The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1898-07-07
MAMMoTH CAVE.


Tine MalnmOt0 OaVo OI h0utuSAy
for The Century. Mr.. Proctor says:
The entrance to Mammoth cave Ii
reached by descending picturesque
pathway leading from the hotel
down the hillside over jutting moss
and fern covered limestone cliffs in
to beautiful glen extending from
the top of the hill down to Green
river, which is 194 feet below the
mouth of the cave and about half a
mile distant. If the weather is
warm, as we near the entrance we
step into a bracing, cool, pure air,
yelling up from the cave and flow
ing down the glen beneath the
stratum of lighter and warmer air.
have stood near the entrance and
extended one hand into a temPera-
ture of 80 degrees while the other
hand was extended into cool, flow
ing river of air with q temperature
of about so degrees The air within
the cave has a uniform temperature
summer and winter of "a degrees.
The cave may be said to breathe
twice a year-inhaling during the
winter and exhaling during the
summer This breathing of the cave
and the purity of the air and it's
freedom from germs are among the
most interesting problems to be
studied. BY what process the air in
the cave becomes sterilized remains
to be determined.
But our faithful negro guide has
counted the party, selected the req
uisite number of lamps, and given
the word, and we follow him in sin
gle file down the rude stone steps
into the vestibule of the cave. Turn
ing, we look up at the beautiful ef-
feet of daylight which we are leav-
ing and admire the delicate cas-
cade falling from the overhanging
arch at the entrance.
Here our lamps are h"hted, and
we enter this silent, mysterious.
ohangeless abode of eternal night.
where the heat of summer and the
cold of winter, the storms and thun-
ders of the outer world never pene-
trate. A few hundred yards and we
feel the peculiar sensation of emerg
ing into expanding space. We catch
only glimpses of white limestone
projecting out of black shadows of
the faraway walls and ceiling of an
immense, almost circular room
about 20 feet high. which our guide
proclaims the rotunda.
We note the peculiar musical eff
feet of the human voice. Years ago
it was my good fortune to hear a
celebrated German musical society
| sing in this rotunda / went far
away in one of the great avenues
leading from here, blew out NY
light and sat alone in the darkness
and listened while the grand an
thems rolled and reverberated
through the lofty corridors in Ma
jestio waves of melody. i could
then appreciate the einestimable priv
ilege of the few who heard Jenny
Lind sing here and who in the star
chamber heard a member of her
party render on his violin the pray
er from Der Freischutz.
When the rotunda is illuminated,
we note the perfect clearness of the
atmosphere, the freedom from dust
particles of any kind, and we soon
learn that nowhere in the cave will
even dust rise upon our shoes. We
note also the exhilarating effect of
the air upon the members of our
party. 1t is believed that the air
has become Oxygenated by chemical
process; certainly, from its purity
and dryness, it enables one to un-
dergo exercise for hours without a
sense of fatigue. Here before us is
eviCence of the wonderful dryness
of the air. The saltpeter watts erect
ed in 1912 and the timbers which
have remained in their present posi-
ton since then show no evidences
of decay. In these watts the saltpeter
was leaohed from the nitrous earth
abounding in the upper and middle
dry avenues and used for the manu-
facture of gunpowder.
The war of 1912 was fought, on
the American side. with gunpowder
made from saltpeter taken from
caves, and Mammoth cave supplied
the greater part One wonders how,
in the absence of germs and of de-
cay, the earth becomes charged with
nitrogen. 1t has been claimed that
nitric acid in tine atmosphere, COM
bining with the limestone, forms nj
trate of calcium, and the disintegrat-
ed waste from the walls and ceiling
yields the great supply of nitrogen
abounding in the cave.