Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-09-21
4 WONDERFUL CAVE.
The Natural Wonder on chsat River
Explored.
The Marvellous Story Told by a Party Of
Underground TOurists---The Gen.
eral News of the State.

For o yesg past it has been known tha'
. rave Of large extent existed in the
mountains near what is knCwn az Beaver
! Ee5e," on the banks of the Cheat river, in
Preston county, and last fall q party Of
men frcm Kipgxood partially explored it
their story on returning producing NO little
excitement. Last Tuesday a party of King
wood gentlemen among tSem 81. Clay
Hyde, Neil J. Forsney, Mack Menear, Tom
Brahsn and the editor O. the West
Virginia Argus, risted the cavern for
the pu-oose of making an extended investi.
CATION. The first day the party visited
FoUR LADeE ROOMS,
and then, being tired they dessted until
next morning. The editor of the Argns
tells the story Of the next dsy'srevents as
70 flows:
The next morning at 8 o'clock, found
the same crowd of eight persons at the
caves entrance, which is about 200 feet
above the bed of the river at the 'Gsh'pot,'
and about 100 or $50 fest below the road
that leads up the mountain. At the en-
trance is q small bench or level spot Of
ground probably l0xl2 feet. The entrance
is q small hole leading through the solid
rock for perhaps forty feet before q room is
reach. This entrance varies in heighttfrom
two to three feet, and in width eighteen
inches to two feet. A person crswls through
it with some difficulty, especially if he is
above the average man, in size. Ths frst
room entered is
CIRCULAR IN SHAPE,
about 40 feet in diameter aud 20 feet to the
ceiling. Several large rocks, weighing ssv-
eral tons each, lie promiscuously about the
floor and, from the appearance OF the cell
ing, one is led to the belief that they have
at one time fallen from above. At one side
of this room an opening is found leading
upwards into q room above l5x20 feet and
Y feet high. The ceiling of this room is
literally covered with stslactites ranging in
length from one inch to two feet, and on
the floor is found specimens of stalagmltes
OF varying sizes and shapes.
From the room first described, we
travelled in q halfrecumbent position for
fifty yards, following the course OF
SMALL STREAM OF WATER
that is found in the frat room. This pass
age opens into a room at least 60 feet long,
20 feet wide and Is feet high. 1t appears
to be simply an enlargement Of the passage
and contains nothing Of special interest
Near the farther end of this room we
climbed upward, with some difficulty, for 20
Get. through q narrow passage at the left
between rocks, and found ourselves in q
room, almost symmetrical in shape, and
lis feet long, 40 feet wide, and 30 feet to the
| ceiling. The floor OF this room is pure white
| sand that has fallen from above and the
ceiling looks like white marble. At one
| side of this room a small room opening
leads into q room 5x6 feet and four feet
high. The floor of this small room is white
sand tunnelshaped. 1t has the appearance
of being
THE woLLOw OF SON WILD ANIMAL.
1t was discovered by Fortney, Hyde, Kildow
and White last year, and was named by them
| the Virgin Shrine on account OF the re-
semblarce the large stalagmite in it bears
to o in a sitting posture. Some very
fine specimens OF stalactites hang from the
celllDg OF THIS small TOOm.
AT the farther end of the large room we
Just described, an opening is found through
which we walked upright for 80 feet and
came to a room about Is feet square and at
least so feet to the ceiling at the highest
point. Large rocks lie on the floor of this
reom and they evidently fell from above.
Water is continually dropping from the
| ceiling, and large powders above look like
they might fall at any time. Spent little
time as possible in this room. The passage
leading back from this room is very small
and it was with difficulty we crawled through
it. After q crawl of Is feet the passage
widened and got higher so that we were en-
abled to walk upright. A walk OF two OF
three minutes brought US to a huge rock
that
SEEMED TO BLOCK OUR PASSAGE,
but it was soon mounted and passed over,
but not without a great deal OF difficulty
attended by danger. Once over the rock,
we found ourselves in q small room very If
regular in shape. Here we found two pas
Q leading in different directions. One
of these opened to the left, the other opened
straight ahead. Brsham, Fortney and Sta
ley took the passage leading straight on
while the rest of US remained where We
we're. They returned in half an hour anf
rtported that they had gone into the pass
:ge as far as they could get, and brougd
q OK with them some small rooIets they go
back at the end Of the passage. How
these ~rootlets got there we could not imag
inc, for we were probably 1000 feet below
The surface Of the ground above US,
After their return We all took the pa 8
a 9 to the left which led us doWn over rocks
and powders for forty feet. Here we found
a room probably thirty feet long and verJ
irregular in shape. The small stream
found near the mouth of the cave runt
through this room and in it forms a small
waterfall three feet high. We got into the
bed of this stream and followed its course
at least two hundred yards and came to 6
room l0xl2 feet,
FILLED WITH CRYSTAL PURE WATER.
Our progress wa checked here as the watel
is too deep to wade. By sounding with
q n it was found 10 be three feet deep
This passage varies in width from two Il
Eve feet and in height from three to fou1
feet. 1t appears to have been formed b!
the small stream of water that now rum
through il. After coming in contact will
the lake or pond OF water, we retraced on
steps and reached the mouth of the cave q
2 o'clock, having been in it six hours"
tbs WRONG
A married woman in New CHAMBERLAIN,
nbo 6onhted her hnsband took her cook'