The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1909-02-04
FAMOUS CAVE FOUND
PLACE or GREAT BEAUTY Lo-
GATED IN ENGLISH WILDs.
Cavern In Heart Of Mountsln--Roek
Surfaces Coated with Splendid
Deposits Of caIeite In All
imaginable Forms.

London. - Interesting explorations
have been made in the roof OF the
Peak cavern at Castleton by members
OF the Derbyshire Pennine club.
Wooden ladders we're spliced to-
gether to a length Of 40 feet and then
swung to the roof by means Of ropes
attached to a tall scaffold pole. The
top OF the ladder rested on the edge
Of a small shelf few inches wide.
above which is a vertical crack ten
feet high. In this short wooden lad
der. resting on one foot, was placed
sideways. II was very awkward to
get up the short upper ladder. for II a
man went well into the assure he got
stuck, and when he came further out
there was some danger OF the ladder
fitting. A slip would have involved
sheer drop OF 80 feet on solid rock.
The hole in the roof is about ten
feet long and four feet wide in the
middle II has curved sides and point
ed ends, the southern one being where
the long ladder rested.
This hole shows the section Of rs
sure, the bottom portions having been
swept away by the action Of water
which formed the enormous arch at
the entrance TO the cavern. The pur-
pose Of the exploration was TO follow
this fissure back into the heart OF the
hill, and very remarkable II proved to
be.
From the edge Of the opening the
floor OF the assure, covered with loose
screes. slopes up steeply in a souther-
ly direction TO a curious formation like
a ruined spiral staircase with its steps
worn away. The explorers scrambled
up, and thus reached a higher and
much narrower floor of the assure.
Here the walls we're thickly coated
with a soft white substance that looked
like snow or foam, but went into a
sticky mass like putty when squeezed
In the hands. In one place this de-
post IL marked with countless tiny
vertical fittings.
with considerable difficulty the ex-
plorers proceeded to higher levels
along the floor of the fissure. At In
tervals IL rises abruptly--in one place
as much as IL feet--and II was diff
cult to get up the slippery walls In the
exceedingly narrow space available. In
deed, one man got his foot wedged
fast and could only liberate himself
by partly wrenching away the sole OF
his boot.
Above this portion the explorers en-
tered a bedding plane, the formation
of which is very different from the
jointing plane assure up which they
had climbed.
Originally, Of course, horizontal, the
bedding plane now dips gently to the
south, and II has been enlarged by
water and shaped into most extraor-
binary forms. This ancient stream bed
in the heart OF the rocks is from If
teen to twenty feet wide. In places It
is high enough for a man TO stand up
right, but toward its extremitiss there
is only crawling room.
Here and there are big cavities in
the floor, which had TO be crossed with
the utmost care. Incumbersd with
candles and climbing ropes the eex-
plorers found II harder and harder to
get along. and at last the roof got so
low that they could not proceed any
further along the main stream bed. At
this point, however. there were several
side passages of marvellous beauty.
All the rock surfaces were coated
with splendid deposits Of calcite, in
all imaginable forms, which had prob
ably never before been seen by man.
A low tunnel. 20 feet long. two feet
high and three feet wide. which could
only be traversed a few inches at once
by a man lying on his back, communi-
Gated with a vertical chasm OF great
depth, which could not be descended
without more elaborate tackle than
the explorers had with them. At the
foot OF II could be seen the faint glim-
mer Of the candlelights near the top
OF the ladder at the opening in the
cavern roof.
Shall we "play ball" in Hickman