Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-11
DEVILS CHIMNEY.
THE MYSTERY oFA CENTURY SOLVED
 BY A BAND OF EXPLORERS.


 Was Merely the Burning of Surface Oil.
 An Exploration In Which There Was
 Danger of Death In the Jungle.
 Mr P. M Oliver of Gainesville. Fla, writes to Tho World that he has solved what he calls the great Florida volcano mystery. He was member of an expe- dition that went out and solved it. He has come to the conclusion that the so called volcano was caused by the ignition of gas oil and sulphur.
 MT. Oliver shall tell what he found in his own picturesque way:
 Having accomplished our work, I will now give to your readers the result in plain facts, to which we will mako affi davit. On our arrival at St. Marks. within 10 miles of the supposed volcano, we first interviewed the keeper of St. Marks lighthouse, from the tower of which this mysterious column of smoke has ever been plainly visible, and after also interviewing quite number of the intelligent old settlers in that section we learned that the smoke from the Devils Chimney, as they all term it, ceased to exist during the volcanic and seismic dis turbances at Charleston, or for three or four years since.
 "All admit having seen frequent forest fires, but that permanent and plainly visi- ble Devils Chimney column of smoke, entirely unlike any ordinary forest fire, had ceased This fact. having been estab lished to the satisfaction of our expedition, and having no object to run our compass to or to direct our observation, we moved our expedition to the famous Pinhook Sink, where Judge White, Judge James Bell of our city, Mir. Cox and Colonel Barber of Washington and number of others had camped and laddered immense pines to height of from 100 to 150 feet from the ground to gain observation.
 We divided our expedition into squads, and all under the direct guidance of Cap tain James l.. Oliver of St. Mark s, an old and intelligent settler and hunter, each party or squad closely searching for the extinct volcano We found three distinct Assures or chasms in the cone or top of rock mounds, varying ill height from 15 to 35 feet-fssures from which column of smoke and fire had in the past issued, leaving melted lava broken and shapeless rock thrown or upheayed in every direc- tion.
 'The material upon which this fire fed must have been gas, oil and sulphur, and burned until the coal supply was exhaust ed cooled down and extinct, leaving in Assures or round wells seemingly of great depth, water covered with perceptible coating of oil, while the walls or fues were fire charred, leaving great tags of lava and broken rock to unmistakably show hot, seething furnace once existed. Specimens of this material can be seen on exhibition at the store of Judge James Bell at Gaines vile.
 "The only plausible cause of these erup- tions is the great supply of oil, gas and sulphur present in that section of country. Every stream and pond has perccptible coating of oil, and oil keeps issuing from tho rocks and banks of streams and sinks, while sulphur is plainly visible in the cracks and crevices of the rocks. The natural oil and gas, escaping, we believe caught from time to time from forest fires, and exhausting themselves, burned out.
 We do not doubb or denysthat there may be other Assures existing and perhapa of more recent date in that great wilder ness of unexplored jnngles of three rivers. But we are positively certain that all are of the same nature, fed by the same mate rial, and arc surface burnings and not chimneys from tho internal lakes of vol canic fire.
 "Only two of our Gainesville expedition saw these Assures, accompanied by James l.. Oliver Mr. Comforth and one or two others. Tho Times Union correspondent and coexplorer at this time had struck out in q direction of his own, accompanied by one of the Gainesville expedition They got lost down in tho salt marshes, and perhaps would have perished or been dc voured by wild beasts had not Providence finally come to their aid (when thoroughly humbled) and directed them to a cedar camp where a good Samaritan fed and roofed them until they were able to re- trace their steps, feeling on entering camp wiser if not better men
 No man who has ever attempted to penetrate that awful jungle of three rivers, rising and sinking, forming fathomless sinks and whirlpools on their treaoherous and partly subterranean course to mother ocean, can form any idea of its wild, rough and hideous appearance. There is nothing to cheer the explorer in his work. No sound of hammer or hum of saw; no sweet, refining notes of female voices; nothing save the most hideous wilderness of jungles that the Almighty, in his mys- terious providence, ever stuck together with black muck, saw palmetto and bam- boo briers, where only the boot of the owl, scream of the panther and believing and muttcring of the alligator can be heard on every sidc-the last two of which with keen eyes to discover and ravenous jaws to devour the exhausted explorer-while tho owl is perched upon limb waiting and hoping that morsef may be left for his share, while hooting farewell requiem over the bleaching bones of the poor way farer. After these ravenosls beasts are done with man the vulture stands poor show in his strange taste for putrid flesh to satiate his cravings.
 ''Thus has been solved the great Florida volcano mystery which has existed for a cantIIrv with facts which ara crhcta ti-