The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-10-28
THE LURAY CAVERNS.
How These Wonderful Caves Were Dis
covered.

THE LURAY CAVERNSs
How These Wonderful Caves Were Dis
covered.
The Luray Valley, as it is called, is about
ten miles wide, extending from the Blue
Ridge to the Massanutton Mountain, and
the village is midway between these lofty
heights. This Massanutton Mountain is a
strange, Independent sort of a mountain
that rises in the very middle of the Shenan-
doah Valley and stretches through it for
fifty miles, the part opposite Luray being
about midway. Why it is there and how it
got there nobody knows but the biologists,
| and even they have several theories about
it. But it is there, and through the valley,
as it is called, queer hills and gorges and
declivities stretch away to the Blue Ridge
as If nature had been trying to make some
smaller mountains and failed. Some of the
hills are round and big and fat and others
are broken and irregular and scrawny.
Huge boulders and rocks are scattered every
where; the ground is very stony limestone
abounds almost everywhere and the trees
that remain and, indeed, almost all the foil
age are poor and unattractive. The land
looks poor and is probably poorer than il
looks But little of it is under cultivation
and the fine farms and great plantations
that have in times past been such feature
of Virginia life elsewhere, are not to be seen
here even in decay, for they have never
been. A p3os class of white tenants, as q
rule, and semi-squatter negro population
have for a long time eked q slender subsist-
ence out of the land, falling back ON an &c.
casional coon shot in the mountains VIXEN
their supply of salt pork and bacon ian out
All about, even now are the evidences Of
poverty and decay.
The local magnate of the place, one Petel
Borst, lived in a grand house ON a hill and
owned nearly all the country round. He
was lawyer and the dream of his life was
to get railroad here and then build up q
great town on his land. But before any
railroad came one day, while Peter Borst
was arguing q case in court, he fell ovel
which he lived and in which his wife has
been keeping boarders is to be sold. Mean.
time what all the possessions of Peter Borsi
failed to do little patch of COW pasture
owned by one Buracker has accomplished
and the railroad is here and property is more
valuable and Luray is known the world
over. By mere accident the architectural
wonders of nature that existed under one Of
the plump, fat hills was revealed, and from
that hour the community began TO profit by
the discovery as much as if it had been O
gold mine.
This man who owned the hills of eighteen
acres in question, which is a little over 9
mile from the railway station, for nearly
fifty years had been bothered about g sinh
hole" into which every year he continued
to throw rock and refuse, hoping to fill il
up. Occasionally he despaired and said &c
himself that "he guessed maybe it was one
of those Internal caves" Numerous small
caves exist in the locality, which have beer
and are yet the hiding places of animals, OF
are made to furnish stones, or, as happened
during the late war, were made to furnish
saltpetre to make powder with which &c
blow Yankees into kingdom come. The
property got into court and was sold fol
$500 at the instance Of creditors in 1878,
only seven years ago. 1t was bought by q
son of the former owner, but the amount
was not nearly enough to satisfy the clam.
bring creditors, who in reality were tn,
power behind the throne in much that tool
place afterward. There lived in the locality
two brothers named Campbell, one of whom
Andrew Campbell, his brother, was of q
norrsdic and adventurous disposition and
fond Of hunting up and exploring the small
caves of the adjoining mountains and hills.
Together with numerous others one night
after the sale they went to the Buracker
property to see about the sink hole of which
they had Just heard and Andrew with can
die was let down by rope through hole
very little larger than::himself. To numer-
GUS questions when he got back he said it
was "a nasty old mud hole " or something
like that, and mud there was in plenty at
that time, but not enough TO prevent the
Campbell brothers and friend from going
the next day and petitioning the Court for
a new sale, which was granted and their bid
of $3.50 accepted. Then they opened up
the cave. But Buracker's creditors now
saw their chance and joining issue tried to
have the sale to the Campbells set aside on
the plea of fraud, but the Circuit Court re.
fused 1t and it was carried to the Court OF
Appeals, which ordered new sale and
Philadelphia capitalists, whose attention had
in the meantime been directed to the cave,
bought the property for 100000, which
paid all the creditors and left plenty be.
Sides
Andrew Campbell, who discovered the
cave, is now in charge of it and has person.
ally penetrated to its difficult and labaryn-
THAN recesses, and opened up each year new
parts to public view. He is brave and ven
furious and his life has been many times in
peril. He has on several occasions squeezed
into places beyond his arms where he could
not get out again except by drilling and an
tifeial aid.
Carver g Williams are receiving thii
week an immense stock of Dress Goods
Gentlemen's, Ladies' and Misses Under
wear, Blankets, Cotton Flannels, &C., al
,.;noo I'LL v1x