The Portland daily press., 1895-07-23
TIE CAVERNs OF TENNESSEE.
One of Them More Interesting Than Ken
tucky's NIammouth Cave.
(From the Chattanooaa Times !

, (from the Chattanooga Times.)
10 those who are interested in natural
ouriosltles Tennessee present a very ex-
tenslVe field In all quarters of the state
are to be found caverns, grottoes, lakes,
and other objects of interest, and to de-
scribe them at any length would require
prodigious amount of work Last year
Prof. Mercer of the university of Penn
sylyanla visited Chattanooga and spent
some time in eXcavating in Lookout,
Nickajack, and other caves, in hope of
hndlng the remains of extinct animals,
or at least traces of some prehistoric race.
No list of the natural curiositieS of Ten
nessee has ever been compiled, and even
the histories and descriptive sketches of
the various counties do not mention them
all That they have been objects of in
terest since their existence became known
is made manifest by the fact that in 1912
a book emitted Life AS 1t Is, - was writ
ten by j. W. NJ Breazaelle A copy of
this interesting work it in the possession
of L. 6. Walker of this city Breazeale
makes no mention Of Lookout cave, and
fails to mention also Carroll's cave, one
OF the most interesting in Coffee county,
not far from Tullahoma In Smith and
Wilson counties there are numerous ex
tenslVe caves, but no mention OF them is
made IN the book. AS this is the season
when tourists invade the remote places of
the earth, it may possibly assist them to
find out something that is at least novel,
by describing the location and chief cl @ :
acteristics of some of these freaks of ma
ture.
Noar GraaDvilla in Croopo co,,pt1 ic
very beautiful cave, which is fully as in
teresting as, if not more so, than the
Mammoth cave Of Kentucky The en-
france is in the side of a ridge about
midway between the summit and the
base, and merely hole about five feet
square. From the entrance is a long,
narrow slope, leading into subterranean
chamber, with groined roof. and well
turned arches and numbers of stalactites
and stalagmites. Narrow passageways
connect this chamber with a number of
others, in one of which is "Pompey' S
pillar" a column about 20 feet high and
two feet in diameter which glitters like
a cluster of gems in the torchlight In
another chamber is swift flowing
stream, and in another deep hole, from
which current of air passes rapidly.
In jefferson county, near Messy creek,
is one of the most peculiar caYerns in the
country, the entrance being on level
plateau and the cave itself almost hori-
zontal with the surface of the country.
The entrance is like the crater of a vol
cano, and when the bottom of the shaft is
reached passageway extends great
length in an easterly direction 1t has
never been explored very far because of
a deep stream of water about 20 feet in
width, which has hitherto barred further
progress. Away in the distance is heard
the roaring of a much larger stream,
which is thought to be veritable under
ground river of no small dimensions.
The general surface of the country is level,
sparsely timbered, and with very few
springs for several miles around. How
ever, two miles from the cave is an enor-
nous hole about $50 feet long and 100 feet
wide, at the bottom of which is deep
lake of clear and exceedingly cold water
The curiosity part of the fact is that the
hole is 100 feet deep from the surface of
the ground to the surface Of the water,
and the lake has apparently no bottom
and neither inlet not outlet A few miles
from this lake is the site of Swingle's
lead mine, where the first settlers pro-
cured lead for bullets.
In jefferson county also is English's
mountain, in which there is a "bloWing
cave. % This cave has never been ex-
plored because q strong current of air
rushes from it every four minutes with
a sufficient force to extinguish any lamp
or torch. Electricity has not reached
that locality yet In Carter county are
caves, but without any striking features.
One of them is known as dead Mans
cave" because three hunters lost their
way in it and were found dead by their
friends, having been oyerpowered by
gases.
In Monroe county, about six miles from
Madison, on Milk Sick Knobs, is a very
beautiful cave. The entrance is in the
side of steep slope, and is only just
large enough to permit person to enter
A narrow passage about 400 yard long
leads into magnificent chamber about
200 feet square and over $50 feet high.
Then there is a complete chain of cham
bers of enormous size, connected by low,
narrow passages In one of these cham
bers is a deposit of ochre, and from the
earth in another chamber it is said that
saltpeter was once manufactured. This
cavern also contains a very large river
and millions of talactites, from the size
of a lead pencil to nearly a yard in diam
eter. One column is nearly six feet in
diameter.
In Warren county is Higginbotham's
cave. with a vast chamber nearly 10 acres
in extent. and there are several very
beautiful caves in Marion county.
Some day these caves will be thoroughly
explored by scientists, and then, without
doubt. a great deal of valuable informa-