The Owyhee nugget. ([Silver City], Idaho) 1905-1984, 1909-02-26
Mammoth Cave Discovered on
the Snake River Near BurIey.

terest has been made by party of Bur
ley gentlemen at point five miles west
of the town of Burley and one mile
south Of Snake River, the find being in
the dature of series of caves and re-
cesses. in a solid body of lava rock,
which crops outin places for many miles
along low ridge between the Minidoka
and Twin Falls projects. The existence
of shaft or ''blowhoIe" on the desert
claim of Mrs. j. R. Glenn, five miles
vest OF Burley, has been known for
years, but no one bad ever been sutf1ci-
emily interested to clear passage, so
as to enter the tunnel beneath.
Not long ago party consisting Of
Messrs. w. D. Kenyon, J. R. Glenn.
George Schultze and |. g. Hale, all own
ing claims in the vicinity, visited the
spot and decided on a plan to explore
the extent of the opening. The follow
ing Sunday, with picks shovels and dy-
Mantle, they succeeded in widening the
entrance SO that a mans body could
slip through from the top. One or two
members of the party penetrated the
opening for distance of sixty or seventy
feet, but, having no guidy lines, did not
venture further into the cave, the floor,
Of which sloped gently back from the
opening. Yesterday the members of the
party went better equipped for explor
ing the cave, having provided them
selves with ropes, lanterns and tools.
Three men slipped through the open
ing at the top of the cave, while one
man remained on the outside to sound
an alarm if all did not 20 well with the
explorers beneath. Lighting lantern
and unwinding a rope, which was Sc
curely fastened at the entrance, the
three men plunged into the darkness,
feeling their way cautiously until they
had gone the full length of their rope,
when they decided that any further pen
etration without additional facilities
was dangerous
member of the party, in discussing
tba noftar nth :, ,a,.rnao,,to a.. 70 -
Salt Lake Tribune, said:
1.-The existence of a 'blowhole' emerg
ing to the top of the ground in the lava
beds west of Burnley has been known for
number of years. In company with
three of my neighbors we visited the
spot and determined to find out, if pos
sble, the cause of a steady draft of air
into the passage, from which the open
ing derived its name of 'blowhole. On
our first visit we were not prepared TO
carry on Investigations to any great ex-
tent, but yesterday we vent better
equipped.
After working with hammers and
chisles for some time we succeeded in
making the hole in the rock sufficiently
large for mans body to slip through |
to the floor beneath. The floor was
covered with thick layer of very fine
volcanic ash. Gathering a ton or more
OF sagebrush from near the entrance we
heaped it together in large pile and
set fire to the same In the flare If the
burning embers, as far as one could
see, were rough, jagged walls Of lava,
with massive bouIders studding the
roof Of the cave, as if ready to fall at
any minute. The draft from the en-
trance carried the smoke and sparks in
to the dark abyss beyond. From the
entrance Of the cave we watched for
smoke to arise to the surface at some
other point, but none came. We then
decided that the hole was more than a
mere pocket in the lava rock.
"When the sagebrush fire subsidized
sufficiently We lit lantern aud, firmly
securing an end of rope near the open
ing, slipped through the entrance and
unwound the rope as we cautiously
penetrated into the cavity. At dis