xt7b5m625h6b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7b5m625h6b/data/mets.xml    books b92-134-29324010 English Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Passenger Dept., [191-] : Louisville, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Mammoth Cave (Ky.) Colossal Cavern (Ky.) Caves. Subterranean wonders  : Mammoth Cave, Colossal Cavern, Kentucky. text Subterranean wonders  : Mammoth Cave, Colossal Cavern, Kentucky.  2002 true xt7b5m625h6b section xt7b5m625h6b 










































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Sutbterranean WoInders fh     I



COLOSSAL DOME, COLOSSAL CAVERN
         4



Kentucky


 













            SUBTERRANEAN
                 WONDERS
        HE wonderful work of water in sculpturing
          the surface of the earth is matter of common
          observation and of common remark. Hill
          and valley, gorge, canon and waterfall, all
          have been seen in intimate relation; no rock
          so hard that it can forever resist the action
of the stream; no mountain mass so great that
it will not some time yield entirely to water; no
valley so deep it may not be graven deeper or even
filled to top by the transporting power of running
streams. These changes all occur on the surface, and
from our familiarity with them, fail, often, to engage
our close attention.
   But there is no rock so dense that through it water
will not pass; no union of particles so intimate but the
secret chemical processes of the world beneath can
sever them; no place where all conditions of ordinary
change associated with surface laws are so variable as
in the underground world.
   The visitor to these caverns must not forget the
surface world when he walks through their immense
gorges, their magnificent avenues, their Titanic halls,
their star-bedecked domes. On every hand he will see
a wealth of features which always emphasize the aspects
                        5

 









Subterranean Wonders (of Kentucky



of the outer world and explain them in a new language.
He will see solution so slow that it is measured by tens
of thousands of decades; he will note crystallization so
tedious that he will be driven to madness should he
attempt to compass the years that have passed since
the process began.  Could he question the fossil forms
which sometimes thickly stud the cliffs and ledges along
which he will pass, they might tell to him a story beside
which the wildest creation of the Orient would appear
as but a tale of the nursery. In a thousand ways will
he be impressed with the persistency of Nature's force-
ful methods. If he be a man accustomed to reflection
he will come to the upper world a wiser man; if he be of
poetic turn the sombre shades through which he has
just passed, the great avenues opening beyond into
regions of infinite gloom, the lovely crystals "of purest
ray serene" that reflect the radiance of his light into
still another corner of eternal darkness, and instead of
revealing its outlines or a new beauty but extends its
bounds, then his fancy will take a new direction and
his poems a different tenor.
   Of all the natural wonders none are more interest-
ing to the present generation than the wonderful caves
and caverns that are to be found in various localities.
The interest in these subterranean wonders is attested
by the large number of persons who are constantly
visiting them, and the time and money spent by those
of a scientific turn of mind in studying the rocks, air
currents and animal life that exist in these most inter-
                         6

 










esting places. Probably the greatest number and most
magnificent caverns in the world are found on the
North American continent, most of them being located
in the United States. Thousands of people from this
country and from foreign countries have visited Mam-
moth Cave, Wyandotte Cave and the Luray Caverns,
and innumerable articles descriptive of them have ap-
peared in various newspapers, magazines and booklets
in recent years. The one locality in this country in
which is to be found without doubt the greatest number
of caverns is in Edmonson County, Kentucky, about
ninety miles south of Louisville. Underlying nearly
the whole county are innumerable caves, some vast in
extent, some small. It is said that there are not less
than ninety caves within this limited territory that
have been explored. Mammoth Cave is the largest
of them all; Colossal Cavern the next largest in extent
but far more magnificent and beautiful.



