Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1929-09-26
A Cavern" Discovery
Being Made in johnson

There is, as many of our people
know, a spring near the Grant home
on upper Roans Creek, in johnson
county, Tenn, known as "Fish
Spring." out of which older people
of the community say, before and
since the civil war, myriads of cave
fish, at certain season of the year,
came out and followed the spring
branch to Roam Creek. An elderly
gentleman of that section was heard
to relate this some weeks ago by the
editor of this paper. Those were the
days of iron forges, when a tilt ham,
mer was used to draw out the bars
when the heated metal was taken
from the furnace. 1t required quite
number of men to operate a prim-
tive iron plant, one of which
was located near the Fish Spring, a
watering place for the laborers. The
Iowner of the forge found that in
many instances, the workmen, after
shaking their thirst, which was rath-
er often-forging was very hot work
they would lose time catching fish
or watching them emerge from the
earth, making their way to freedom
in the then sparkling waters of the
historic creek. Accordingly, in order
to stop this profligacy of time, he
ordered that a lot of cinder from
the forge be hauled and poured in
to the bowl of the spring, which was
done. The water continued to flow,
but never afterward was fish known
to come out of the spring.
When a boy this scribe was very
much interested in this story and,
he, with cousin, Mr.. Sam Rhea who
also had an ambition to explore what
we believed to be a great subterran-
can cavern, set about to investigate.
At the foot of the great limestone
mountain and not so far from the
spring, jutted out between two great
boulders a miniature lake of consid-
cradle depth. Young Rhea, the real
explorer, made for himself small
boat and with paddles in hand, start
ed on his voyage. But 10, when he
had gone only a short distance, his
lakelet contracted and there his first
hopes failed him. The would-be dis
cover knew of hole on top of the
mountain several hundred feet above.
We had rolled great stones into it,
and listened to their bounding from
side to side, until at last they made
a clear drop to the depths below.
In after years, large stones, and even
rails and logs were chunked into the
yawning hole, until it was choked
some distance down, being explored
later on by Bruce, now DR.. Rhea.
He went down on a windlass far, far
below the surface, but was unable to
pass the obstruction.
But back to the story. The State
Highway Commission of Tennessee
got permission from DR.. Rhea to set
a heavy rock crusher at the foot of
the limestone cliff to provide rock
for the surfacing of the road. The
machinery had not been in place
long ere the steam drills had cut
their way deep into the solid lime
stone and the further they cut the
more convinced were they that a
cavern was just ahead. All summer
they have pounded away, finding
sometimes hole in which was found
well defined stalactites and in one
instance the workers found the hea-
wy bones of some animal "a feet
below the surface and about the
same distance back in the cliff. The
week before last heavy shot was
put in and it was decided that Sam
Rhea and Bob Rivers were prophets
half century ago when they said,
"There is a cave and lake in there
if they can only be located" The
last shots revealed an opening of
considerable size with heavy lime
formations hanging from the arch
above, and among them some of as
pretty specimens as have been taken
from the world-famed caverns of the
Valley of Virginia. There are leads
off in the bottom of the hole, that
it seems from the top, a man could
easily walk into, but the powder had
so shivered the stone that to go down
before more work is done, seemed
too hazardous for any man to take
the chance of making explorations.
Yes, it seems that ere many more
days work have been done, cavern
of resplendent beauty and a real
lake teeming with fishes will be re-
vealed to the human eye- Its progress
is being watched with great interest
by many people. 1t is only 20 miles
from Boone, right on the highway.