Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-11-26
THE PADRE NINE.
Its Supposed Location Discovered Near
the Organ Mountaii.s.

the Organ Mountains.
AT the base Of the Organ mountains,
$50 feet down the Bennett mine shaft,
workmen in driving drift along the
ore vein some time ago discovered u
wonderful cave, II description of which,
from the Rio Grandc Republican, il
substantially as follows: A narrow pas.
sage leads downward from the shaft,
through which the visitors Chamber. but
the wonderful and beautiful creations OF
nature which meet his vision after de-
scending TO the depths below amply re.
pay for the trouble. Following the guide,
and holding for protection the cable
which has been stretched from the open
ing in the drift to the farthcst portion of
these grand caverns, the visitor goes
downward through "A slanting passage
widening rs he proceeds and ending in
q large chamb I, only one of several
connected together Here, by the dim
light afforded by candles, appear the
first Of the intricate network OF lime for
nations, which invariably cause those
who have been so fortunate as TO view
them to eXclaim with wonder and de.
light. On every hand the walls are
frosted over with the most delicate work
OF nature, on one side of dazzling
whiteness and on another tinted with a
delicate pink or green where the miner.
al from the vein has aided in making
beautiful effect.
Springing up from the floor or jutting
out from the wall are the same curious
formations which have assumed the
shapes of trees, shrubbery, ferns, and
grasses, rs if they were all coated over
with ice and snow, and il is easy to
imagine being in frozen dell. Cas-
cades, with the very spray frozen, that
tumble down from the walls help TO fill
out the picture. Miniature groves, with
branches INTERVIEWING, are punched to-
gether eight or ten feet high, all OF
the same virgin whiteness. or tinted
with the most beautiful colors. Coral
growing in the sea could not be more
beautiful, and it resembles on a Grand
scale nothing so much as the tree that
is formed by suspending piece of zinc
m n solution of lead. They do not form
rs in other caves where a stalatite hangs
down. formed by the dripping of the
roof, and stalagmite rises up from tho
floor to meet it where the drop strikes
it, but the formation is one of crystal.
izaton.
At the farthcSt end of these wonder
full underground chambers the visitor is
800 feet from the bottom shaft. and has
descended at an angle Of forty-fye de-
grees, which makes $40 feet from the
surface. II is not thought that all the
caverns have been visited as crevices
through which man can not pass are
found, and they may connect with other
rooms equally magnificent. In fact one
passage that leads to the grandest cham
Der had To be opened with a blast OF
giant powder:
Ii easy of access, the cavern would be-
come a popular place of resort, but the
doom of all this splendor is not far ia
the future, and to sec it in lis glory they
must be visited soon. The benefits that
accrue TO the mine by these openings
must be seen TO be appreciated. If the
hand of man had followed them out it
could not have better aided in the work |
ing OF the mine, and indeed it is Ques-
ton if il is not the work of human agen-
cy. The startling question is propound- !
ed: Can ii be the lost Padre mine? II |
has been suggested, not without reason. |
for not only does the cave occupy the |
place in the contact where the mineral |
usually lies, sbut in several places, di-
rectly in the ends Of it, are bodies of ore |
just rs if the workmen had left them |
1t may be suggested that the formation
of limestone would not have accumula-
ted, but il has been more than two hun
dred years since, as claimed by the le-
gend, the Padre mine was closed up by
the infuriatcd natives, and limestone
are quickly deposited.
What was called the SHAFT descends
from one of the upper levels straight
down to the depth OF seventy feet, con-
Meeting with the lower openings. and
adding another presumption 10 the
theory.