The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-03-21

Cd by the elements, being carried
away through the subterranean
channels. The fact that existing
caves under the hills surrounding
these valleys have been found
through entrances in the sides Of
some Of the valleys is an indication
that this may have been the condi.
tion.
MAMMOTH CAVE.
The entrance to Mammoth cave is
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 1914 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 tempera-
ture of 80 degrees while the other
hand was extended into cool, flow
ing river of air with a temperature
of about 60 degrees. The air within
the cave has a uniform temperature
summer and winter of 81 degrees.
The cave may be said to breathe
twice year-inhaling during the
winter and exhaling during the
summer This breathing of the cave
and the purity of the air and its
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 eff
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 lighted, and
we enter this silent, mysterious,
changeless 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 my
light and sat alone in the darkness
and listened while the grand an
thems rolled and reverberated
through the lofty corridors in ma
jestic waves cf melody. could
then appreciate the inestimable 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 soor
learn that nowhere in the cave viii
even dust rise upon our shoes. We
note also the exhilarating effect o.
the air upon the members of oul
party. 1t is believed that the all
has become oxygenated by chemica
process; certainly, from its purity
and drynesa, it enables one to un
| dergo exercise for hours without
sense of fatigue. Here before us il
eyicence of the wonderful drynes
4 of the air. The saltpeter vats erect
cd in 1919 and the timbers whicl