Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1915-10-31
MAMMOTH CAVE IN EXISTENCE FOR A
 MILLION YEARS
From Geological Viewpoint, Kentucky's Cavern Is of
 Recent Origin.

! Doubtless everyone in this country who can read knows something of l the Mammoth cave of Kentucky On | the other hand, there may be quite q | number who know very little about how this and other similar caves were | formed, how old the Mammoth cave probably is, what service it perform cd for the youthful government of | inc United States during the war of | 1912, and various other interesting | features connected with this greatest of all known caverDs of the world, brought out in an article in the Sep tember number of the bulletin of the | Pan-American union, Washington. D. |C.
 From time immemorial," to quote | from the bulletins article, "caves | have been objects of interest to man | kind. Around them have clustered legend and superstition, in them men have found habitations for the living, rcfuges for the pursued, secret tenn pies for the practice of their religious rites, and mausoleums for their dead. In ancient days they were the abodes of sybils and nymphs of Roman mythology; in Greece they became the temples for the worship of Zeus, Pan, Dionysus and Pluto, as well as | the homes for the Oracles of Delphi, COrinth and Mount Citheron; in Per- | sia they were connected with the worship of Mithras, and in more mod ern times popular fancy in Europe peopled tho mystery y-enshrouded caves with elves, fairies and evil spirits galore"
 How Caves Are Formed.
 But after all caves are but the re-. suits of perfectly natural forces working beneath the surface of the earth just as they do upon it's face, and for the sake of convenience may be divided into three classes: CD Those formed by the action of cur rents, the force of waves, and the grinding of shingle against a cliff on a rocky seacoast, which forces grad ually hollow out caves in the weaker places, of which those found near Bar Harbor, Maine, may serve as eX- amples; (2l those found in volcanic regions, formed by the subterranean flow of lava. or by the expansion of steam and gases, such as those in the Klamath lake region in Oregon which are so large that they often served as effectual hiding places for the Indians in the early days of the conquest of the West; and (3) those which have been cut out of calcareous rocks by the chemical action of car bonic acid in rain water, combined with the mechanical friction of the sand and stones set in forcible mo- ton by the streams of water which have flowed through them for ages. These last are the most numerous and most important in size. and it is to this class that Mammoth cave belongs.
 As most people know, the cave is in Edmonson county, Kentucky. about S5 miles southwest of Louisville, and not far from Green river, into which the caves subterranean waters emp ty. This section of Kentucky, where may be found limestone beds ire quently reaching thickness of 800 feet, is noted for it's rocky grottoes, sink holes and caverns. The rocks in the vicinity of Mammoth cave give evidence of but little disturbance by the dynamic forces of past ages. It iss such areas of limestone deposits, with comparatively level strata and located somewhat above drainage level. with small crevices or joints. that furnish the conditions for the formation of underground passage ways and chambers by the chemical and mechanical agency of under ground waters.
 Only One Million Years Old.
 From a geological viewpoint Man. moth cave is of comparatively recent origin. it's formation having begun something less than 1,000,000 years ago. in the Pliocenc age. The cave action began after Green river had cut it's channel down into the lime stone stratum which underlies this section. The rain water, with its car bonic acid content, seeped through the overlying earth and passing into and through the crevices and joints of the stone, at that time above the l level of the river. began the work of solution and erosion. These un-