The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-10-23
Turning Over An
Old Leaf
By Phillip A. Gladheim

There were faces to remembers in the
Valley of the Shadow;
There were faces unregarded, there
were faces to forget;
There were faces of grief and fear
that are a few forgotten ashes;
There were sparks of recognition
that are not forgotten yet"
John Friends Saltpetre Cave, Sang
Run, the one located to the right and
rear of the house about 210 yards,
was examined this past Friday by of
ficials of the National Sociological
Society. This is an organization of
scientists and amateurs that has
recently been developed, with head
quarters in Washington, D. C. 1t is
already a very famous society and at
tracts to its membership not only men
and women interested in discovering
and exploring new and dangerous
caves, but the leading scientists of
America who are specializing in
American geology, mineralogy, fauna
and flora
This cave is owned by John and
Alfred Friend, two brothers, who are
direct descendants of the original
John Friend, who with his two
brothers settled in Garrett county in
1865. They have the distinction of
being the first permanent settlers of
the county. Not only these brothers,
John and Alfred, are direct descend
ants, but the property on which the
cave is located, was also originally in
the possession of John the First
(Friend).
Both brothers were extremely cor
dial and cooperative with the "spe-
Lurking" officials. Spelunking is an
other name for cave-exploration.
Spelunker is another term for cave
man. The officials, together with the
writer, spent two hours in the cave.
Compass directions, feet measure
ment angles, were taken down by
William J. Stephenson, president of
the society. He was assisted by the
writer and John S. Petrie, of Wash
ington. We found the cave to be
slightly less than one-fourth mile
from mouth to the end,
The cave is easily accessible from
the Sang Run road. There are no
special hazards except that one must
mark carefully one or two sharp
turns. 1t is likely for one to take a
wrong direction. He could not go far,
but it would make for confusion and
give one an unpleasant experience of
one or more phobias peculiar to cave
exploring.
The writer had the thrill Of life
time when he accidentally found the
name of his mother on the left-Wall
of the cave we'll to the far end. Petric
took a flash-picture of him as he was
pointing to the name
The earliest date seen in the cave,
which, by the way, is marked by hun
dreds of names and initials, was 1871.
l want to explore it more thoroughly
and make a record of the names of
those who lived and are living in the
county, who have visited the cave and
left the imprint of their names.
The society officials are placing
this cave on their official list of
caves to be visited by members. 1t
can serve as a model cave for the
uninitiated because it contains no haz-
ards.
Of the many interesting things
noted in this cave, the 'albino-bat' was
the outstanding feature. All good
cave explorers include in their equip
ment bag for holding bats. called
Stephenson's attention to a lone soil
tary bat hanging by his hind-legs
from an arched portion of the cell
ing. Viewed by flashlight it was
sheer white. With a rubber glove
Stephenson pulled it off the rock and
placed it together with two other
specimens in his bat-bag. Neither
Stephenson nor Petrie could identify
the bat, and upon being examined by
DR.. Reese, a bat specialist, who was
present at the conference the next
day at Brookside, w. Va, he, DR..
Reese, was also unable to name this
particular bat. 1t will be delivered to
DR.. Charles Mohr, the leading bat au-
thority of the United States, of the
Academy of Natural Science, Phila-
delphia, Pa.
The Spelunking conference was
held at Brookside Inn, w. Va, a
famous Inn at the turn of the CEN
fury. 1t is old-fashioned but COM
Portable. The new management
serves excellent meals. After the con-
ference was over an informal recep-