end of his ram
bles through this enchanted place, nor even give
bare conception of the fascination the
MARVELLOUS SCENE.
In striving to give glimpse ofthis fairy haunted
realm, exaggerGtion seems impossible, and cool
description would bemean the subject. The mild
est fight Of the imagination could scarce coniure
up the fantastic shapes that drops of limewater,
falling for ages and ages have solidifed into rock
As Schlegcl said of some decately- chiseled stone
traceTy in a Gothic cathedral, here truly, is
" frozen music" When the spirit of the place has
once seized on ones imagination it is easy to be-
eve that all the old fairy tales of ewes and hob
COLLINS and mermaids sporting in c@ral grottoes
are veritable facts. MdcbctEs witches could have
held high revel in the gloomy depths of Plutos
Chasm and the fairies of
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM"
might have quenched their thirst in the Imperial
spring or danced in Oberons Grotto. so suggestive
of the supernatural and the mystic are all the sur
roundings. Near the centre of the grand entrance
rises the majestic Washington pillar, massive
foundation fourteen feet across and thirty feet
high. From this point galleries shoot off in vari-
Gus directions, and the observer is bewildered BY
the thousands of lights that sparkle in the vistas
that meet his eyes. A narrow dele leads down to
the Flower Garden" where the stalagmites bios
som into buds, tcndrils vines and roses in innu-
merable variations. Diana's Bath is a superb re-
cess in the rocks. flied with pure limpid water
well worthy of the " Huntress chaste and fair"
after whom it is named. The ball room is beau
tifully formed chamber, with arched walls,
STUDDED WITH PENDANT STALACTITEs,
while close by nature, in freak of blue Presby-
terian austerity, has planted the counterpart of
ghostly cemetery, whose grim head-stones, placed
i'll rows, point painful moral to counteract the
giddineSs of terpsichOre. The Frozen Fountain
and Brands Cascade are perfect limitations in
glistening white limestone Of the foam and bub-
bles of flowing water. As though tired of counter
feiting the grand and beautiful of the upper earth
the stalactites in thcsFish Market represent stall
with herring hung side by side. IN various places
heads of animals, more or less exact can be dis
cerned. As We pass on, new wonders reveal them
selves. Vast forests of leafess trees spring into
view, colonnades in blue, buff, and white, mounds
of silver and bronze, richly carved pillars and
pedestals, groups of marble and alabaster statu-
airy, columns formed like Chinese pagodas, tower
ing SPIRES forts and castles in picturesque ruins
and an endless variety of shapes that have no
counterpart in the world which the sun shines
upon. The cathedral is worthy to be the gothic
Cologne where the
SUBTERRANEAN GODS
may be worShipped by their devotees. Scores of
candles lit up the groto at the end giving the ap-
pearance of an altar at high mass. Close at hand
is the organ Of the sanctuary, founded by the
stalactites descending in pipes Of graduated scale
which are actually attuned to some extent in har-
mony with the laws of musical sound, and, on be-
struck Give forth oh no al,c