Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-10-09
IOWA EDITOR
VISITS VALLEY
Shenandoah Caverns Just South of
Mt. Jackson Unstintedly Praised


An editorial travel letter in the
Ida Grove, Iowa. Pioneer gives the
impressions of its editor, j. H. Moist
in two weeks tour of the East,
much of which time was spent in the
shenandoah Valley.
He writes that the "trip up the
Shenandoah Valley from the time we
entered it at Harpers Ferry until we
left it east of Staunton, was one of I
the bright spots and memorable ex-
periences of our eastern camping
tour"
Woodstock" says the Iowa jour
nalist, lis fine old town, Astounding
in the spirit of southern courtesy and
hospitality"
Much of his editorial is devoted
to the cayerns of the Shenandoah
Valley, and particularly was he i'm
pressed with Shenandoah Caverns,
the eounty's greatest natural asset,
located just south of Mt, jackson.
Mr. Moist writes:
This part of the Shenandoah Vail
ley is undertake with limestone cav
ems, which are almost lmiitless in
number and extent We came to the
first one at Strasburg, the Crystal
Caverns, but we reserved our time
and money until we reached the
Shenandoah Caverns,. just south of
Mt. Jackson. Then there are also
the Endless Cayerns at New Market,
the Luray Cayerns and the Grottoes
of Virginia, near the town of Grot-
toes. Each has its fine features and
special attractions and none are alike,
except in general formation They
are splendidly lighted by electricity,
competent guides are on hand to con-
duct the tourists and the visitors are
numerous, even for late June
Visit to Shenandoah Caverns
From the ground floor of Shenan-
doah Cayerns Inn, the visitor de-
sends a concrete stairway Of about
loo steps to the portal of the grot-
toes. AS he descends, the tempera-
ture becomes cooler, the change be-
L ing from 95 degrees on the ground
floor above to So degrees in the cav
erns. The splendors begin to unfold
as soon as one starts along the cleo
trically lighted paths. The regular
tour lasts an hour and half So
gorgeous are. the formations and so
| excellent the indirect and colored
lighting scheme, that the trip to the
/ caverns stands out as the most in
! teresting single event in the entire
two weeks Eastern trip. One finds
! himself at loss to decide just which
| of the attractions stands out as the
| greatest feature We are as much
/ delighted with the strange, wavy rib
I; bons of white crystal and their thin
! strata of red, to which the name of
bacon strips have been given. and
! the billowy masses of velyet-like for
! nation, that resemble nothing so
much as the huge curtains or blan-
kets, as we are with the major fea-
lures of the place The Diamond Cas-
cade is pointed out to US, translu-
cent cataract many feet high, set
with million sparkling jewels and
under the skilled hand of the guide
/ its coloring changes from white to
gold, blue, purple, green and crimson
Then there is the Hunters Lodge
n in frl
mails; the Capitol Dome, The Leaning
Tower, a huge stalagmite, which
/ seems to defy grayitation, and its
many tons of weight are held by only
! two slight points of contact But of
all the wonders, Rainbow Lake takes
first place. Looking over a crystal
pool, which reflects countless stalac-
tites, one beholds a gorgeous specta-
Gle of a thousand shapes, marvellous
in their harmony, exquisite in their
delicate form And when the rays
of light change from one shade to an
other, in all the colors of the rain
bow, the beauty passes description.
Visits Park Area
A considerable part of the editorial
is devoted to description of the pro-
posed National Park, the Iowa editor
having visited the area with Mr.
]. Frank Lyttel of Grottoes, one of
the directors of Shenandoah Valley,
Inc. Extolling the beauties of the
proposed park, he says:
THE scenery of our upward climb
was surprisingly beautiful, and dur
ing the first mile we crossed and re-
+ crossed a noisy little trout stream
that finally disappeared up a leafy
ravine Our path became rough as
we made our way over innumerable
water levels and boulders, but the
wild beauty of the mountain compen-
stated us We caught visions of the
same highway a decade hence if
Shenandoah National Park becomes
an accomplished reality and the gov
eminent has made it a flower and
animal sanctuary and covered it with
roads leading to all the scenic fea-
lures.
Our host told us that the park will
very likely go through, after the com
ponent lands are purchased and dedi-
Gated to the government, after which
tho infarioy donarf,,,o,+ ,,.o.,t5 ~,