The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-08-05
CAVES on NEW york STATE.
Cayerns in schohariS County Are Being
Explored This sumnier.

Explored This SuTnirier.
The caves and caverns OF ~Schoharie
county, sdys the Cobleskill Inder, have
been objects Of interest and speculation
almost from the time Of the advent Of
the white man within her borders. In
number and magnitude they surpass those
Of any other county in the State.
There are probably a hundred Of these
oaverns In the county, all Of them Of deep
interest TO the geologist and some OF them
invested with weird and fantastic tales
by the early settlers. At least two lives
have been lost in an attempt OF their ex-
ploration, and yet In spite of all the labor
and suffering the beginning and endings
Of most of them are still shrouded In mystery
and doubt.
Not until the present summer has the
scientific exploration Of them been at
tempted by the State. II has been be-
lieved that most, II not all. Of these
great caverns are intercommunicative, that
these little streams which disappear be-
meath the surface and so mysteriously
flow on underground finally all unite in
some subterranean river flowing through
the Cobleskill Cavern, as by geologists
this great underground opening has been
named.
To ascertain, II possible, whether this
be true and to explore the caves and
caverns and to discover as far as possible
their size and outlipe and their rela-
ton to each other, a party began opera
tions, as previously noted, on June 30.
1t was under the direction Of the State
geologist n consisted OF Prof. John H.
Cook of the Albany Normal College, James
F. Loughran, surveyor; Harry Cook, a
photographer, and a laborer.
They began work at Howe's Cave. This,
which is the most famous of those In
Schoharie county and rivalled in size only
by Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, was first
explored in 1912 by Lester Howe, from whom
it took it's lame. This bold spirit, undis.
by wild beasts, removed the underbrush
and after months of great labor and hard
ship, penetrated the cavern, discovered
the lake therein and thoroughly explored
for a distance OF Ave miles.
The exploring party remained there for
two days, penetrating as far as man had
ever been before. Stopped at a, point
where the roof had caved in and so barred
further progress, they retraced their
steps and went to Carlisle Center, camp
ing on the Gordon farm. Ice Cave was
then visited-so named from the fact that
the temperature therein never rises above
the freezing point. The party did not long
remain there. The low temperature makes
extended explorations extremely incon-
venient, but it is said that yenturesome
persons long ago discovered, after hav-
ing penetrated a long distance, a frozen
lake and deep, Icy ohasms, almost fathom-
less.
McFalls cave was next visited. The
cavern takes its name from the unfor-
tunate man who lost his life while exploring
it in 1853. This gentleman. a professor in
the seminary at Carlisle, was being drawn
up from the pit by means OF a rope and had
almost reached the surface when he was
seized by vertigo and fell backward striking
upon his head and fracturing his skull. He
survived but a few hours.
The owners of the cave, deeply affected
by the sad occurrence, closed the entrance
with logs and stones and did their work 80
thoroughly that the recent explorers we're
able to penetrate only about fifty feet.
cave on the Chester Ottman farm. This
cave, located in the heart Of the woods,
is at the entrance, a circular basin OF about
25 feet. In one corner Of this basin is an
opening into the ground sufficient to admit
the entrance of a man and, so descending,
the explorers dropped. almost vertically,
"a feet. Safety was provided by telling a
tree across the entrance and tying a rope
to this, the other end being fastened to the
explorers. body. Then after travelling
about so feet, at an incline OF about IS degrees
the opening, from being a narrow ~crevice
of from two to three feet, suddenly ex-
and whose hei ght is fully 100 feet. Upon
it's sides are fantastic water worn surfaces
and fossils peculiar to the Coeymans age
Of limestone. Through it a stream Of water
runs. The party continued 100 feet and then
left to investigate other caverns.