7



 









SubterranCe  Won'ders ofI



ENTRANCE TO MAMMOTH CAE
        8



Kentucky



 








fLouisvile  Nashv.l'tte AR iloa



              k PL M Md 0 T H
                   C A V E
        AMMOTH CAVE owes i        discovery to an
          accident, so the story goes vhich happed
          in the year 1809. It is the old story of
          a hnter and a bear, the pursuer and the
          pursued. The bear was wounded and
          sought its lair in a vain endeavor to esca.
Hutchins, for such was th hunter's name, lost no
time in acquanting others with this important d
covery and Mammoth Cave became both a fact of
history and of science. It is strange to elate that
i  first exploitation was connected with simply mer-
cenary motives and that saltpetre intend  for use
in gunpowder and connected with the war of 1812
was ti incentive that led to more complete exami-
nation  The men who mi       the soft sl  rich in
nitre, are the men who first gave the outside worid
any reliable information of the great extent of this
now famous world's wonder. Albeit their stores
savored of the wonderful t an extent that many
pronounced them romances a knowledge If the cave
that was really quite eact became common proerty,
and the immense cavern soon tok its place mong
the great natural features of Earth.
   A visit to Mammoth Cave constitutes a unique
experience in one's search of pleasure and the mar-
velous. From the moment of arr'val to the last
                        9



 










Subterranean Wonfders     r f



MARTHA WASHINGTON STATUE
       10



Kentucky

 








Louisvill//e t Nashvilltte Ralttro 0 ad



backward look which is always given when the top of
the rough stairway of rock at the entrance is reached,
on the return from the depths, there is continuous
surprise, new experience, pleasant memories, not alto-
gether unmixed with regret. The surroundings are
not very unlike those which the first visitors saw.
The old lumbering stage coach has given way to the
modern railway, with its comforts and speed; the
trees of the forests are larger, but just as numerous;
the wild flowers spring up as abundantly and liven
the landscape as charmingly now as formerly; the
woods are as full of feathered songsters; the neigh-
boring river as prolific in brilliant and graceful fish,
the cliffs which line its course as grand and glorious
as when Hutchins first shot that famous bear.
   Within the cavern the changes which have occurred
since the days of saltpetre mining are less conspicuous
still. In every essential respect the visitor sees the
same features, the same angles, the same crystals-
save where early vandal hands have robbed some of
the alcoves and halls of their beautiful forms-the
same springs gush forth from dark recesses, and the
same streams disappear with many a dash and rever-
beration into the same pits and darksome crevices.
The very pipes and supports used by the workers in
the "peter-dirt" stand now as when left by them
nearly a century ago. The famed houses in which
the unfortunate consumptives sought relief from a
malady which alone needed sunshine for momentary
                        11



 












Subterranen Wonders of KeiIntu



iOVER1S LEAP, MAMOTH CAVE
     12

 










respite, but which no skill or art of man could stay,
still stand on the left in the great recess called the
Main Cave. The tracks made by feet of patient oxen
and ruts worn by wheel of creaking wagon still remain
to tell of underground toil in a gloom not less than
that of famed Tartarus. The rock piled high on
either side for a distance of a half mile or more tell
of the work needed to get the much-sought nitrate to
the upper world. Rude hieroglyphic scratches on walls
tell of Bishop, of Brantsford, of Miller and others
who first sought to unravel the mysteries of its branch-
ing avenues or to sound the depths of its solitary
recesses. Occasionally, even yet, fragments of half-
burned reeds, a lost moccasin, a wooden bowl, tell of
visits of aborigines long before foot of civilized man
had awakened the echoes of the lofty domes. Change
there has been, but it is so slow, so secret, if one please,
that impressions formed three-quarters of a century
ago are paralleled by those which are awakened today.
There is only that change which comes from wider
acquaintance with the windings of the chambers into
those that are new and formerly unknown, a change
which makes the visitor despair of ever fully unrav-
eling all the relations of the passages and crevices
along which he journey s or through which he crawls.
The same massive rocks, scattered in the same pro-
fusion, meet the eye on every hand, for the cave has
been preserved in all its beauty as an original work of
nature. The bridges over rivers and stairs leading up
                        13



