The Detroit times., 1909-01-07
DARING CLIMBERS
EXPLORE BEAUTY
OF CAVERN
sPLicEp LADDERS SWUNG TO
The ROOF BY scAFFoLo POLE
~ PENNiE cLU6-cREVlCe
LEADS CARAVAN.

LONDON. Jan 6.-lnteresting eN-
plorations have been made in the roof
of the famous Peak Cavern at Castle
ton, by members OF the perbyshire
Pernine club.
Wooden ladders were spliced e.
Fether to length OF forty feet and
then swung 10 the root By means 81
ropes attached to tall scaitold pole.
The top OF the ladder rested on The
edge OF small shelf q few inches
wide, above which l. a vertical crack
ten feet high. In this short wood
en- ladder, resting on one foo,. was
placed sideways Ii was very awk-
ward 10 get up the short upper lad
der. for, il man went well INTO the
assure he got stuck, anu when he
came further Out there WIS some Jan
ger of the ladder llring slip
would have involved sheer drop/os
thirty feet on solid rock
The hole in the root Is about ten
feet long and four iect vide in the
middle. II has curved = sides and
pointed ends, be southern one oeins
where the long ladder rested
This hole shows the section OF a
assure. the bottom portions having
been swept away by the action of the
water which formed the enormous
arch at the entrance 10 the cavern.
The purpose of the exploration WAS
TO follow this assure back into the
heart OF the hill, and very remarkable
ifp roved TO be.
From the edge of the opening the
floor of the assure, covered with
loose screes. slopes up steedily in e
southerly direction. 10 a curious for
nation like a ruined spiral staircase
with its steps worn away. The ex-
plorers scrambled up, and thus
reached a higher and much narrower
floor of the assure. Here the walls
were thickly coated with a soft. white
substance that looked like snow or
foam. but went into sticky mass like
putty when squeezed in the hands. In
one place this deposit Is marked with
countless tiny vertical fittings.
With considerable difficulty the ex-
plorers proceeded TO higher levels
along the floor OF the assure. At in
tervals il rises abruptly-in one place
as much as twelve feet--and 1t was
difficult to get up the slippery walls In
the exceedingly narrow space avail
able Indeed, 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
entered bedding plane. the forma-
ton 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 10 the
south. and IL has been enlarged by
water and shaped into most extraord
mary forms. This ancient stream bed
In the heart of Their ocks is from If
teen to twenty feet wide. In places
it Is high enough for a man TO stand
upright. but towards it's extremities
there is molly crawling room.
Here and there are big cavities Ia
the floor, which had 10 be crossed
with the utmost care. Encountered
with candles and climbing ropes, the
explorers found IL harder and harder
TO get along. and at last the roof got
SO low that they could not proceed
bed. At this point, however. there
were several side passages OF marvel
ous 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 twenty feet long, two
feet high and three feet wide. which
could only be traversed a few inches
ut once by man lying on his back,
with vertical chasm
Of great depth which could not be de-
scended without more elaborate tack.
le than the explorers had with them.
At the foot of it could be seen the
faint glimmer OF the candle lights near
the top of the. ladder at the opening
In the cavern roof.