The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-21
LOST RIVER is A WONDER.
THE REMARKABLE FEATURES OF
AN INDIAN STREAM.
IL Disappears and Rises Again Sew
eral Miles ANvay--A Subterranean
waterfall, and Caverns Descend
ing to It's Banks.
FROM the chicago Record.

waterfall, and CaVerns Descend
ing to Its Banks.
From the Chicago Record.
Orangevlle, Ind, Aug. 23-Of all those
vagaries Of nature which attract both
scientist and curio seeker in Southern
Indiana there is none, perhaps, more
interesting and more mysterious than
Lost river which takes a second lease
of life in the upper world at this place.
For fourteen miles or more in an air line
for fully fifty miles and more if all the
ramfications and gyrations of the bed
are followed-this river flows under the
surface of the earth 1t enters its sub
terranean way by running into a hill
1t merges, clear and cold, from beneath
the base of a tall bluff In a nutshell,
a river, or. rather, a good-szed creek,
rises in Washington county, flows a
short distance, and disappears in a hole
in the ground. Miles away, at Orange
vile, in Orange county, it reappears,
and thereafter in most respects behaves
itself like any other stream, until it
loses its waters in the east fork of the
White river and eventually in the beau
tifu Ohio.
This stream has something of a coun-
terpart in Stamper's creek, when sinks
near where Lost river sinks and rises at
Spring Mills, forming the source of
French Lick creek. That these streams
flow for so many miles under ground
seems due to the curious geological
structure of this portion of the country.
There are hills rising nom 300 to 400 feet,
seemingly Independent of each other.
The country is wild and the timber land
in many cases is still untouched. Lost
river flows in ordinary channels until
IL commences to lose itself in sink holes.
These sink holes are common The
whole county seems to be hollow The
subterranean channel of the river Is not
simple, straight cavernous opening
like sewer, through which the water
PUSHES, but is complex ar
in two distinct systems, each
of which is a counterpart of
the dry bed on the surface of
the ground. In ordinary weather all the
water in the river is taken in at the first
sink hole. The water supply flows into
hole just as if it were flowing into
great sewer. When there have been
heavy rains and the flow of water is
greater, 1t appears that all the channel
and chambers of the lower subterranean
system are filed, and the overflow water
runs along the dry bed for several miles
until it reaches a second sink hole, where
Ii disappears. In times of unusually
high water this second system Of chan
mel chambers is filled, and the overflow
rushes down the dry bed of the river on
the surface, like any other stream.
All of these systems rcunite at Orange
system through which the ordinary cur
rent runs appears from the bluff on which
the village is built. The dry bed circles
around the village and merges with the
bed of the stream as it reappears, just be-
low the village. About mile~further down
the second channel chamber system gives
up its water and the reunited stream is
regular thereafter. The channels do not
follow the course of each other however
In several places the lowest channel is
several miles from the dry bed. All are
more or less in connection with each 9TH
er and many curious phenomena result,
For instance, about ten miles east of
Orangeville the dry bed and the lowest
which are known as wet weather rises"
1t is known that the lowest channel re-
CeiVes a large amount of water from I'M
foreground branches during its course
Some times these branches supply more
than the usual amount of water and the
overflow is forced up through these three
openings into the dry bed Then there is
the interesting spectacle of water flowing
in the lowest and the top systems, but
none in the middle system.
The dry bed of the river is not an open
channel. 1t has the appearance of the bed
of an ancient river long since gone dry
Not only is there the usual vegetable and
timber growth common to river banks
along its shores but in the bed itself are
to be found majestic forest trees. 1t pre-
sentS one Of the widest and most Dicfllr-
esque scenes imaginable when filled with
rushing waters following a heavy rain the
stream seemingly being lost in the depths
Of the forest. The timber growth is heav-
lest in the bed of the stream itself
The underground stream winds and
twists about like any surface stream IT
mas its shallow places and its deep places
its eddies, its ripples, its Waterfalls and its
tributaries. About eight miles from Or
lnseVille cavernous passage leads from
the surface OF the ground TO the brink