Bisbee daily review., 1912-01-21

I mountain mass, which formed the channels for percolating waters, an important factor in the formation and ! incrustatiOn of the cave. The lower part of the watls was thickly covered VI tn botryoidal clusters of white cal cite, some areas of which were tinted a delicate salmon color with carbon ate of manganese.
 ''Tus chief feature of the room mite lising at its upper end and reach ing almost to the ceiling. So i'm pressive in size and setting, so beau t.ful in outline. ornamentation and surroundings was this wonderful ob- 5act that it seemed to us little short of wanda lsm to destroy or mar it, or any part of the cave which it adorned although in the interests of science or the necessities Of mine operation. This stalagmite is about fourteen feet high above the shelf of limestone on which it stands. and its diameter at the same point may be taken as being fourteen or fifteen feet Three feet above the shelf the column is ten feet through. Stalagmite is of extremely slow growth. and even under the more favorable conditions prevailing t Lurray Cave, Virginia, where meas urements have been macs such mass would nave required more than e ,000 years to form; hence it is safe to assume that this cavity in the Queen Hill has had its present size and shape for a much longer period than that since the rainfall is less and the consequent solution slower in Ari- zona than in Virginia, though ev3po- ration and consequent desposition are conversely more rapid in Arizona. The stalsc.te growth above this stIlag- mite was insignificant
 Climbing tip the cOngealed water fail forming a smooth apron in front Of and below the stalagmite, we passed to the left of the column over a floor carpeted with coarse botryoidal clus- ters of cafe te and clamertf through an opening in the black rock into room that might be considered the fourth story of the cave. Immediately at our right was a compound stalac tite which our miner associates promptly called the elephants ear" while a few feet beyond was a remark able stalagmite three feet in diameter and rather more than three feet high which with its smaller stalactite and It's accompanying crystahcovered floor and wall formed a charming grotto.
 ~Ths stalagmite was noteworthy on account of the radiating clusters of pointed calcite thickly set all over 1t, but diminishing in size from the bot tom of the column upward It has been commonly held that such crys- tals could be formed only under Wa ter, but conditions here indicate that there has been no sUbmeTgence or filling of the cave since it was form ed. and we must conclude that in 'region of extremely rapid evaporation crystals will grow from 8 solution flowing over a surface.
 The upper wan of this room was formed by a great block of fallen rock which has received the drippings of lime-bearing watercOurse. Staiag- mite WAS formed on it's top, while ribs of calcite. some of which were com plete lines of crystal tufts. projected close together from it's sides. Mar row driptstonelined passages on eith- CT side of this block led a) a series of three small rooms one above an- tlACts tue ldSl Ot WHICH WIS 50 low that an adult could hardly squeeze h $ way into it. These upper rooms were characterized by abundant stal- actites and practically no stalagmites, contrasting with the conditions in the lower rooms where the stalagmites pIedominate at the expense of the stalactites. One of the most beautiful small features of the cave was the oc- currence on the walls of one of the upper room of long acicular crystals of delicate green calcite grouped paintbrush fashion on small botryical masses of the same material The cave extended up slopes averaging thirty degrees, through a vertical dis t~Ece of about eighty feet, and mo- where exceeded forty feet in width and thirty feet in height
 lnasmuch as the cave was doom ed to ruin through mining" continued Dr. Hovey. the company generously furnished the men and the means for removing at infinite pains the grotto md such other formations as we de sired. and for trans porting them to this city. This material is now at the museum and there will soon be iii place and on exhibition a reproduction of this most beautiful underground [ ch mDsr.'