Arizona silver belt., 1895-03-30
FLORIDA SINKHOLES.
Mysterious Actions of the Ground
 of That State,
Large Depresslons in the Earth Which Appear and Disappear from Causes as Yet Undis-
 covered.

T Southern railway near Gainesville re- calls the old question concerning the Florida sinks. What are they?
 Except the railroad feature, there is nothing so very unusual in the forma- | tion of n new sink; one was formed l year or so age about mile from the | site of the accident, and close by the 1 same railroad, but there was no partic- ular publicity given to the fact Un- | less the formation of Il new sink causes some particular accident or incon- | vcnicnco, it is only mentioned as new l curiosity might be--something to look at if you are going that way,
 Alachua county probably has a larger number of thesc sink holes than any other county in the state.
 Some of these sinks have water in them, some are dry, and some are forty
 feet in depth, and bearing orange trees grow on the sloping sides.
 All efforts to find natural causes for these sinks have failed to account for their existence, says correspondent of the Savannah News.
 The numerous recent discoveries in some western states in Central Amer ica and in Mexico of the remains of the dwellings of people who lived be- meath the surface of the earth suggest the possibility that these Florida sinks are the brcalSing-in of the roofs of chambers formed by race of people who, in the long ago, occupied Florida, That subterranean chambers and pasSagc-ways exist in Florida is well known, but how they were formed and for what purpose l have never seen even suggested in any work on the sub ject.
 The natural wells all have an artifi- cial appearance. They are all entrances to tunnels in which water runs Per sons have often entered one and come out by another. l have heard it claimed that these natural wells arc the open air shafts to subterraneRn roadways, and that they lead to large rooms in some places. have been told of large subterranean chamber near Arch CT on the walls of which are picture writings.
 The investigation of this subject might yield some very interesting in- formation. A small party of friends have made some very strange discov- cries regarding these Florida sinks. They have found that like the numer- ous other ancient works of Florida of which I have written, such of these sinks as they have examined all bear the same engineers marks attractive bodies placed in the grOuud), by which the outlines of the original work can be traced, and also the connecting pas sages; and this has led to the further discovery that the same lines are quite numerous in places where there are no signs of sinks or natural wells to be seen.
 A decided similarity exists between many ancient works found in American and Egyptian work. There is no good reason why we should not take what is known oi Egypt to at least suggest the form or purpose of the unknown in America. In Egypt and Morocco, l am informed, the excess of grain crops is placed in chambers in the ground, the chamber is closed, and nll visible traces of its existence are destroyed. In time of need the caid or sheiI finds the chamber by use of the shah cl loo, and thus a famine is provided against
 May not some of our numerous large sinks represent similar large granaries or store chambers?
 The scene of the accident on the Florida Southern railway is on the edge of Paynes prairie, where twenty thousand acres of rich land might yield grain enough to require an i'm. mensc storage capacity. The spot is centrally situated for water transporta- tiOn of the crop across the prairie by it's central drainage canal, and is easily accessible from region where there are no large prairics to cultivate.
 Near Gainesville and in the city there are many places where it is often noticed that where horses trot over them a hollow sound comes from the ground. I have traced on some of these spots the very same lines that are found at the sinks. At Ocala. Dadc City, Tampa and Port Tampa City have found the same lines, and have been told of many other places where these lines have been traced by gentle men interested in the same line of in- yestigation.
 Reasoning from the lines found at the sinks, wells and tunnels that are known, the same lines being found where no sink or well now exists the same conditions should be in these spots as must have been in the others before the supports Of the roof gave way to form the sinks or wells. Sev- eral attempts have been made to dig down and see the actual condition-if there be chamber and what it con- tains; if there be tunnel and what it leads to-; but water and quicksand were in every instance too much for the means of the explorer, so that it still remains a mystery, and no one has yet satisfactorily answered the question: What iR a Elnrila sink2-Gnu