Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-08-27
THE WONDERS
OF ARIZONA
Underground Cav.
lily Found While Develop
Ing a Nine

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well worthy of arduous journeys and
perils when they at last are found
by admiring eyes, writes j. II. Gray
in the AriZonian. Yet she has not
placed all of her wonders on the sur.
face Of the earth, but has carefully
hidden some of them far away below
ground, there only to be discovered
by accident or by the industry of
man. Those beneath the surface are
often no less beautiful. no less to be
adimer. than those above, and when
MAI finds them he Wakeps to thought
and wonder. Such a find has recently
been made in the warren district. at
Bisbee, in Cochise county, Arizona.
Caves that are marvels of beauty
and Wonderment are entered from the
earth's surface in many places and
are, visited and admired by their hun
dreds annually as the Mammoth Ken.
lucky cave, but that there may be
many caves, far beneath the earth's
surface and with no entrance to them.
man seldom pauses to think. This
a a fact brought home when the
Shattuck Arizona Mining company.
in the course of its Development
work, broke into the largest and mos:
beautiful cave that has ever been
discovered in the Warren mining dis
trict or in the state of Arizona. In
the past two or three months it has
been visited by hundreds who have
gone done in the mine cage. spent
hours sightseeing and returned with
enthusiastic tales OF the beauties they
have witnessed. yet with a Daucity Of
words to Describe those beauties. de-
claring that words are Inadequate for
this purpose. How, then, shall one
write Of the wonders and the beau.
ties of the Shattuck cave?
While pushing a drift on the 300
level of the Shattuck mine. men
broke into a cave. something not un-
common in the Warren district. but
this time the cave has proven to be
the greatest, the most remarkable yet
to be encountered. That which was
discovered in the Copper Queen mine
was lwong the wonder and has been
reproduced in a New York museum.
hut the original has been closed up
years ago. Remarkable as was that
it cannot be compared to the
cave which, is now open to
visitors and will continue so until
time as safety demands that it
shall be filled up with earth from
other workings of the mine. Mean.
time it will be the wonder sight Of
southern Arizona.
A visit to the Shattuck cave neces-
as visit to the mines. a trip
underground, which a comparatively.
few sightseers have taken. Thus is
added novelty presented. Dressed
in old clothes and wearing heavy
shoes the visitor makes the trip up
the hill to the shaft-house and there
is furnished with a guide by the gen
erous management. The party enters
the cage and the jorney has begun.
The descent of 500 feet is a short
one in a section where there are work,
ing 1900 feet or more underground.
and is quickly completed. Then comes
a short walk up an incline and the
cave has been reached with all it's
marvellous beauties.
TO one who has expected to see
glinting, glistening, shimmering crys-
tails shooting back the lights in many
colOred rays. the first feeling is per-
haps disappointment. 1t is impos.
sible to illuminate the cave so as to
produce this effect. When one thinks
how little illumination a few electric
lights give to one at a distance of
200 or 900 feet this is readily under
for though there are many
lamps within the cav they serve
only to illuminate it in spots and it
is only at close view that the beau,
ties Of this crystal cave strike home.
Upon entering the cave one finds
oneself in an immense egg-shaped
room. milk white wherever it is seen.
1t is 2720 feet in length, $50 feet in
width and 10 feet in height. Thus
the rays Of light do not bring out
the stalactites that hang heavily from
the roof. Here the advantages Of
worn heavy shoes is seer for
the floor is found to be composed of
large and small crystals, in appear
not unlike a coral bed out Of
which rise magnificent stalagmites.
some to a height Of 200 feet or more
Many of the odd shapes that confront
the eye as the visitor passes through
the tavern over it's floor. not fiat. but
irregular. On every side they rise
out Of the darkness to confront one.
each seeming a little more marvellous
than the last, some s%himmering with
moisture, others quite dry, and eyt
all Of the same white lime.
Since the walls of the cave are not
p%recipitous but irregular, it is pos
sible to journey up the sides. climb.
ing circuitously about until the roof
is reached. and here one can view
at close hand the stalactites. In
stalagmites from the sides Of
the cave and stalactites from the roof
have formed So that they are serar-
ated by but a few inches and have
formed pillars. Beneath the
coating crystals differentiated rocks
may be discovered. Now it is a gray
but anon it is a blood-red
porphyry. Up and onward with new
beauties and @ marvels on every
hand one passes TIL close UP to the
root and then descends a winding
path along the side wall of the floor
below. there to find still other scenes
to charm the eye. It is easier tol
describe a snow scene in a forest