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Su b terranean Woinder s (of Kentucky



impassable cliffs, the iron guards along places of danger,
alone tell the visitor of the work of man.
   If the visitor enter the great cavern in company
with a chemist he will come forth well versed in
Nature's secrets. For here he will learn how water
charged with carbon dioxide has served as Nature's
graving tools. On the roofs and walls he will dis-
cover the effects which iron and manganese oxides
yield on a background of gray limestone. He will
learn something of crystallization and the beautiful
forms which these masses of sulphate of lime and
calcite assume. If he stop in the Fairy Grotto, or
tarry along Gothic Avenue, or venture into some of
the unfrequented passages miles away from the natu-
ral entrance, he will face enormous stalactites and
tread upon massive stalagmites, the beginning of
which dates thousands of years back of the Christian
era. In Martha's Vineyard, beyond the rivers, he
will see those wonderful botryoidal forms of calcite
which give to the locality its name. If he go far
within Crystal Avenue he will learn how those wonder-
ful acicular crystals of gypsum grow and spread out
into a thousand fantastic forms and simulate the
flowers of the upper world, but whose petals are
gigantic in comparison. Now and then he will see
these fanciful beauties growing in plain defiance of
the laws of gravitation and bending and twisting in a
thousand devious ways. In the almost complete
absence of water he will wonder how these forms were
                        14

 











originally put into solution, and ask how are repro-
duced those beautiful crystals which fall, as white
and silently as flakes of snow, at a sudden loud sound
or echo. He will wonder at the thousands of cubic
yards of solid rock which have been removed, and
when he returns to the upper world and visits the
laboratory of his chemist friend he will be chagrined
at the puny processes of art.
   It is impossible to mention, less possible to describe,
all the objects of interest to visitors in this most
gigantic cavern of the world. In no respect have its
attractions failed to meet the expectations of the
intelligent visitor. To the unintelligent its story is as
little understood as would be the famous lyrics of
Homer or the marble poems of Praxitiles. The shells
and corals which dot the walls of Echo River or boss
the smooth walls of Gorin's Dome tell a story to those
alone who have some intimate acquaintance with
Nature. The blind insects-beetles, crickets, mites,
gnats-the eyeless fish and crustaceans and leeches,
the snow-white toadstools, all are meaningless to those
who have never questioned the physical cause of
vision. The naturalist will find here a paradise-
forms of life that are unique, that range from verte-
brate to worm, and these all tell him a story of antiq-
uity and of life-law that only a naturalist may interpret.
But if the visitor seeks the grand and impressive, if
there be attraction in Stygian blackness, if the uncanny
noises accompanying waters falling in recesses that
                         15



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Su b t e rr aad         d     fll rs o ft u



TH11 STONE HUTS IN MAMMOTH CAVE
           115



Kentucky

 








Louisvill/e t Nashvillte Ralt=ro 0adt

have yet escaped search, if the unison of sounds coming
from the dark and unfathomed recesses of Echo River
back to the ear with a harmony and beauty that no
cathedral note ever yet equaled, find a response in any
human heart, then Mammoth Cave will never cease
to attract visitors of every degree from every land.
   The Echo River is one of the most remarkable
features in this most remarkable group of wonders.
Only a small portion of its whole course is accessible
to visitors, but this part is truly wonderful. At times
the river flows with almost imperceptible current,
while at other times it fills quite to the top the great
River Hall, blotting out the Dead Sea and the River
Styx, both of which are really parts of the under-
ground stream. It is traversed by boats for a distance
of quite half a mile, and a ride over its clear waters is
one of the unique experiences of the world-nowhere
else can it be duplicated. The voyager passes under a
low arch for a short space and then the roof rises rapidly
away from the water and he enters upon his subter-
ranean water-journey in real fact. Nearly all the
river is one vast resonator; its branching avenues and
side crevices, its lofty roof of limestone rock, its
ancient battlemented shores, all serve as reflectors of
every sound, no matter how slight, and send it back
intensified a thousand times, with its roughness
blended into one sweet volume of glorious harmony.
Nowhere on earth, or in it, can such rich tone, coming
back to one with ever-diminishing volume as it rolls
                        17



