The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1898-01-11

THE CAVE JEWELLERS OF
CLOVER CREEK.

icl lOCh III HloOlOn. IL ID cCOIld-
cious lava, and like all scoria;
whether in small fragments, such
as dykes, etc, or extending for
miles over the country in mas
sive bodies-it is literally honey
combed with caves and galleries
made by the gases that came up
with the lava when it was in a
high state of fusion, and that is
the case with the rock on Clover
creek; the entire country is cross
ed and recrossed-underground
by caves; sometimes narrow,
tortous seams hardly wide
enough to admit the passage of
a mans body, then again, widen
ing out into gigantic chamber,
two or three hundred feet in
length by fifty feet in width, and
sixty or seventy feet high. At
some remote period these caves
were the channels of subter-
ranean rivers, but the water,
finding an outlet at some lower
level abandoned these caves, and
after they had become drained.
tney were taken possession of,
and inhabited by race of fierce
ldwarfs.
These people were the only
cannibalistic tribe l know of in
the northwestern country. They
were only about Il feet in height,
but very agile and strong. They
existed contemporaneous with
! the Geosacerii and disappeared
about the same time, probably
by the same cause. AZ the en-
frances of the cayes are always a
pile of loose honlders, which
were placed there for breast
works. All these breastworks
are far enough back 10 the cave
for the defenders to be protect
ed from the missiles of an enemy
attacking from above by the
roof of the cave, and the only
road of attack left the besiegers
was to attack directly in front in
broad daylight, and unprotected.
while the besieged were hidden
behind their breastworks and III
partial darkness. which gave
them a decided advantage. do
not think that they ever We're in
= great danger of an invasion,
though by the amount of broken
arrow heads around the entraN-
es of their homes, 1 think that
they had many hard fights to
{ prevent it.
/ = They were under tribal gov
, ernment, though it was a very
loose government even for the
tribal form. Deep down ia the
the large chambers of the caves
were their main places of abode,
and some of these chamber floors
are covered with two or three
feet of debris. There | have
found many things used by these
queer people. | never found
anything to lead me to believe
: that they had any religion, al
- though they may have had some
kind of superstitious belief.
AS said before, they wers
cannibalistic. and from the larg,
amount of human bones in theil
caves, 1 think that the flesh o
their own kind constituted a con
siderable portion of their dali.
food. Indeed, nearly or quite {
: fourth of the bones in the refus
J. in the bottoms OF their old cav,
homes are those of human beings
l think they must have acquires
. the custom by force of circum
stances most probably while il
a state of seige. the food suppl,
became exhausted, and they wer
- compelled to subsit on the bodie
of their slain brothers and thos
of the enemy that they could sc
| cure by sudden sallys out upol
| the besiegers. So having ono
tasted human flesh, they soon az
quired craving for it, and the
they soon developed into tn
full -fedged cannibal. How tel
rible How awesome must
have been to those doomed to b
eaten, if they were yet alive
deep in the earth, where the
never were before in their lives
surrounded by group of hungr
enemies, whose fierce. lawles
eyes cleaned wickedly in tn
fiickering light, of the fire tn;
lit the cave, and glanced frol
their stone weapons in grim II
lentless manner. foretelling th
horrible fate of the luckless cal
tive. If they were at all like Il
southern cannibals, they ofte
L. pounced upon members of the
I'd own tribe who looked goo
s. enough to eat. and feasted upo
thayn What a urirn rieeura il