The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-01-01
IN A SALT MINE.
A GItttsrinE Underground Cfty-PiTar..x
Crystal.

A GItttsrinE Underground Cfty-PirIarsax
Crystal.
Correspondence London News.
Light % few candles" was the or~
der passed as we were leaving Wins
ford; and I Am under the impression
that the hole down below is like anv
other hole, and that the "few candles
wilA just give us light enough for Fra
space Of some three or four wards
But we shall see. We step into orr
iron bucket. Thedoort Thereof is closed
upon as. The steel ropes are made
fast. The signal is given. There ;sa
h]esitating, trembling motion, and we
drive swiftly into Plutonian night.
straight, sheer through a funnel $40
feet deep, and 3 feet . inches across.
the rim of our bucket now and again
grinding, scraping, humping, ~screeching
against the narrow walls. After the
first few seconds have passed, one
cannot tell from ones sensations.
merely, whether one is going up or
down, or is suspended at rest, there is
only the trembling of the invisible
steel ropes and the scraping sound on
the walls. In q minute more we touch.
the floor of the under world with the
lightness of a feather. In the name Of
the fairies, and goblins. and gnomes
and spirits of the earth, what have We
there? Oh! Master Robert "a few
candles" The city OF Dis illuminated
-thiS,is what meets, my astonished
gaze.
Open spaces, endless streets turning
and winding of. in all directions, and
outlined i'll spots of light, and in the
farthestdistanCe al ,ornamental group
of lights. as il Cn a. wall or on some
vast supporting pillar. 1t is as if one
looks from some point OF vantage up
on the lights Of Eown In dark night,
without moon or stars; not q town
with empty space over it, but q town
under a h%orizOntaR ceiling thirty-three
feet above the pavement. On this
level pavement the massed bands
of the British army may play
Strauss music, and the. whole of the
London West Ends spin round or
eight fantastic toae," The first feel
ings Of surprise over;, / examine my
surroundings in leisureiy detail. At
some distance i'll front OF us looms a
dark masswith q horizontal line Of
lights hall way up it,. The three OF us
Mr.. Verdin, the guide, and myself
approach it, each carrying q lighted
candle across the floor, which appears
to be as level as the floor in a draw
ing-room,. and which Isl covered with q
thin carpet of salt fine as powder and
dry as finder. Wherever the lightfalls
upon it, the dark object glitters as if it
were encrusted with rubies and dia-
monds. 1t turns out to be q huge,
square pillar, extending from floor to
ceiling. Eaehaof its four sides measures
twelve yards, it is 5birty-three feet
high, and itf1snothing, but a mass OF
crystals. At every twenty-five yards,
north, south east, west, stands one
OF these gigantic G0Iumns,-all OF
them, like tais one;. masses OF many
tinted salt Crystals, lad with the dla-
mond fish, darting owe their sides.
The plan oSthis, wonderful colonnade
is now obvious. Theminers have been
cutting their way, ALL these many gen.
erations, Through the solid rock salt,
horizontally, clearing a smooth floor
below their seet, lsaNTDga smooth cell
ing over their heads, and, at the,al-
ready namedi distance, those enor
nous pilastsrs,. whose function is to
prevenJ the roof, that is, the 330feet
ofthe earths crust, from failing in. The
ceiling is too high to- respond veryIib7.
orally to the flicker'of our candle lights;
but in a hundred spots it wrinkles like
stars peering Through the clouds OF
night. TheyYlbok as though they.had
the strengths of doom, those pillars,
and were destined TO the crack thereof