 




















































THIE MARBLE TEMPLE



18

 










down along the unknown halls and is reflected from
secret chamber walls, be heard. Long experience on
the part of the well-trained guides enables the pro-
duction of the right notes to bring forth the wonders
of Echo River, and no visitor hears them but is
impressed with its glories. Time and again, for
months, have we listened to these noble reverberations,
until they have become a part of our musical nature.
   Perhaps the largest single rock to be found, as a
detached mass in the cavern, is the Giant's Coffin.
Fact and fancy alike serve to make it attractive. Its
mass is very great, and its weight, estimated on its
measurements by taking the specific gravity of lime-
stone as commonly given, is over two thousand tons.
This immense rock has been torn from the side of the
Main Cave, and when this fact was accomplished
away back in geologic times, an avenue was revealed
which alone has rendered possible, until William the
guide found the Corkscrew, a visit to the remoter
portions of the cavern. The rock upon which the
name of Giant's Coffin has been so well bestowed is
entirely of limestone, with a thickness of eighteen and
a total length of forty-three feet. The visitor winds
around it on the usual way in which he goes to the
"end of the cave" on the long route. "The Standing
Rocks" are not far removed from this part of the
cavern and have been similarly torn from the roof,
which is here nearly sixty feet high. They were
detached at the same time and by the same causes,
                         19



Louisville  Nashville Railroad

 








S u bterranean Woinder s (of Kentucky



whatever they were, that made the Giant's Coffin a
fact. But in falling they struck upon their edge and
sank deeply enough in the material of the bottom to
maintain that position. They are detached masses of
limestone strata not more than two feet in thickness.
   Far within the great cavern occur many interesting
and fantastic groupings of stalactitic matter that
require but little imagination to conceive them as
simulating familiar objects. Near the end of the
remarkable Pass of El Ghor-a tortuous, narrow, but
lofty channel which marks the work of one of the
latest of the underground streams-the walls above
and on each side are one indescribable maze of calcite
accumulations. Here, as indeed is true of all parts of
Mammoth Cave where crystallization is in progress,
the underground traveler proceeds along a pathway
which is not far below the surface of the ground. The
characteristic phenomena which indicate approach to
the surface are: first, the dripping of waters which
only enter the channels of this subterranean world at
points near the surface; second, the growing stalactites,
which are only at the upper levels; and, third, the
sandstone strata which everywhere, in this part of
Kentucky, cap the subcarboniferous limestone. When
the uppermost limestone layers are worn or dissolved
away, the sandstones still higher, far more friable and
yielding readily to the separatory power of water,
break away into immense masses or even into piles of
rock which often completely close the passages and
                        20

 










limit many large avenues. The magnificent avenue
which opens from the rotunda, and which, after the
celebrated ornithologist, is named Audubon's Avenue,
is entirely closed at a distance of a half mile by a vast
mass of rock detached, in the manner described, from
above. But a journey to its end is well worth the
time and toil, for here is Olive's Bower, one of the most
convenient of the smaller recesses in which stalactitic
formation may be seen in progress; at this locality
occur some of the most beautiful of the growing
stalactites. In the middle of the bower is a well of
limpid water, every drop of which has played its
part in adding a mite to the massive crystals above,
and which are reflected from its mirrored surface.
Eventually, through some secret passage, the water
finds a way to the Echo River, whence, in turn, it
reaches the Green River and again circulates in the
world outside.
   In many portions of those two wonderfully intricate
channels known as Spark's Avenue and Pensicola
Avenue, the tourist may hear reverberations of foot-
falls and wonderfully sweet echoes of human voices
coming apparently from the depths below. These
points, several of which are particularly excellent, are
really crossings of his own passage way over others
still beneath him. In one certain place in Pensicola
Avenue the listener actually stands above a dome
which, when he sounds a particular note, serves as a
gigantic resonance box and takes up the vibrations of
                        21



