Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-07-30

Prepared by the National Geographic Society.
Washington D. C.-WNU Service.
ONE $4,000 acres of land,
much of it magnificent virgin
~ forest, will be included in the
Mammoth Cave National park
in Kentucky. In the long struggle
to establish this national park,
Maurice H. Thatcher, for many
years United States representative
from Kentucky, was prime mover.
Discovered in 1903, Mammoth
Cave was considered the largest ma
tional cavern in America until the
exploration of the Carlsbad caverns
in New Mexico. The underground
passages are of remarkable extent,
probably undermining the entire
area of the proposed park develop
ment. Almost every dweller in the
neighborhood has cave of his own,
to which he seeks to attract visi-
tors.
Underground rivers in which
swim eyeless fish are weird fea-
ture of the caves. Besides these
there arevast stalactites and stalag-
mites, the best of which are seen
in the part of the cavern reached
through the New Entrance. A "froz-
en- Niagara" of sa]mon-colored rock
and stalactite which, when illumi-
mated by an electric light placed be-
hind it, shadows the perfectly mold
ed form of a beautiful woman STEP
ping down as if to battle in the sub
terranean river, are unique.
There are onyx caves and crystal
caves; one might proftably pass
weeks going through them all. 1t
was in one of these that Floyd Col
Inns met his death.
Beyond Mammoth Cave to the
west winds the beautiful Green riv-
er known as one Of the deepest fresh
water streams in the country.
In this neighborhood was shed the
first Kentucky blood of the Civil
war, when Granville Allen was shot.
Families were torn asunder by the
difference of allegiance. Few states
knew the horror of Civil war as did
Kentucky. To understand what war
meant to the border people, one
needs only to be reminded that JEFF
ferson Davis was born near Hop
kinsville, not far from Bowling
Green, and that Abraham Lincoln
was born near Hodgenville, a few
miles to the north.
Birthplace of Lincoln.
At Hodgenville, a stately memo
rial shelters the humble log cabin
in which Lincoln was born. Sim
plicity marks the place as it marked
the great soul it fostered. Visitors
pause for drink from the Lincoln
spring.
Memories of Lincoln linger in the
very air between Hodgenville and
Bardstown. To Knob creek the Lin
coin family moved before young
Abraham was two years old, and
there they lived until he was eight.
His earliest recollections, he wrote,
were of Knob creek, and how he
was saved from drowning there
by the quick aid of chum. Not
much chance of drowning in the
creek now; it is little more than a
rivulet.
If there is a house in the world
worthy to inspire music, it is "My
Old Kentucky Home" near Bards-
town. While guest in the house,
then owned by his kinsfolk, the
Rowan family, Stephen Collins Eos
ter composed that deathless ballad,
''My Old Kentucky Home"
He wrote the music, it is said, at
desk in the wide hall, the sun
streaming through the door opening
toward the slave quarters. That
selfsame desk still stands in it's
wonted place, the most precious of
Kentucky's furniture relics.
Even without the Foster tradition,
the home would be priceless. 1t
makes no attempt at ostentation,
but it is peopled with ghosts of
the fine old South.
In Bardstown is st. Joseph's ca
thedral, In which are displayed sew
eral original paintings by great
masters. They are believed to have
been a gift to the church by Louis
Philippe.
Not far from the town is Geth-
semane, retreat of Trappist
monks, one Of two such monasteries
in the United States.
Louisville, the city of George Rog-
ers Clark, comes next on your itin-
erary, northwestward over an excel
lent highway. 1t was there that the
doughty soldier ended his days in
bitterness over the ingratitude of
the nation he had spent his all to
aid.
At Louisville, too, are the home
and tomb of President Zachary
Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready"
His daughter Knox was wooed and
won by Jefferson Davis, then
young lieutenant in the generals
command.
To lovers of horse racing, Louis