The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-22
BIG WONDER"
a Valuable Collection for the Pa
iatka Historical Society.

Bellona, where 1 am now sojourning,
Is in Yates county, \. y, about eight
miles south of Geneva and two miles
west OF Senaca Lake. This locality is n
place of much interest 10 biologists, rs
1t affords page of valuable informa-
ton in regard TO the early age of this
world. The Ka-shong or Big Wonder"
gully passes through this place The
/ gully, which is the subject of this arti-
Gle, was formed by water escaping from
the rolling lands lying to the west. In
its course to the lake il has cut a re-
markable passage and brought To the
| light of day the marks of ages long.
long ago buried from the view of man.
and which 1t Is claimed To have existed
millions of years before Adam.
At this season of the year Ka-shong
] galley Is dry, and it is visited by scien-
tilic men from the world at large. who
mine and deive among the rocks to Sc
/ cure specimens of animals and vegeta-
/ ton, many of them known to be the
| petrified remains of the first living things
that saw the light of day, and one spec
linen belonging to the mollusk, is found
nowhere else in the world.
| On last Monday a party was organized
| to put your correspondent Through the
/ falls IT, consisted of Mr.. =. III. La
/ Munyan, who has resided here for sixty
/ years, Mr.. Chas. Welch and his daugh-
| ter May, Mr.. y. Sloan and his sister Lou
| STA. The four latter were born here, and
! the party had - often explored the gully
| that they knew every f,Dt of its wind
ing course, and agree to carry your re-
porter through safely. At the appointed
hour We met, with hammers, chisels
and baskets, and il was not long before
We were asking the rocks, with our irn-
PIGMENTS, To give up their dead
The ted OF the gully is solid rock.
just above the bridge that spans the
creek, on the main sire It, n e MANY Ia
teTesting sights. The water that has
rolled ON IN its course for ages, has cut
through many feet of soil and thirty feet
of shale and several feet of lime rock
In the rocky floor can be- seen quite dis
tInctly the footprints of men, women
and children, mastadon, deer and birds.
Many similar footprints have been bias
ted out and carried away. and plaster
casts have been made of others. The
footprints of the mastadun are as large
bushel basket, and the bones of one
perhaps the identical one that made the
tracks, were found recently near here
and were secured by Amherst college.
"
der in the hearts OF the curious visitors.
Below the bridge there are three large
falls aud a rapid which desCends - feet
in 100. Indeed, the creek should be
called rapids, because the bed through
out its entire length. is Il succession of
falls from six inches to thirty feet. Ii is
said that in tine rainy season or after the |
breaking up of winter the water, in its
mad journey 10 the lake, is dashed into a !
seething foam, and at a distance has the
appearance of milk, hence one of the
falls l. called 'ButtermillI Falls"
My companions being > the manor
born, could climb the PERCEPTIONS sides !
or descend the fails or rapids like fairy
elfs, but your correspondent, Unaccus
tened to such gymnastic exercise, FIRE
quently spread out his shapcly 200 !
pounds so as to occasion the remark !
from the ladies that his falls were more
graceful than those of Ka-shoug Oh, |
ah! what bitter sarcasm
At some points the gully is cut through !
fifty feet of rock. The sides will be al I
most perpendicular. On top of the rock |
Will be mountains of soil which support I
huge spruce and hemlocS trees. whose !
branches embrace across the chasm and |
shut out the strong sunlight of day. To I
be alone in this dark, mysterious pas |!
sage breeds awe and wonder. If the /
rocks that contain the impress of men /
who trod the earth a million wears ago |
could speak, pages of history more won
derful and mysterious than have ever /
before been penned, would be added Ia |
our knowledge. | felt like asking these
silent rocks, whose fantasticai shapes /
pictured to my mind inches, arches.
domes, pilasters and pillars as | have I
seen i'll illustrations of ancient Rome, /
say, surrounded with these silent oh
.iects, | felt like asking If in those DAYS.
when the snail and the trolobite fed and .
fattened on the mire. the land was
blessed with politicians and patent med
icine quacks. Whether the college DAYS
of the bare-footed pedestrian who lett
lis footprints in the rock of ages afforded
Instruction in the manly art of self-de-
Tense and the national game of base ball
Whether the moCcaSin footprint was
that of a squaw with banged har ana
low-cut dress on her way to n matinee. (
or searching for 'llage gossip. Wheth.t
the mastadon's hide was tough enough
To resist a Seneca Lake mosquito or wa.
his tail compelled to wisl them from hiS
pOnderouS sides.
What fancies intrude upon YOU ia
such place, and Gne Is led To exclaim,
when surrounded by such scenes. what I
will be our fate when the world Tcvoives
change again? When the north pole {
shall become the equator; when the /
broad fields of ice are turned To fields of
verdure and spiendoI: VIII then some
simplcton, with hammer and chiseI.
try to mine ont our footprints. or shall
We be exalted 10y occupyin a place in
dime museum as a pctrited mummy
All, well, We shall see when the time
rolls by.
Tie party spent the whole afternoon
in search for specimens, and we did not
start To return until the sun had sunk
behind the hills. When We arrived III
town we were worn somewhat thinner
and our appetite was ont of all proper
ton TO our size. We secured about 100
specimens, some of them very fine. The
party very generously listened to TIE.
sweet song OF YOUR correspondent and
donated the find To the Palatka IIist..-