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ON ECHO RIVER

     22

 










his voice only to send it back attuned and strengthened
a thousand fold. The very earth beneath him is felt
to tremble as the vibrations reach their maximum
amplitude; closely listening one may hear the sweet
volume of sound rolling along avenues yet untrodden
by human feet, to be finally lost in the unknown
depths. The celebrated side passage known as Gothic
Avenue presents interesting attractions which are of a
unique character. Among them are the stalactites
which, abundant in this portion of the cavern, are the
largest and most remarkable within its limits. Curious
resemblances or historic and mythologic events together
have conspired to furnish the names of the largest of
these. Caesar and Pompey, the Pillar of Hercules,
the Oak Tree, the Bridal Chamber, the Elephants'
Heads and the Wasps' Nests are among the names
which the fancy of the visitor or the caprice of the
guides has affixed to these relics of former water action.
Except at a single locality this avenue, which is at
the higher level of the cave, is quite dry, and little, if
any, change is now in progress. Beyond the usual
terminus at the rock called Lovers' Leap, the avenue
is quite closed by a vast mass of sandstone debris
fallen from above. But down the steep hill at which
the "short route" generally ends, leads a pathway
which passes through a narrow passage in the vertical
wall to the left, fifty feet below, into Elbow Crevice--a
portion of the cavern which should be- seen by all
visitors. Beyond the crevice lie the Cooling Tub,
                         23



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ubt e rK I at e aitIt" o. dl ersA:f/



K e ntuck y



DINING HALL, MAMMOTH CAVE
          24

 








Loisvillt/e t Nashvillte Ralt=ro 0adt

Vulcan's Forge, Napoleon's Dome, Annetta's Dome,
Shaler's Brook-in which alone are found the snow-
white leeches-and several pits and domes but recently
discovered. The sound of falling waters coming
through small passages to the right or left informs
the visitor that in this portion of the cave the processes
of disintegration and solution are in active progress.
From the entrance of Gothic Avenue to Annetta's
Dome the visitor will have passed from the highest to the
third level. Around him and near him are pits which
extend downward to the level of Echo River, which is
not far distant from this chaotic locality. A hundred
objects are here that command one; there are poems
registered in the rocks; fairy forms of bygone ages
that tell of life and sunshine, and hard-by this frail
record of beauty lies a fossil story of ruin and death.
The observer will here find a record of a former world
of organisms with whose diminutive cousins only has
he now intimate acquaintance. Here, in sleep and
silence enshrined, they rest, small tattlers of continental
secrets!
   In this portion of the cave the walls best exhibit
those phenomena which are always interpreted as
meaning the attrition of matter carried along by run-
ning water. The passages are narrow, but high; they
become broader below. In the dim light of the visitor's
lamp the effect of a perspective drawing is produced
on looking upward, and the roofs of the avenues appear
to be far away. Pebbles, derived from a thin layer of
                        25

 










conglomerate far above, strew the pathway and tell
the story of wear and denudation. Animal life is not
as abundant in this locality as it is at the higher
levels, but enough may be found to demonstrate that
no portion of the cavern in which water is found is
devoid of some organic forms.
   Perhaps visitors to Mammoth Cave are most
impressed with the lofty domes and deep pits which
are found in some portions of this underground domain.
Of those that are accessible to the visitor without
great danger and fatigue the best known are Gorin's
Dome, the Bottomless Pit, Mammoth Dome,
Napoleon's Dome, the Maelstrom, and Scylla and
Charybdis, all but two of which are situated in that
intricate and wonderful portion called the Labyrinth.
The first named is viewed through a natural circular
opening in the wall quite three-fourths the way from
the bottom. Illuminated by the guides from a point
still above that at which the visitor is stationed, the
effect of the brilliant lights on the walls beyond, white
as alabaster, fluted and folded in a thousand curious
and fantastic forms, is indescribably grand and
impressive. Coupled with the great size of the space,
everywhere shading off into infinite gloom, is the roar
of falling water, or the splash of Lilliputian cascades if
seen in the dry season. Below, but beyond observa-
tion, runs a portion of Echo River; into which, from
a station high above that occupied by the guide, it is
possible to throw stones, the fall of which awakens
                         26

