Omaha daily bee., 1890-01-18
AN OREGON CAVE.
Another Rival of Kentucky's Wonder
Driven Out by Bats.

driven Out by Bats.
The following is an account OF the
discovery of u wonderful cave in Doug
las county, about four miles from the
farm of NJ. G. Ruckles, on the line of
the Southern Pacific railroad, ana is
told as nearly as possible in the Ian
guage OF one of the discoveries, says
the Rose burg (Ore.) Plaindealer.
IA few days ago, while out hunting,
followed it to what looked like n coyote
den. The dog went in and remained
quite a while. Thinking he might
have been killed by some wild animal
in the cave we went up to the hole and
while looking around the mouth of the
cave heard the dog barking vigorously
in what sounded like a large chamber or
room In the mountain. We at length
called the dog out, but he Immediately
started back and again began to bark.
Being of an exploring turn of mind, we
ventured IN, crawling through the aper-
ture, which was hardly large enough to
admit the body of a human being. What
was our surprise, after proceeding about
twenty feet, to find that we were in a
large room. 1t being very dark. we lit
what matches We had, and could then
see that the room was decorated with
numerous large crystals hanging from
the roof, which, from the reflection Of
the light, looked like a mass of dia-
monds. While taking in all this splen-
dor in silent admiration, we could hear
the sound of running water, but not
having anything at hand to ex-
plore farther, we crawled back
to daylight and went home.
Provided with lanterns, we returned
next day and proceeded 10 investigate.
A FLOW, liz n vino tln + a r~t 100, xrn ,rn,t
through a narrow passageway which led
to a large body Of water, which ap-
peared to come through the top of the
cave and fall into smother cave below.
Taking up a stone which lay near by
we threw 1t down the passageway
where the water was falling, n when
it reached the depth OF about 25 or. 30
feet it struck against what appeared to
be the side Of the cave, making u noise
like the report of a annon When on
the verge of retractlng our steps we
saw a small hole in the face of the cave,
which on closer inspection, proved to
be o continuation Of the passage.
way. We were now in, and ventured
on. After proceeding for about fifty
feet we came to some stone steps. After
reaching the top of the steps we we're
in what appeared to be a sacred hall,
for on the walls we could discern hero
gliphics of the sun and also people
who all appeared to be travelling in one
direction. Some were on foot, while
others were mounted on what looked
like camels. Right under the sun was
a book which lay as il open, and, hardly
discernable, were some characters
or writings of some extinct
race. Near these there were
twelve persons in a group, while a
little way in the lead was another per-
son, who, from the position of his ex-
tended arms, looked as if he was urging
them on. After looking around we
were led to believe that the people who
inhabited this cave at some past age
were sun-worshipers. On the floor was
m pottery, also some spears and
darts. They looked as il the wood work
had been destroyed by age. AS VIC were
starting IN in search of further knowl-
edge we were all at once surrounded by
bats, who made it SO unpleasant for us
that we were forced to beat a hasty re-
treat and leave all further researches
to q future day.