Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-09-02
The Bald Mountain Cave.
(BY j. F. MooDY.)

The West has its Rockies. New Eng
land it's White Mountains, and Maine it's
Katahdin; but it is left for Oxford Coun.
ty In that state to present O. variety,
beauty, boldness and grandeur OF scenery
hardly paralleled, look where we may.
The highest of these mountains is Zir-
con. From the top of which, 1t is said,
a tangent to the ear,h's curvature sinks
every other height below 1t. Two or
three miles to the south is Speckled
Mountain, larger In area and towering
nearly half mile into the air. As an
offshoot to the west from Speckled, with
scarcely a depression between, comes
Bald Mountain, the location of the much
storied cavern.
The stories in respect to this place are
many and various. One is that gang OF
counterfeiters piled their trade there
seventy years ago. That they were ex.
posed by woman whom they had forced
to live with them to do their cooking.
She escaped one night, while they were
engaged in a drunken brawl, and coming
to a sugar makers camp told her story.
The men at this camp started at once
over woods trail by Granite Ledge for
the settlements and, securing help, re-
turned to arrest the gang. They had fed
leaving the most OF their outfit and prod
uct behind. The story goes on that over
half q bushel of spurious dollars were
found in one place. Another legend has
it that this place was once the rendez
vous of cattle thieves; that here they
kept the meat and hides of the cattle and
sheep they bad stolen, until they could
get market for them. There are sew,
eral other legends that cluster around
This locality, but they all bear alike one
stamp; that of improbability. The place
is too inaccessible.
The first question, naturally, Is, 10
there any such cave? Yes, no. There Is
not one cave, but several. And right
here let it be said that people coming to
this place expecting to find regular square
rooms under ground are doomed to dis
appointment. For that matter, cave
seekers generally are disappointed. They
expect to find regular formation where
no such thing exists, forgetting that the
chief beauty In Natures works Ia their
irregularity.
The caverns are openings In Q chaotic
mass of granite blocks, OF such size as
to almost stagger the Imagination. One
of these caverns, not fully covered over,
is large, light and airy, and quite easily
accessible. The others are approached
by small entrances and are dark, damp
and chilly.
From these rooms, there are passages
evidently leading to other rooms; bui
exploration seems to have stopped here,
owing to lack Of suitable means to insure
safety. That there is great deal OF nm
explored space is especially indicated By
the cave breath, which is very evident on
warm days.
There is space enough, no doubt, un
der these immense rocks for regiment
of men to lie concealed, and full inves
tigation would be of great interest. Al
to how these caverns were made, Nature
gave q grand exhibition only few
months since. In the stiffness OF tn
night, there was mighty crash. Peopl'
were startled from their sleep, window
shaken, dishes ratified and oil the usua
phenomens. It was thought to be q
earthquake. But the next morning, tn
, early risers, looking towards the Bali
| Mountain cliff saw that great chang
/ had taken place. The face OF the olif
, was discolored and wide rent showe
, in the, forest below. The first visitor
{ were rewarded BY scene Of Titanic cor
} fusion. A huge mass Of granite, weigh