The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-03-20


ably the limestone, thrust up originally
from the earths inner core, had been
sucked down again In some final con-
vulsion, while the granite was still
half molten, leaving the granite shell
about the chasm.
And in spite of its depth the chasm
was so narrow that it almost looked
as If man could have leaped across
II.
This was undoubtedly Incorrect, the
distance between cliff and cliff being
only apparently reduced by the dense
underbrush that fringed the orifice;
but the distance between the walls,
which inclined inward toward the sum-
nit was less than half that of the base.
1t was just such chasm as man
might step into in storm, to certain
death.
On the floor of this gorge Lee could
see few scrub birches standing
primly erect, seeming to be hardly
larger than tree seedlings in a horti-
cultural nursery.
The assure extended diagonally Of
the cabin. Lee began to retrace his
steps, following it along its edge. until
he came to a place where it termi-
mated suddenly in pile of great rocks
of granite outcrop.
Two of these rocks stood up, one on
each side of the end of the chasm,
like monoliths, although 1t was clear
that they had not been fashioned by
human hands Between them was
third, like a monolith that had been
flung down.
Resting on this was an enormous
rock and Lee, who had been walking
into the face of the wind, stopped and
leaned against this stone for few
moments, in order to catch his breath.
To his establishment the massive
boulder seemed about to topple back
ward under his weight. He felt HIM
self slipping He turned round,
clutched at the stone, and saw it heav
ing under his gaze like ship at sea.
And then he realized what had hap
pehed The stone was not collapsing,
but the pressure Of his body had set it
In motion.
1t came slowly to a standstill. Lee
pressed his hand against the boulder,
and Immediately it was in movement
again.
1t was rocking stone, and proDably
one of the largest in the world.
The least touch started it, sc deli
cately was it poised, but a team of
horses could not have shifted it from
it's position.
AS the huge, overhanging side tilted,
at Lees touch, he saw a narrow open
ing underneath it. His first thought
was that it was that of some burrOw-
ing animal. Then he perceived that
the sharp edges of the hole had I'M
doubtedly been made by a spade. i
Human hands had made it. Lee
stared at it until the stone, returning,
hid the opening from view.
He swung the boulder again, and, as
it tilted, revealing the hole once more,
he fiattened himself, face downward,
upon the ground underneath. The
stone, in its return, just grazed his
shoulders.
Lee came to the conclusion that the
hole extended downward beneath the
base of the great stone, and, lying
fiat on his face, he pushed it up with
his shoulders. The light that came in
as it rocked backward showed him a
foothold in the granite beneath the
strip of mould that covered it-a rock
ledge. with gaping blackness below.
Then the stone came back into posi-
ton again, and nothing was visible.
Clinging in the darkness to the
edges of the hole, Lee extended a foot
downward. The toe Of his boot struck
a ledge of rock. Crawling down, Lee
lowered himself until he felt second
foothold beneath. Below that was a
third.
He found himself descending lad
der of rock.
And very carefully he began work
ing his way downward. The granite
wall was polished as smooth as glass,
each foothold was precariously slip
perry, and he chung like bat with
hands and knees as he descended. But
in a few minutes a dim light began to
filter upward from below. Lees head
scraped against rock. The light grew
stronger. Flakes of snow whirled in.
Then he emerged into daylight, to
find himself clinging to the interior
lining of the great chasm, like fly
on wall, three-fourths Of the way
down. The snow was whirling about
him, but the wind had ceased, cut off
by the precipitous walls OF the chasm.
Then Lee understood. He had found
an entrance, probably the only one,
into the gorge; but someone had pre-
coded him, patiently assisting nature
in the creation and enlargement of the
steps of that rocky ladder, which had
been eroded, during the course of
millenniums, by the action of now
dried-up waterfall.
Only water could have followed out
that course by the play Of the leaping
torrent on the projections of the
granite.
Looking down from where he chung,
7, ee saw that thin stream trickled
over a sandy bed in the middle of the
gorge below, issuing from one end,
where it burst out of the granite,
carrying with it the debris of the al
luyial land above-mud, gravel, and
sand.
And suddenly the idea occurred to
him that in all probability he had
stumbled upon old Pelly's gold mine.