The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-18
lNDIANA'S LOST RIVERS.
MYSTERIOUS sTaEAMs THAT FOL-
Low CAVERNOUs COURSES.

Water Charged with CarbOnfc Acid
Gas Unites TO COrrOde the Lime
stOne-Great sinks that Absorb
the Surface Observation-Disclosures
of Sick CreeIS-Relics of People
that Lived Many Centuries Ago
An Embankment In n Prehistoric
County.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The beauties of the historic Orange Val
ley. in Indiana, are now at their best,
and all nature smiles peacefully upon the
land of wild woods. healing springs. and
subterranean rivers.
The beauties of the land are many, ex-
tending from Orangeville to French Lick.
and including the mysteries and wild ca
pers Of Lost river. or River styx. as It is
often called, and other streams whose
ways are just as devious. The fora and
fauna are peculiar, for it seems to be the
meeting place of the north and south. The
cat bird sings in the same thicket with
the hooking bird, and the oppossum and
woodchuck have their homes in the same
field. The persimmon and the pawpaw
flourish with the hickory and the oak, and
SDlenQOI
with those of the dogwood The seduc-
tive quiet of village life, the rural scenes
and sounds. the absence of hurry and wor-
ry, and the vices of the marts contribute
to make the valley ideal for rest and re-
cuperation and reveal the poetry Of nature.
1t must have been a weird, hayward
mood that created this part of the world.
Down deep and near the surface It is hon
m laA nit a,taa 4,,s.
and through which pour subterranean
streams, while here and there burst forth
healing springs OF iron, magnesia soda, and
sulphur springs The water is Of marine
origin, and was deposited in the bottom
of the subcarboniferous ocean, having a
probable depth of from 900 to $500 feet.
Under the pressure of such depth of
water, the material, consisting of COM
mnuted shells Of animals and crinoids
was perfectly compressed before harden
ing. In the process of upheaVal checks
and cracks were formed, through which
the surface water found its way. Water
charged with carbonic acid gas, so preva-
lent there, coming in contact with the
limestone in passing through these OPEN
ings, would enlarge them by uniting with
the lime and forming soluble bicarbon-
ate of lime. This process continuing
through the ceaseless round Of time, would
continue TO enlarge these openings form
ing rivulets. which would finally become
large subterranean rivers.
Regarding the healing springs abound
ing between Paon and French Lick. IL
may be said that since the early settle
ment of Indiana, In the seventeenth CEN
fury, the waters have been known as
possessing rather remarkable chemical
medicinal properties. 1t is said the In
dams considered the place sanctiied
ground, believing that the Great Spirit
had mixed the drinks, and that all that
came from the springs was heap good
The resorts are termed the Carlsbad Of
America"
Many small streams and rivers abound
in the vicinity, all OF which have the
habit of disappearing into the bowels of
the earth without any system, only to
burst tOrth miles away and continue on
their course downward to the sea Chief
of these is Lost river, or River Styx Its
source is away up in corner of Wash
ington county, from whence 1t flows west
ward into Orange county. At first Il IS
an insignificant, crookedly twisting creek
but tributaries add to its flow until when
about fifteen miles in length 1t lays claim
to the word river" During its journew
il disappears several times in tungles and
swamps, but the real sinks, which gain
for it the name 1t bears, begin some miles
southeast of Orleans.
There are four of them, at an average
of about two miles apart. In dry wealth
er the first sink takes in all the water
which does not again appear until at
OrangeVille ten miles west the river
bed between these points becoming a
tangled mass of grass and bushes. The
sink is but a huge, cavernous- looking
hole in the ground, and suggests to the
curious the entrance to hades 50 dark
and unfathomable is 1t.
Light rains will overflow the fist sink
and the surplus water will continue
down the weed-tangled channel to the
second. Heavy rains will fiji the channel
to the third, and long-cOntinued rains will
carry some surplus as far the fourth
sink. In the last case the water has two
exits near Orangeviile. At one II gushes
from the base of a hill in the form of
huge springs and wells, and at the other,
north of the village, ii bursts through the
base of a bluff. The reason for these
overfiows is that the subterranean pass
ages are not of sufficient size to carry
the floods. These passages are Of a
complex system of mains and leads and
not single channel through which the
water rushes; neither do they follow
the course Of the surface bed. When
the water is Of sufficient quantity to enter
the fourth sink it rises through three
openings and flows on through the river
bed.
The dry bed is not an open channel
and is unlike the valley Of the usual
streams. Large upland forest trees grow
along the banks, showing that for long
time the river has been lost IN the con-
cretionary limestone below the earths
surface The underground stream may
be reached at the fourth sink, where the
cavernous opening Is about eight feet