Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-31
A BOTTONLESS PIT.
West virginia Claims the GATEWAY 10 the
Dread REGIONS of the Lost.
cleveland Plain Dealer

A Petersburg Grant county, W.
Va letter says One Of the most plea
SAINT OF midsummer recreations is trout
fishing among these grand West Virgi-
MIA mountains, and here, along the
south branch Of the Potomac and the in
Vulnerable runs and creeks which empty
into it, the sport may be enjoyed to per-
lection. So wild and picturesque is the
scenery, and so primitive the surround
ings. that although the traveller is but
twenty-four hours from Cumberland
and thirty from Washington city, he
seems, when once in these mountain
Businesses, to be quite on the extreme
limits Of civilization, and far removed
from the teeming population which in
reality swarms so closely around him.
The country hereabouts is very thin
" settled, the inhabitants being mostly
gathered along the line of the new rail-
road being pushed into the heart Of the
mountains by Senator Henry &. Davis,
James &. Blaine, Secretary Bayard,
and other capitalists and politicians, or
are scattered in the few small villages
which are to be found at long intervals
in the river valleys. The area of cult
waited land is extremely small, the vast
majority of the territory being clothed
in a dense growth Of black-walnut and
other valuable hard woods. Game Of
all kinds, including deer and bear, is
plentiful, and no incOnsiderable portion
Of the scanty revenue of the people is
derived from the hides of wild animals.
Strange as it may seem, the popula-
ton Of this region is intensely Repub-
lican, Grant county having for a genera
ton given a two-thirdS majority for
the candidates of that party, although
the counties surrounding it on three
sides are intensely Democratic. The
people, rude and uncultured though
they are, are generous to fault. and
milk and honey, figuratiyely speaking.
are showered upon the stranger who
may happen to be within their gates in
way not to be deSpiSed.
There are many natural wonders in
this out-oEthc-world region. and yes
terday the monotony of camp-liie was
varied by a visit to one of them, the
locality known far and wide throughout
the South-}ranch country as the He'll
Hole. This is an uncouth name, but to
visit the spot justilieS the title in the
mind of the beholder. This terrible
abyss is on the North Fork, west Of
Ritenour, at the side of little stream
which gurglcS unsteady down the noun
tain. and is to the lower or left hand
side of the road which leads through
the IIarmar Hills. The chaSm, cir
cular in shape. is about fifteen feet in
diameter, almost perpendicular, and is
believed by the inhabitants near by to
be bottomlesS. Its situation is at the
bottom Of deep rocky gorge, and the
scenery is unusually wild. Many
attempts to sound this mysterious
well by lines. some of them 1000
feet in length, have been made in
days past. but as yet without avail.
and lighted lanterns and torches low
cred TO a depth of many hundred
feet have revealed naught Ut rough,
irregular walls Of solid rock. Pro-
vided with a stop-watch, dropped
heavy fragment of rock over the edge
Of this yawnirg gulf, and the last faint
sound which came back to my ear was
at the expiration OF fourteen seconds.
From this, making due allowance for
the resistance Of the air, the transmits
sion Of sound, and the impediments to
the stone caused by the uneven sides,
| calculated a depth Of 1852 feet t
inches. preSuming. Of course, that the
last audible sound was caused by the
rock striking the bottom.
The people. who have for many years
regarded this gigantic well with some
thing akin to awe, tell many stories of
il and Of the objects animate and mani
mate, including at least one human be-
ing. which have been swallowed up in
its Unsuitable nav. A fine white-pine
tree, with a slender stem, straight as an
arrow and over 100 feet high, stood on
steep slope a few dozen yards from the
mysterious hole. Two of Isaac IIarmar's
sons concluded overture up and cut the
tree for troughs. 1t fell with the top
up hill, and, starting to slide. dSap-
peared bodily into the He'll Hole and
vas lost to view, the terrOr-Stricken
young men who peered cautiously over
the edge being unable to see the Slight
est trace Of the tree except a few bits
Of bark and branches clinging here and
there to the Jagged rocks.
But other and more serious accidents
have occurred at the He'll Hole. About
ten years ago a partially-blind peddler,
who was making his way south along
the North Fork from Martinsburg to
White sulphur Springs, disappeared
suddenly in this vicinity. \ search
was made for him, and his trail finally
struck and followed up to the very
brink of this fearful pit. The suppose
ton is that, in the dusk of the eyaning,
the old man walked to the mouth ofthe
hole, all unconscious of danger, and
stepped OF, TO fall as TO yet unknown
depths.
There is also legend current among
the good people Of this portion Of
Grant county that, away back in the
early days of the century, when the
red nan had not long been gone from
the North Fork Valley. a young girl,
disappointed and heart-brOken at the
course OF a lover. had made her way to
the mouth Of Hell Hole, and. deposit
ing in little pile on fiat rock the few
simple love tokens received in happier
times from her betrothed, had leaped
into the fearful depths before her.
On another occasion a valuable horse
fell into the pit, and last winter a dog,
while pursuing rabbit. took the direc-
ton Of the hole, and catching his prey
on the edge, lost his footing and both
animals were engulfed. Tourists have
dropped tons of rocks into the hole,
but its dark secrets are still unrevealed.
and probably will ever remain I'M
known, an object of mystery and won
der TO the passing stranger and Of ter
ror to the inhabitants Of the region in
M bicb ~ ;c Situatad