The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-10-13

r. YER been in Purgatory?
- Many persons have declared
their expectation Of going there
eventually. but there are thou
sands who have already made the trip,
have enjoyed the experience and have
come away wondering why more peo-
pie do not go there.
The Purgatory in question is located
in the town Of Sutton, Mass, and those
who have visited the spot are con-
vinced that the commonwealth has
missed an opportunity to become ia
nous for having within its confines one
of the strangest and most interesting
freaks of nature in the world.
Purgatory, in Sutton, Is chasm.
It's admirers declare that 1t is more
attractive and remarkable even than
the F'lume in the White mountains aud
they are back of q movement to have
the commonwealth acquire the prop
erty and make reservation out of it
for the benefit of the whole people.
Purgatory chasm has for years been
a source of wonder to geologists, for
they cannot agree as to what caused
it. A large number of them seem to
think that at some time, cons ago, a
portion of the earth at this point
dropped down out of sight, leaving a
great chasm whose base is filed with
giant powders and deep caves.
Until q few years ago this chasm,
situated in the midst of a forest of
pine, heInlock and spruce, was a
favorite outing spot for people in
Worcester and surrounding towns but
as the roads to it were not kept i'll
good condition the visitors decreased
until now it has practically been for
gotten except by q few enthusiasts.
Explored by Commission.
Led by Arthur E. Seagrave of Tx
bridge, who is assistant attorney gen
eral of the commonwealth, they have
been endeavoring for several years to
have the legislature take an interest in
the matter of preserving the natural
wonder, and finally succeeded this
year in securing Gn appropriation Of
500 to be used for an investigation of
the matter by the state forestry com
mission. This commission, which is
composed of the state forester, Frank
n. Shepard. with Charles O. Bailey as
secretary. has completed its inyestiga-
ton. Not one of them had ever seen
Pr1rgatory chasm before.
81 was amazed" said Fir Bailey
when he returned to Boston. sit ac-
tually awed me. it wa Ae majestic SO
wonderful. In some ws it resembles
the Lost River chasm iItEfsermont, and
to my mind is more Interesting than
the Flume in New Hampshire. After
going nearly a mile through the woods
you suddenly come upon this freak.
There are stones weighing 80 tons at
least that have been hurled about.
Some of them stick out at least 10 feet
from the sides of the chaSm, 40 feet or
more in the air. There are caves where
ice remains much of the summer, and
at the end of the cnasm is a wonder
full cave on the floor of which is an
immense slab of stone that looks Just
like q giants coffin. 1t is called the
Devils Cave.
The vegetation there is remarkable.
Great trees grow apparently from the
solid rock, their roots often going up
10 to IS feet over the bOWlder, then turn
down over it to reach the soil. If a
balloonist should start from the Rocky
mountains and land at this spot, he
would think it was a part of the
Rockies. Speaking as private clti-