Smyrna times., 1885-09-02
A Bottomless Abyss.


There are many natural wonders in
West Virginia. The most wonderful is
what is known as the He'll Hole. This
is an uncouth name, but to visit it JUS
tifes the title in the mind of the be-
holder. This terrible abyss is on the
North Fork, west of Ritenour, at the
side of a stream which gurgles musi-
cally down the mountain, and is to the
lower or left-hand side of the road
which leads through the Harmar Hills.
The chasm, circular in shape, is about
fifteen feet in diameter, almost per-
pendicular, and is believed by the in
habitants near by to be bOttomless.
It's situation is at the bottom of deep,
rocky gorge the scenery is unusually
wild. Many attempts to sound this
mysterious well by lines, some of them
one-thousand feet in length, have been
made in days past, but as yet with
out avail, and lighted lanterns and
torches lowered to a depth of many
hundred feet have revealed naught but
rough, irregular walls of solid rock.
Provided with a stop watch, recent
visitor dropped a heavy fragment of
rock over the edge of this yawning
gulf, and the last faint sound which
came back to the ear was at the expira-
ton of fourteen seconds. From this,
making due allowance for the resist
ance of the air, the transmission of
sound and the impediments to the
stone caused by the uneven sides, it
was calculated a depth of 1852 feet
four 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
it and 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 q slender stem, straight as
an arrow and over one hundred feet
high, stood on the steep slope few
dozen yards from the mysterious hole.
Two of Isaac Harmer's sons concluded
to venture up and cut the tree for
trOughs. 1t fell with the top up hill,
and starting to slide, disappeared bodily
into the He'll Hole and was lost to
view, the terror-stricken young men
who peered cautiously over the edge
being unable to see the slightest trace
Of the tree except a few bits of bark
and branches clinging here and there on
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 Mar
tinsburg to White Sulphur Springs
disappeared suddenly in this vicinity
A search was made for him, and his
trail finally struck and followed up tC
the very brink of this fearful pit. The
supposition is that in the dusk of the
evening the old man walked into the
mouth of the hole, all unconscious o
the danger and stepped off, to fall to a
yet unknown depths.
There is also a legend current among
the good people of this portion of Gran
County that, away back in the earl,
5 days of the century, when the ret
man had not long been gone from tn
: North Fork Valley, that young girl
} disappointed and heart broken at tn
. course of her lover, had made her wa.
, to the mouth of He'll Hole and, depOs
iting in a little pile on a fiat rock tn
/ few simple love tokens received i
7 happier times from her betrothed, ha
T. leaped into the fearful depths befor
5 her.
5 On another occasion q valuable hors
e fell into the pit, and last Winter a dos
:, while pursuing a rabbit, took the d
5 rection of the Hole, and, catching hi
e prey on the edge, lost his footing an
e both animals were engulfed. TOul
= lists have dropped tons of rocks int
IS the He'll Hole, but it's dark secrets al
y still unrevealed, and probably wi
a long remain unknown, an object {
(. mystery and a wonder to the pas:
e. ing stranger and of terror to the il
habitants of the region in which it
! situated.