Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-11-17
NEW USEFOR THE BALLOON
Measuring the Heights in Nam
moth Cave.
AN ANIMATED PLUMMEI
History Of Attempt TO Measure This
Vast chasn1-5affIed by the Mystic
. Gus Atmospheric Currents That
Made Globes FIutter Hither and
Thither.

broken through into each other. IL IS
excavated from the st. Louis lime
stone, overlaid by the Chester sand
stone, and exists in five tiers between
the sandstone and the drainage level
While the general openings are in
long halls and avenues. now and then
widened into spacious chambers. there
are occasionally vertical chasms,
which are styled pits or "domes"
according to the point of view. For
example. Little Bat avenue ends In
an ugly black hole called the Crevice
Pit Sparks avenue, on a much low
er level. leads to the Mammoth Dome.
which opens upward through the
crevice Pit. That is to say. Crevice
Pit and Mammoth Dome are identical.
The full history of attempts to
measure this vast chasm would I'll
many columns The main facts OF
interest are as follows: Mr.. wilkins,
OF Lexington, Ky, was the first to
make the attempt, in 1872. in the days
of saltpeter mining. He tied lamp
to a rope and lowered it 45 feet. But
the rope caught fire and the lamp was
dropped into an abyss, where it re-
Rained for thirty years. when found
~ Matt, the guide. and it is now In
the writer's cabinet A sprightly
young negro who was let down as an
animated plummet to recover the lost
lamp. lost his wits instead. When
Edmund G. Lee. G. o.. in 1885. at
tempted to make a map of the cave
he sounded the Crevice Pit and touch.
ed bottom at the depth of go feet.
This was for years accepted as cor
rect.
On June 81, 1903. entered the cave.
accompanied by Mrs Hoyey, Mr.. w. S.
Miller (cave agent, ]. NJ. Nelson
(guide). and my friend Gerard Fowke.
had looped five balloons in a cluster
so that If one got away the others
could be used, and a light sewing silk
was attached as a guy. We easily
measured the cascade, finding it to
he 26 feet. the daylight enabling us
to watch the ascent of the balloon.
When we reached the Rotunda. where
Audubon avenue branches from the
Main Cave. a room which our tape line
told us was 1874 feet in diameter. we
found the advantage Of having with
us a powerful acetylene lamp, whose
rays Mr.. Fowke turned upon the bal
looms as / let the silk slip through
my fingers. From floor to ceiling we
found to be exactly 40 feet. Our next
measurement was at the Church, at
the junction of the Main Cave and
Archibald avenue, finding the height
to be 40 feet inches. In each case
we measured from the floor to the top
of the group of balloons. Our scheme
worked well.
Thus encouraged, we next attempted
that vast subterranean temple, named
for an early owner Gorin's Dome. DR..
Call had already measured the depth
from the bridge to the bottom as 119
feet-identical with the depth of the
Crevice Pit to the bottom of Mann
moth Dome. The total height from
floor to apex was estimated at 159
feet. but we hoped by ballooning to
substitute exactness for guesswork.
BY means of the acetylene lamp. and
special magnesium lights brought for
the purpose. the gigantic dome was
illumined as perhaps never before.
Its mighty alabaster folds swept
around us like massive curtains. and
the absolute silence was broken only
by the music of the pattering drops
falling from the pendent stalactites.
When the cluster of gayly tinted bal
looms was sent upward on its mission
the sight was extremely pretty. They
mounted we'll for two-thirds of the
way, and then were caught by cur
rent of air and waited from side to
side through the sigmoid curves OF
the great abyss. We drew them back
to us. and dried their moistened sur
face. and tried again and again. only
to be baffled by those mysterious at
mospheric currents that made the gay
globes flutter hither and thither like
wilful creatures.
Passing over various subsequent ex-
periments. we made a test of the
Mammoth Dome, where our balloons
worked perfectly. First we measured
from the foot of the waterfall to the
level of the ladder, and thence to the
highest part of the dome visible, max
ing It exactly 119 feet inches. Then
going around by Little Bat avenue.
we measured the height of the ceiling
at its junction with Audubon avenue;
also as well as we could the small
domes near the Crevice Pit. Our con-
clusion was that about 81 feet would
have to be added to the above in or
der to get the total altitude of the
chasm. namely, 154 feet 6 inches. This
result. it will be perceived. nearly CO.
ineided with the previous measure
ments made in 1896 by entirely differ
ent methods.
Taken as a whole. our experiment.
ing with cave balloons was successful.
and demonstrates the utility of that
method of measuring heights not
otherwise accessible. We would re-
mark. however. that small specially
made hot air balloons might he bet
ter than those inflated by hydrogen
gas. for the reason that their fire balls
could be made large enough to defy
sprinkling from cascades-Dr. Horace
C. Hovey in Scientific American.
A maximum of talk is sign of a
minimum of thought.