Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-06-20
WORLDS BIGGEST BEEHIVE.
California Curiosity Which People Gaze
At From a Respectful Distance.

California Curiosity Which People Gaze
At From Respectful Distance.
Did you ever see bee tree, with a
swarm of bees around it? Well, mag
nifty this about 0,00O times and you
will have slight idea of natural
beehive in Mendocino County, Cali.
fornia. 1t is rift in the face of a
cliff, and tradition has it that there is
large cave on the inside, where the
myriads of busy insects make their
homes.
This great natural curiosity is
known to the residents of the adjacent
country as "Bee Rock" and they
have grown to look upon it as COM
monplace, when in reality it is the
only beehive of the kind in existence.
There is no danger of person get
ting very near this natural beehive
without knowing it, for at all hours Of
the day swarm of insects hover about
several hundred feet in all directions.
An incessant, maddening buzz fills
the air that can be heard an eighth of
mile and serves as a warning not to
venture too near. But men do ven
ture near after having first put on a
suit of leather clothing, fastened a
mask of wire screen around their hat
brim and lighted good big torch.
These precautions are absolutely
necessary.
1t is almost impossible to make out
just where the entrance to this nat
ural beehive is. There is sort oI
cavern in the cliff that seems to have
crack through the inner wall from
top to bottom, but most of the bees
hover around hole about eighteen
inches wide and appear to make that
the point of ingress and egress. Many
days it is impossible to even see the
cliff, so thickly covered is it with in
sects, and they roll in and out of the
opening like a stream of molasses.
During the summer dead birds can
always be seen on the ground around
the mouth of the hive. They have
been stung to death while attempting
to fly through the the swarm of in
sects. Four-footed creatures never
venture within half mile, seeming
to know that death turks there. In
front of the mouth of the hive there is
a pile of dried honey that has flowed
from the interior. 1t looks like q
heap of molten lava that has been
hardened after being discharged from
O volcano.
A party of men living in the vicinity
claim to have entered the beehive
several years ago. They selected a
cold day in winter, when the bees
were half dormant, and poured coal
oil and benzine around and into the
opening. Then they made big fire
of wood, so that the whole cavern was
filled with flames. Then they poked
the red-hot embers down into the
opening and so killed every bee in it.
~ But there was not much to see after
the men got outside. Only a lar ge
cave, with the walls covered with
wax and dried honey and enou gh of the
sweetness in pools in the bottom to
last big city for several years. OF
course, the honey was unfit for use
on account of being full of dead bees
and ashes from the fire. The men,
however, did not linger in the cav 9
any great length of time, as it was
foul-smelling and sitting. Although
countless millions of bees had been
destroyed on this occasion, the next
summer they were as numerous as ever
and just as vicious.
Indians of the neighborhood say
that in "the good old days" the bad
men of their tribe were bound hand
and foot and carried to within a short
distance Of the beehive by men wrap
ped in blankets. There the helpless
creatures were left to suffer the awful
agony of being stung to death.