The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1913-09-04
CAVE
L LONG
stranse Sights in Great Cavern De
scriped by Two Men Who Stun
bied Upon Entrance to Place
Quite by Accident.

Seattle. Wash-John NJ. Gilgore and
tie to report their discovery OF a gi-
gantic cave in the heart of the Olymp
lie mountains in the northwest part OF
the state.
They describe the cave as being
about twenty miles long and half q
mile wide in places. with large rooms
TILED with amazing things. 1t has an
entrance and an exit and lies in u re,
eion easy of access.
The woodsmen We're cruising. or
measuring standing timber. when they
found the entrance to the cave On the
south side of Il small mountain. Pro
curing lanterns and supplies, they zen
tured in and spent fourteen hours
wandering from room to room finally
coming into daylight twenty miles fur
Their south and about one mile lower
In altitude.
They say they are the first white
men to enter the cave. although In
dams or prehistoric men MAJ have
lived there. for there are numerous
Huilldl SkuIIS anu DOueS III Que IOOLi
ear the south entrance.
The entrance is high enough to per
NIT a man to walk in erect. Once
inside Gilgore and Reid found
themselves In a room with a low
ceiling, but which glistened like
glass and was and and damp.
They found the room to be studded
with stalactites, ten to twenty feet.
~protruding from the sides of the walls
The floor was composed OF damp red
sand. and near one side WAS q small
stream, its bed worn out of the solid
rock.
Fifty feet further the low room
larger room with IA high ceiling Oyel
the loor and under the fiat rocks rar
myriads of lizards and snakes. 1t ap
peared to be the wintering place for
all the reptiles in the Olympic noun
tains. The lizards were of every land
species and of every size.
Hurrying through this cavern Gil
gore and Reid, holding hands for mu-
tual aid and to assure each other con.
idence. entered a wonderful rotunda
with a dome and walls OF white silica
or lime rock. They estimated the
length of this room to be close L 900
feet and from 1000 to 5000 feet wide.
The ceiling ranges from 60 to 100
feet on the sides to several hundred
feet in the domed center.
The light from the lanterns would
not penetrate to the top of the domed
ceiling. This room was bare as far
as curios were concerned. 1t remind.
ed them of a monster ballroom await.
ing guests. The floor MAS level.
Following the general trend of the
cave the men worked their way for
two miles over rocks. across abysses
and around pools of water OF unknown
depth. until they came upon a yawn
ing pit. Here they filled one lantern
with a fresh supply of oil and threw
the empty bottle into the pit. Reid
counted 80 before the bottle was
tom of the pit.
Once around this deep black hole
the men found easy going and came
upon another room filed with q
strange odor. This was believed tc
be produced by sulphur bearing rocks
In The formation of the walls. 1t was
very ~nauseating.
Believing that they would have te
turn back because of this gas, the
men suddenly emerged into another
room in which they felt fresh air blow
ing in a strong current through the
cavern They were unable to trace
It's origin, but were fairly carried by
the current into another separate
room where the lanterns were no,
needed. because PHOSPHORUS cocks
made everything as bright as day. The
air was fresh and sweet here, evident
ly coming from an aperture in the side
of the mountain.
Ten minutes more brough. them in
to a room where many skulls and hu
man bones lay in small piles. as If the
room had beer used as a vault for the
dead. Stone arrow heads and stone
mortars We're observed.
Hand in hand the two men hurried
along and after more than IA hours
came upon Il straight. low arched
passageway and saw daylight through
a hole so tiny it looked like a keyhole
The hole was really the south en-
trrlce of the cave and the discover
ef1l found themselves in the mountains
again and fully 20 miles from camp
With a party of students from the
State university they will again visit
the a and obtain pictures and draw.