The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-06

of the timber originally put in these mine.
by the ancient workers are yet preserved
They stand there, covered with the ar,
cumulated dirt and metallic coatings ~
ages, in the same position they wers
placed in when the metal for the tenn
pie was being taken out.
From out Of a deep and weird passage.
400 feet under the earth, we took )na
of the oak water wheels and carried a
to the surface, where the copper was
taken off. The wheel was found TO he
in perfect condition. Time had evidently
not wrought its ravages upon this an
Gent mining device Living hands ones
more grasped the long levers, as they
were held when in daily operation fortv
hundred years ago."
Strange is the history of these wonderful
treasure caves. In their subterranean
depths, hundreds of feet from the light Of
day, toiled countless workers when the
world was in its very first stages of devel-
opment. When the Saviour walked tho
earth, these caves were then 1900 years
old.
To go back stiu further, these sams
mines had witnessed the rise and fall Of
Egypt; had seen Jerusalem grow from
humble hamlet to be the richest city In the
world, and remained as a commemorative
of her glory centuries before even the pal-
ace of Nimrod was built. Rome was noe
founded until hundreds of years after they
had been abandoned
We look upon the days when Daniel the
great prophet, addressed the multitudes
from the steps of the temple as extremely
remote, yet even this was so recent that
Daniel was unable to find the source from
which Solomon procured his metal, all
traces of the fabulous treasure vaults hav-
ing been lost hundreds of years before
and apparently forever.
Hidden from tho xu0rId In "a than
known land of Spain. they were mute Wit
nesses of the advent of civilization. In
the dim dawn of human history, when the
peopling of the world began, they wers
there, and were co-existent with the birth
and death of races so remote that even
history fails to record them.
1t is strange how Solomon came to dis
cover these treasure caves. Neither his
tory nor the Bible makes any reference to
the manner in which he found them. They
were far away from his place of birth. ls
| is thought more than likely that Hrams
king of Tyre, was the real finder, and that
| he communicated the discovery to Soio-
mon, who at once proceeded to extract the
metal. What is now Southern Spain was
then the richest and most valued Of the
Phoenician possessions. The land was q
mine of wealth to them, and Hiram was
well acquainted with it's great caves and
| riches. So great was its wealth in gold.
silver, copper and precious metals thas
even the ships of the Phoenicians carried
silver anchors"
1t was at this time that Hiram Journey
ed TO Jerusalem, where he met Solomon
and took part in the building of the tenn
pie. He became a goldsmith, as II were,
to Solomon, and it was he that furnished
the temple with such stores Of precious
metals from the mines of Spain that sl~
yer soon became so common that 1t 'ac-
counted as nothing in the temple" as We
read in the First Book OF Kings.
Ruins of the temple are still standing
near the eastern wall of the present Jeru-
salem. Excavations have been made os
one of the ruined walls and series OK
piers have been unearthed. These origin
ally supported the arches of the briggs
which Solomon built to span the yaheg
connecting the temple with Jerusalem.
The unearthed wall is in a good state %
preservation, retaining as II does uaCs
of the massive and perfect character on
the temples architecture, and bringing "
mind some of Its past glories and saneu-
ties. Many of the stones are tWenv-nNe
feet in length, and apparently have r.
NAMED undisturbed since the time SUI
mon placed them there. Beneatn lns
| foundations of the temple have been ul.
earthed various subterranean cnanueis
and passageways OF immense size.
None of the temples gorgeous oihas
ments has been discovered, although ~
believed that fragments OF them may se'
be found under the hidden foundations
! IL was these ornaments OF gold ana pre-
| cious metals that made Solomons lell
| pie the most wonderful building tne W.
| has ever known. To obtain this ueaSu' ,
the temple was plundered no less lna ,,
twelve times and thousands Oh nv"
slaughtered.