Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1905-11-16
MAMMOTH CAVE
Its Wonders and Beauties GraphicaI'l
Described
By ONE WHO APPRECIATES THEM

Nashville Saturday evening, Sept
16 at : o'clock, bound for the far
famed Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.
Mr.. John A. Perkins, the genial
Manager of the party, made himself
very agreeable among the passengers
BY his pleasant manner and his whole
souled good humor. The crowd num-
bored sixty-fve people
We arrived at Glasgow Junction
after midnight, and there took the
dummy steam car, which took US
direct to the Cave, a distance of nine
miles. When we arrived at the
hotel, instead of retirin as
sensible mortals should have dore, in
order to be able to make the labori-
Gus walk on the morrow a majority
of the crowd Immediately bought tic
kets for the cave and proceeded Thu
Their. 1t was not 80 much of Ameri
can impetuosity that urged US on at
that time of night, for we were all
sufficiently wearied to appreciate a
good rest, but il was a case Of COM
pulsion, if we made both routes of
the Cave, for we were scheduled to
start back to Glasgow Junction at 1
o'clock Sunday afternoon. We seeur-
ed a guide and went back to the rear
of the hotel, along a we'll beaten
path, till we came to a..pretty::green
arbor, and passed through it, and felt
that We were indeed on the way..to
the Mammoth Cave.
The Pickering light of the globe
less oil lantern gave dim, uncertain
light, and the thought of being so
far from home, and also on the brink
Of the great Cave, gave one an I'M
canny feeling. We stumbled and
blundered along rocky hillside for
something like a half-mile; we were
certainly going down hill all the
time, but not into a "hole, Finally
we called a halt on the brink of
Green River, aud there waited for
further instructions from the guide.
There is an old boat near the bank
aud some of us thought we would
have to cross the river. The ques-
ten arose, where was the guide? No
one knew, and though the boys con-
tinued to joke about the situation,
the fact gradually became apparent to
all, that quite a number of us had
gotten lost from the rest of the crowd
and were absolutely without:a gnide,
chasing around on that river b a
without a leader, at 2 o'clock in the
morning. We all knew some one had
blundered, but just where we got lost
from the guide no one knew. We re-
traced our steps in good humor, and
met another guide who had been star.
ted out to look for us, and he was
about as badly out Of humOr as
we were, but he took us on and VIZ
entered the cave in earnest.
The passage is made down yer,
long fight of stone steps, and leads
into wide hallway, where brisk
breeze greets one, but does not las
long as the air soon becomes uniform
and cool, but not unpleasantly so.
We took the short route, which il
estimated at nine miles. This rout
is quite dry, aud does not necessitat
the special suits which are provided
if wanted.
We soon caught up with the rem
nant Of our crowd, but we never knew
exactly how we got separated aud W
all continued on together, undor tn,
guidance of Mr.. John Nelson, VIII,
has had eleven years experience. W,
felt very grateful to Mr. Nelson, a
he took great pains in explaining al
points TO us and showed that he un
derstood his work thoroughly. Gu
first guide Was too sulky to explai
anything. The Cave is wonderful
from beginning to end but | belley
the idea that strikes every one mo.
fOrcibly is the immensely of it. Iii
s simply miles after miles of solid roc
you are never allowed for momeu
to forget that you are underground