The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-10-16
new MAMMOTH GAVE
Discovery of Scientists in Da-
kOta Black Hills.
REPORT OF GOVERNMENT EXPERTS
The Land 0flce and the GeaIosieai surve,
Have Blade Independent Inye-rixatieu.,
and Report THAI the New HeIe in the
Ground l. an Immense Natural Wonder,
sHrPassins in Many Respects Il entucky's
famoHs Cavern-Inserisr Rich In Coiors.

ersund is q a Immense Natural Wonder.
sayPassins in Many Respects Il eutucky,.
Famous Cavern Interior Rich In Cotors.
Inc discovery OF a new cave which is
10 eclipse in magnitude and scenic won
ders the famous Mammoth Cave of Ken
lucky has been announced so often from
enc quarter Of the country or another
mat II has come TO be looked upon by
newspaper readers almost in the same
iight as the annual temperance OF the
sea serpent at some well-advertised wat
ering place. As a matter of fact the cave
scheme has been pretty well worked by
the enterprising real estate advertiser,
yet the cavern seldom comes near enough
TO the promises of its prospectus to war
rant forming stock company.
But there has recently been discovered
a cavern in South Dakota which has been
officially inspected by two parties of gov
eminent experts and which. il all the re-
ports about it be true. promises TO com
pletely eclipse the famous Kentucky hole
in the ground. and to make the Luray
Caverns look like a handful Of mutilated
subsidiary coinage. The Interior De-
partment has thought so well of the cav
ern, in fact, that the land about IL has
been temporarily withdrawn from public
entry, preparatory 10 satisfying certain
unprotected homestead claims and setting
the tract aside as a great national park.
The existence of the cavern has been
known in its immediate vicinity for some
years, and so famous has il become
through the Northwest that Ii was visit
ed last year by about 900 persons. who
paid the owner a dollar apiece for en-
trance to the underground wonderland.
Ii was in 1888 that it was first officially
inspected by party sent out by the Unit
ed States Geological Survey, and their re-
port so impressed Director Walcott that
he communicated with the Secretary of
the Interior, and one of the Land Office
field parties also took a trip through the
cave. After the receipt of their report,
the Commissioner of the Land Office, Hon.
Binger Hermann, decided to temporarily
withdraw the land in this vicinity from
public entry, and this has since been
done.
In the Black Hills.
The cavern is in the Black Hills of
South Dakota and is known as Wind
Cave. IL is n the same sort of lime
stone formation from which the subter-
ranean streams carved out the famous
Mammoth Cave, and il evidently was
formed in the same way, though now the
miles and miles of galleries are perfectly
dry, and there is scarcely drop of moist
ure to be found in the cavern. Ii has
never been fully explored, but from the
miles of underground windngs that have
been penetrated il evidently is of greater
extent than the Mammoth Cave, is deeper
under ground. and has quite as many
weird and curious features. One of the
most remarkable features of the cave is
the mass of delicate ''boXwork'' with
which its walls are decorated. This is
made up of thin, intersecting veins of car
Donate of lime that has withstood the
action of the water while the surrounding
rock was dissolved and washed away
This formation is responsible for one of
the most remarkable rooms in the series
of caverns. 1t is known as THE Post
office" Its walls and ceilings are covered
with the white boxwork like the letter
boxes in the general delivery section of
the city post-oftice.
The FIRST room in the series of caves is
l55 feet below the surface of the ground.
and is reached by narrow, winding path.
The cave gets deeper as one proceeds,
and no accurate measurements have YET
been taken TO show hew deep under
ground il does 60 There are all the usual
cave formations of stalactites and stalag-
mites, the former making grotesque cur
tains and ceiling hangings in some of the
rooms, while the latter In places are
reared in the form Of animals that are
quite realistic. In one place there is a
prairie dog sitting at the mouth of his
burrow. and in another OF the rooms
there is goat standing in one of the
doorways, as though he had just stopped
TO consider whether he would step inside.
Interior Rich in CoIors,
The cave is rich in colors, for II is in
the region of mineral paints where the
Indians gathered many of their earth
pigments There is one room known as
1.-The Red Hail." whose walls are formed
of a red mineral paint that probably
would be valuable deposit If any one
chose to work ii in commercial way.
Another room, even richer in cOors, is
known as THE Opera House" The walls
are of many colors, richly lined with the
white carbonate of lime tracery and
arched overhead like some old Gothic
NAH. AtlOLISF IOOui ID HCShCQ over Walls
and ceiling with the same white forma-
ton, like great snowfiakes. so that stand
ing in the center, one seems TO be in the
midst of a snOWStOrm that has been sud-
denly arrested in its fall. Another re-
markable formation is The Devils Out
look" (the devil always has to nave an
interest in the underworld). where the
ceiling suddenly breaks away overhead
in a yawning ehasm. sixty-five feet high,
whose recesses are beyond the reach of
the ordinary lantern light, and are re-
vealed only by the fare of a piece of
magnesium tape.
"Odd Fellows HalI'' is even more re-
markable, being branded on the ceiling
with the three mystic links. This curious
mark is explained on closer examination |
by the action Of the wateE that is re- |
sponsible for so many queer things in the |
cave, the stream having but three inter
seeting holes IN the ceiling where IL broke !
through the roof Capitol Hill" is an
other immense room. 6gxl09 feet, with /
a great vaulIed ceiling. Then there is
The Stone Quarry" where the natural |
of the rocks has broken OF great I
slabs. square and true. as though cut by 1
a stonemason, and piled up in heaps I
ready for building. This room varies the |
color scheme by being OF delicate pink |
hue.
Delicate Lime Formation.
One OF the most beautiful rooms OF the /
series is The Garden OF Eden where the /
white lime formation takes on the form
OF boar frost. 50 delicate that a breath 1
will almost destroy il; or else IL hangs /
from the edges of the boxwork in clusters 1
ike popcorn ana delicate curved petals !