, 1890-06-08
DuTcHEss couNTYs BIG CAVERN.
An Interesting Hole In the Ground Near
tho Foot Of DIount RIgls.

"
An Interesting Hole In the Ground Near
the Foot Of oIount RIga.
Near the eastern boundary of Dutchess
county, almost IN the shadow of Mount
Riga, is one of the greatest natural won
ders of the state. Its a cave or passage
way into the mountain. which is called
Cave Hill, and its depth has never been
Known. It's opening resembles u roughly
cut doorway into a great rock. A di-
minutiye stream Of water triokles down
the mountain and into this opening,
which would seem the only agency by
which such a tunnel could have been
worn into the rock, but the size of the
ave some distance within precludes the
idea of its having been made by so mail
a stream.
The opening is just large enough for
one person to enter, and the way is u
rough and dangerous one. The rocks
are covered with u Shiny substance that
makes every foot of the way slippery and
t~reacherous. After much cautious NOV
ing and squeezing through the narrow
opening the party came to n large dome
shaped place, which, in the CLEAN Of the
torches, resembled a small ice palace,
while drops of water constantly fell from
some unseen place. The way leading
into the cave Is on n sharp downward
incline. and some Of the PAGES are very
large. many of them being about five
feet wide and fifty feet high. and, look
ing up through the dim light of the
torches, dozens Of ugly looking rocks
seem suspended from the glittering
arches by very slender hangings, and tho
sight is not calculated to produce a home
like feeling. The party followed this
dark hole in the mountain for nearly
half n mile, occasionally stopping to ex-
plore inches and apartments on either
side that suggested the story of the cata-
combs.
Finally the amateur explorers came TO
a precipice from which nothing but dark
ness could be distinguished. One of the
party dropped a stone into the darkness,
and the time that expired before 1t struck
anything seemed almost rs long as it
takes a stone to reach the river when
dropped from the Poughkeepsie bridge,
and when it did strike there was q pecu-
liar rattle and a sound like n much larger
stone falling into n pond. Almost on the
edge OF this precipice ARE two names cut
into the rock. They are j. Q. Dayton and
d. @. Dakin. both dated 1910. Other
names are cut in the rock nearer the
opening of the cave, one rs lately az 1876.
The cave Is without doubt perfectly ma
tural. Looking up from its deepest re-
cess 1t looks as though there had once
been a narrow ohasm like that through
which parts of the Ausable river winds
through the Adirondsoks, and that tho
rf0-lra bad ,nat at a.. -, .lv,, aI..,.. Al
chasm and sending huge rocks down,
partially filing the opening and leaving
a ~treacherous footpath through it all.
There are stories and legends con
nected with this cave which have never
appeared in print, although some of the
people that live in the mountain are
thoroughly familiar with them. Some
New York explorerJ once visited the
cave, and one of the party, q young
woman, became frightened after onter-
ing and nearly lost her life before she
could be rescued. About twenty years
ago a stranger inquired from the wood
men where tho cave was. When shown
h opening he exclaimed, "Ah, It's
minel tbs mine!" and at once prepared
To enter it in search Of hidden treasure,
which he said was there. The poor man
WA insane, and in his wanderings had
heard of this strange place, and at once
associated 1t in his mind with untold
fortunes, just as insane men nearly
always do. He built n hut on the hill
side near the cave and went every day
into its gloomy depths and crawled
about, often without light, even In the
winter. In this weary way he wore his
life awav md waa fonpd NV aorpa hppt
ers N day dying in his cabin and still
raving for his gold in the cave.
The mountain into which the strange
channel extends is one of the widest in
Duchess county. 1t is covered with
white birch trees SO thickly set that one
can hardly pass through. Many Of the
trees are dead, and the reporter, not par
ticularly muscular. easily broke of SOW
ernl of them with an ordinary push
Poughkeepsie News Press.