Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-07-22

| 'zed idea of perfection in the way of
building, and is picture of stately e!ev-
ance and beauty. An immense niche faces
the entrance to the room, and here is the
imaginary seat of some prehistoric deity.
The structure is hollow in its formation,
and beneath the seats are three beautiful
rooms of alabaster whiteness. No work Of
art can compare with it, and words are in
adequate to describe its beauties and
wonderful construction.
| 10 the right of the immense throne
rises to the ceiling a pure white, futed
| plilar, about three feet IN diameter, rest
ing on pedestal or base followed out in
to beautiful room, the walls of which
are of solid ONYX, in colors of red, yellow
and white. From this room flows small
stream, fed from spring, which furnishes
pure iee-cold water. On all sides of the
| throne room the walls are adorned with
flowers and vines carved by nature from
the solid marble, with the yellow, red and
white stalagmites stand ON all sides and
beautiful pendants hang from the cell
ing.
Many and various gre the decorations
winch adorn this most magnif ,ent of all
underground chamb RS; and yet there is
moro to be found by following the various
passageways leading in all directions
from the central portion of the cavern.
Rooms spread out at the end of beautiful
| iy arched plssageways, and these are adj
orned aud white carvings. One passage
way has been traced for distance of
twelve mlles in q southw2sterly direction
and as there is h3W of air coming from
tue interior, Ii Is believed that this pass
| ageway connects with the famous Barry
county cave thirty five miles away. That
there Is some other exterior opening is
evidenced 10y the presence OF many AMI
mails which have undoubtedly wandered
INTO these deep recesseS and died.
| Nor is the imu.ens cavern uninhabit-
ed. 1t has hors and fauna peculiar to
itself, and like tn. walls, the plants and
animals are pure white In the grand
| amphitheaters is to b. found u peculiar
plant of fungus, BILE ,ched white by the
d Arkness, md IN the passageways are
found species of newt, which is az white
and coloriess rs the deep w tier fishes.
In the long paSsageway leading toward
the Barry county entrance were found
bats which evidently sound their way in
TO these deep Iece Some of these
were o. enormous size and had the ap-
peardnce of the South American YAM
pires.
In body of red clay which almost
chok2d up one OF the passages was found
an accumulation of bones of wild animals
which had died In the cavern. Here are
round bones of bears, wolves, dt or, rae
coohs. toxs and numerous others, showing
that at one time this WAS a verltable char
II, house tor will ! b ass.
DR.. G., Hart Merriam and Professor
Holmes, of the agricultural department
AVID Smithsonian institution, have made
An * KAN nation of the clay beds IN which
were TOun the skeletons, and are OF the
opinion that great discoveries are In store
tor 'me scientist Sh0 ua> time and money
to devo.e to the TX await on and exhuming
Of the skeletons there buried
Inc C bed extends into It passageway
which at one time WAS app rently the out
ier ana In this the animals sought refuge
to escape some great cttac ysm which evil
IDENTIFY ov rwhelmed that part of the couD-
try ages ago, and the food of clay c4me
ever them and stopped up the entrance.
This bed Of clay has been dug into for
about fifteen feet, and the deeper into it
the exploration il made the greater Is the
quantity of bones.
Some of the bones are what are denom-
mated as recent" that is, of animals of
the species which are now on elrth, while
MANY OUTFITS are ancient ana prehistoric.
| Among the latter are the skulls Of several
cave bears. There are also bones Of IL by
ena, and some of the great cat, while there
is one which has been set down as belong
| ing TO camel
| What has been considered as most re-
markabIe of all discoveries in the cave is
a flint arrow head which was found i'm.
bedded in the clay with the bones. This
IS evidence of the presence of man at
those remote times, but whether the arrow
head was swept in with the clay, or
whether man also went into the cave to
escape the food, can never be told unless
the bones of human being are found.
The gentlemen from Washington who ex-
amined the bed states that there is no pos
sibllity of finding human bones there I'M
| less they should have been petrifed or pre-
served between chalk, which is not found
| In tie cave
One of the most important features is
the river which flows through it. This
stream is about fifty feet wide and flows
very swiftly, and at distance can be
heard the roar of the falls. No attempt
has been made to explore this river, for
these who have been In the cave are afraid
| tha. they will be drawn into some awful
chasm, and that that would be the end.