Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-07-23
Largest Spring IN Ii. World.
UNDERGROUND LAKE IN
OREGON COUNTY, NO.

Month after month papers and maya
zines publish glowing accounts OF the
beauty and grandeur of the lakes OF
Switzerland, the rivers Of Germany or
the glaciers of Greenland, writes Elmer
T. Clark, in The Southwest Tourists and
globe-trotters have stood on the Alps,
"gOndolated" 10 Venice or climbed the
Matterhorn, but how many American
tourists know anything Of the wonders
of their native land outside the old school
book wonders of Niagara, Yellowstone,
and Yosemite?
In Oregon county, Mo-, and Fulton
county, Ark, are grouped Grand Gulf,
Mammoth Spring and Spring River,
tiful and furnishing so many openings
for investors that, were they hid in the
forests of Africa, or within the shadow
of the mountain peaks of southern Eu-
rope, artists would haunt them with
their sketch. books and poets would rave
of their soul-inspiring beauty.
The Grand Gulf is the browning won
der of the group. Two shallow streams
about one-fourth of mile distant from
each other, flowing in the same direction
over an elevated plateau, suddenly drop
into canyons 500 feet deep. These two
canyons form junction half mile be-
low, where they strike mountain lying
directly across their path. This noun
tain has been tuuneled by the action of
the water, and the natural bridge thus
formed is NO less curiosity and almost
equal in size to the famous natural
bridge of Virginia.
After passing through this mountain
the united stream strikes another noun
tain and tunnels 1t for several hundred
feet, and then spreads out into an i'm
mense underground lake, the area of
which has never been ascertained. Many
parties have enteredthe tunnel and pic
MICS have been held by torchlight on the
margin of the lake, but still 1t remains a
mystery. No light can exist long over
the bosom of the lake and nothing can
be heard save the far-away rumble of
the waters as they rush on.
This underground lake Is the reservoir
which supplies Mammoth Spring, the
largest spring in the world, with its
90, 900 cubic feet of water q minute.
The most surprising feature In cOnnec-
ton with this extraordinary natural cur
iosity is the fact that when these great
canyons are filled with water, even to
the arch of the natural bridge, hundreds
of feet deep, the volume of water in
Mammoth Spring is not increased.
Mammoth Spring covers IS acres of
ground 200 feet deep with crystal water.
Spawned by an immense steel bridge,
navigated by naptha launches and flow
ing its 10000 cubic feet of water min
ute over dam of solid masonry ITO feet
long and % feet high, it presents an
admirable picture.
Mammoth Spring drives the machinery
of the Mammoth Spring roller mills, the
largest mill in all north Arkansas or
south Missouri; the Monmouth Spring
cotton mills and Monmouth Spring
electric light company, while unnumber-
ed volumes of water fall embarrassed in
to the valley below, creating Spring
river, the finest power stream in Amer
lea. The Hudson may be grander, the
st. Lawrence more romantic, or the lord
ly Mississippi more majestic, but Spring
river, for the brightness of Its waters,
the quiet beauty of its wooded banks,
for its long, deep pools shaded by tow
ering cliffs, for its rushing rapids and it's
hundred waterfalls, can justly claim
attractions unequalled by any stream in
America or abroad.