Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-14
CAVES OF KENTUCKY
Many Natural Wonders in
Edmonson County.
HONEYCOMBED ROCK
SYNDICATE NEGOTIATING FOR AN
EXTENSIVE TRACT.
Largest Stalagmite in the World Found
in New Colossal Cavern-Mammoth
Cave Out of Fashion Now.
BY VIM. E. CURTIS

|
sink Neutrality-suspicious. in the earth of
every conceivable size and of various
depths, without inlet or outlet except
| through tunnels which communicate with
| the caves. These sink holes mark where
| caves have been filled by the earth falling
into the cavities. The largest sink hole
| known Is called Eden Valley with an
area of more than 1900 acres. This enor-
nous depression is without inlet outlet,
and the biologists say that it must have
been made by the falling in of a series of
great caverns.
New caves are being discovered constant
| ly. The limestone rock which underlies
Edmonston county has been gradually
| eaten away through the ages until it is now
honeycombed with caverns, many of which
| are connected by passages through which
men may crawl. Comparatively few of the
| 800 caves have ever been explored. although
| the curiosity of science has not yet been
! satisfied, and biologists continually
| making Investigations. There is In
| ternational Cavern Club" whose members
| devote their leisure time to exploring caves
| In different parts of the earth, and Ken
| lucky beng blessed with a larger number
| OF such natural phenomena than any other
| section, is their favorite working ground.
| The headquarters of the club are in Paris,
| and Rev. DR.. Horace Carter Hovey of New
| buryport, Mass, is the president. DR..
| Hcvey has spent a great deal of time In
the cave district of Kentucky, studying
various features of interest and has writ
ten great deal the subject In collab-
| Grafton with DR.. Richard Ellsworth Call he
has recently prepared considerable vol
| ume which contains much new material.
Prof. Eigenmann's Investigation.
| Prof. Carl H. Eigenmann of the Univer-
| sity of Indiana has been making an inves-
| tieation of the animal life and air currents
| of the caves and the results of his inquiries
We're published in the January number of
| the Biological Bulletin of the university
The air currents in these caverns and sub
terranean passages are a great mystery.
! They keep in motion all the time in the
same direction, and often cross each other
ana the larger the cave the stronger and
| more marked they are. AT Mammoth Cave
| for example, strong breeze is blowing
| from the entrance at all times and DR.
| E1genmann says the current may become
| fierce gale if barometric changes outside
are rapid or If the water in the cave rises
rapidly Barometric conditions outside
| have considerable effect on the currents If
the pressure is heavy, he says, there will
| be an inflow of air instead of an outflow
| and this Will be proportionate to the rise
| of the barometer and to the size of the
cave. If the barometer is falling there will
| be an outpour of air, which varies with the
| Shghtest shifting of an ordinary mercurial
| barometer.
| Another extraordinary fact is that the
temperature of all OF the caves is precisely
4
| Meteorologists have hung up their ther-
| mometers for weeks at a time, and have
| made observations several times day But
the mercury seldom varies a degree and
! usually stands at "a degrees Fahrenheit
| regardless of the weather outside The late
| winter has been the coolest known in this
part OF the country for many generations.
| In northern Alabama there has been sleigh
| ing, and ice has formed upon the ponds and
rivers sufficiently strong for skating Peo-
| pie who have been digging sewers say the
| frozen cot l,,,++
| perature in the caves has not varied
To Buy Large Tract.
1t is not usual for people to regard these
| natural wonders as having a commercial
value, but this is a practical age and an
| eastern syndicate has recently been maxim.
| Investigations and is now negotiating for
! the purchase of a large area in the cave
district of Edmonson county for the pur-
| pose OF taking out the onyx and alabastel.
! with which the caves are filed. According
| to the biologists all of the subterranean
| passages have been made by chemical
| action. The soil is underlaid by vast strata
| OF limestone and water charged with car
| bon dioxide has the solvent power 10 dis
! solve that stone. The action has been
| going on for millions of years and still CON
! tinues. In the Colossal Cavern, one of the
gfandeSt OF the group and the most recently
| discovered. is a hall corridor called
Snowy Valley" where the floor is thickly
covered with fine flakes of pure white gyp-
sum, which is constantly falling from the
dislntegrating rock of the ceiling above and
| resembles snow.
This cavern furnishes remarkable illustra-
tons of the processes by which the lime
stone has been eaten away. The work began
| IN assure, or joint, in the limestone ledge
| which caught waters charged with carbon
dloXlde, and time has done the rest. In the
Colossal Cavern you can see how the work
was begun, and Illustrations of every step
but there is no evidence that the erosion
| was ever more rapid than now or that the
| subtcrranean streams which furnished the
| water power We're ever larger. The prob
lem in solution" as one of the biologists
has called it, the great work of excavation,
has never been arrested a moment since it
| began ages ago. The irregularity in the
eaverns is due to the fact that the rock is
| yields less readily to solution.
Henry Clay's Monument.
The stalacttes and stalagmites, which are
also constantly forming, of the finest
quality of onyx. What is claimed to be the
| largest stalagmite in the world is found in
the new Colossal Cavern, and is called
Henry Clays Monument 1t is ninety
| feet high and thirty feet thick al the base
and has been built up by single drops of
| water falling upon a certain point for I'M
| numbered ages. In some of the smaller
| caves are enormous blocks of onyx of all
colors except green, which is accounted
for by the absence of copper. There are
blocks of pure onyx which may be easily
| quaTied by machinery, 300 feet long and
eighty feet thick to their visible depth and
how much deeper they may be nobody can
| tell. One cave contains slabs and blocks of
/ beautiful cream-colored alabaster. perfect
! in texture, color and of uniform thickness
! tabout two incheS). One of these slabs has
been found upon measurement to be over
100 feet long. In places they overlie each
other like sheets of paper. A drill fifteen
| feet long failed to reach the bottom
Animal Onyx.
Another cave contains vast quantities of
what have been called animal onyx" be-
cause matter how it may be subdivided
| the exposed surface will always show the
| outlines of some animal. The same sample
cut in different directions will show differ
ent animals. Col G. A. Park of Louisville
has a sample which. when originally OBJ
tanned, ornamented with an outline
sketch of a quadruped which some of his
friends declared to be horse and others
mule. But the only difference of opinion
was as to detail. A slice half inch thick
was cut off and disclosed the picture of an
Arab sileik in robe and turban with almost
Photographic exactness and when the Piece
was turned over tie man was trans ormed