The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-05-04
c. L. Alling Of Keokuk and
II I. E. Musselman Of Quin-
cy Find rs in a Day.
IBy G. L. Alltng.l

VINO were interested In tile scout
notes conducted last year may re.
member an account Of an inspiring
bird-study trip which I had the
privilege of taking with Mr.. T. q.
Musselman of Quincy. ILL.,, who Is o
naturalist Of national repute. I had
the pleasure Of another such trip this
year and made special trip from
Chicago for the purpose.
Last year our trip was by canoe
on the Mississippi river. This year 1t
consisted of about q twenty-m1le hike
on foot In the uplands thus affording
an entirely different sort of trip. And
1t is interesting to note that. In all
that twenty miles, We saw hardly a
sign Of civilization outside OF few
fences and an occasional cloverfeld.
We followed the bed Of the Mills
creek. from Burton. Ill, back. to
Quincy which is lined with beautiful
bluffs, crossed by quaint bridges,
dotted with many fine springs and
covered with a luxuriant growth OF
trees, plants and flowers, ferns,
and mushrooms. For instance
in one place we saw great bank OF
blue bells covering the side OF
great bluff, 80 secluded as to be little
and violets, trilium, Jack.
in the-pulpits and many other flow
ers covered the ground wherever we
walked, 1t seemed.
We started out in the evening about
A o'clock and were fortunate enough
to get q ride in a car to Burton
which is nine miles from Quincy.
From there, we took to the creek bed
and after following it for some time
and discovering one bed OF Morreil
on the way, we came to
what is known as Burton cave. The
cave is half way up bluff about six
ty feet high and down in the creek
bed near there, we selected spot for
our camp and proceeded to get ready
for the evening. The place selected
was lined on three sides by a Few
willows and on the other side was
great pile Of drift wood handy for our
fire. At the edge of the wood pile
was a great punky log, pretty well
covered with mud. We built our nre
near this log SO that the mud was
soon baked and served as refle6
tor, throwing the heat right out over
the spot where we were to sleep
There was no danger in this case as
the log would hardly burn IN the
first place and If 1t did, there was
little near that could be damaged by
it. Otherwise, It is mighty good
rule given in the Boy Scout Hand
book which says never to build q nre
against log or stump as it is hard to
extinguish and forest fires may be
the result.
For supper, among other things, we
had pork chops with sliced apples
Hr1cca1rnan fold
me then that it was good idea al
ways to add something sweet as ap
pies, brown sugar, spices. etc. to pork
when cooking and told Of a ham
boiled with all the named additions
which formed a rich syrup when
served with the ham and made de-
licious dish.
Cave Is Explored.
After supper, it was just dark ana
as the vesper sparrow sang It's one
sweet vesper hymn. we each took
candle and carrying some fire wood
with lis, proceeded to explore the
cave. 1t had very wide entrance
opening into a large room in WHICH
we laid q fire and prepared a camp
to which we could go in case 1t ralned
during the night.
Just as we were about to enter the
second room through an entrance to
the rear of the first, we saw pretty
birds nest snugly Situated between
two rock lodges, and bird, cliff
swallow I believe, on the nest which
we were careful not to disturb with
our lights.
soon found that this was real
q rnOY1
In one of which was a small but
good spring from which We drank; IN
another was a hole in the floor about
five feet deep and in another room
was a hole in the corner of the floor
that opened into another room pc
low that, though we did not venture
down. The openings between the
rooms were nearly always small, but
one place where the cave turned at
right angles, the opening was up
about four feet from the floor and
20 small we had to crawl through 1t, |
hut on the other side was a large /
room again.
Altogether we estimated the cave
10 be about a half mile long and there |
were many places where stalaclites
md stalagmites had been broken Oft
by visitors and one very large ona
reaching from the floor to the roof
and about two feet thick, still re- |
NAMED.
That evening about the time the
began their mournful
Urge. sung to the accompaniment OF
many frogs, we prepared our bed for
he night. First we laid newspapers
lpon the soft sand to shield us from
the cold or dampness of the earth,
though to the touch the sand was
warm and dry. On these we laid our
blankets and after kindling a good
fire. we rolled up in the blankets and
he next / knew, it was morning and
Mr.. Musselman was returning from
an early fishing trip, having caught
,nly a few small ones which he re-
,urned to the water
He said that he had noticed the
IRA ssl.opper sparrow had repeated his !
.all at intervals all night, fact he
lad never noticed before
OF SnOn over and