 











ten thousand sounds and echoes. Stalactitic matter,
of purest white, lends variety to the vertical walls;
where this is wanting, the method of the work of falling
water in bygone ages, is clearly seen.  Not far away
is the Bottomless Pit, and above it, rising sheer to
the topmost level of the cavern, is Shelby's Dome,
named for the first governor of Kentucky. Its bottom,
for notwithstanding its name it has one, is nearly two
hundred feet below the level at which the observer
stands. For many years it was an insurmountable obsta-
cle to further exploration in this direction until Bishop,
the original explorer of the cave, finally crossed it on a
cedar sapling, but not without great danger.
   This pit is one of three, the other two being Scylla
and Charybdis, well named and in the relation to each
other of those celebrated dangers of mythologic fame.
These two pits are not to be seen by visitors, their
approach being by a devious and dangerous passage
which opens from River Hall, nearly a mile distant.
But of all the pits which the visitor sees, that called
Mammoth Dome is the largest and most impressive.
From top to bottom the distance is nearly two hun-
dred and eighty feet; while at the end, the Ruins of
Karnak, formerly called the Egyptian Temples, stand
out in bold relief. These giant columns indeed closely
resemble the works of art of some long-lost under-
ground race, and it does not require a very vivid
imagination to see the great recesses and storied walls
the scene of weird activity or to imagine them peopled
with myriads of gnomes and sprites upon whose labors
the visitor is an unwelcome intruder. The Mammoth
Dome should be visited by every person who desires
to see water at work and completing a task begun
away back in Earth's history.
                        27



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VAUGHAN'S DOME, COLOSSAL CAVERN

             28



 











              C 0 L 0 S S A L
                 C AV E R N

  i RgOLOSSAL CAVERN was discovered in 1895
          by Robert Woodson, who was searching for
          a spring. It was first partially explored by
          a young man named Pike Chapman in the
          fall and winter of the same year and in the
          spring of 1896, since which time more of the
cavern has been explored and a great amount of work
done at the entrance-in the widening of several very
narrow passages, the lowering of the floor in certain
places where the space between the floor and the roof
of the cave did not permit of easy traveling, and the
construction of paths.  All of this work has been
completed, and the trip through the cave can now be
made without any great exertion in about five or six
hours. As yet but comparatively few persons have
seen the interior of this magnificent cavern, and it
stands today practically the same as when first dis-
covered, few, if any, of the beautiful rock formations
have been destroyed by vandals. Originally several
entrances existed to Colossal Cavern, but these were
all closed by filling in the entrance with rock and earth
and an entrance made at the extreme west end of the
cavern. This was done for the reason that the natural
entrances were very inconvenient and hard to reach, the
surface land being very rough and hilly.
                        29



 




















































GREAT BEND, GRAND AVENUE

          30

 









   The entrance to Colossal Cavern is one and one-
half miles from the entrance to Mammoth Cave and
at the foot of a steep hill facing the west.
   From the surface to the floor of the cave is two hun-
dred and twelve feet, the descent being made down
well constructed steps in the rock, the passage way aver-
aging about three feet in width. From the foot of the
steps the avenue in which we find ourselves, and which
is the main avenue of the cave, extends for four miles in
a southeasterly direction to the end of the cave.  All
the rock at this level is limestone, and after one's eyes
have become accustomed to the darkness the remark-
able shape of the rocks and marking in the walls and
ceilings attracts the attention. There is probably no
known cavern where the action of the water and the
force of eruption is as plainly seen as in Colossal Cavern,
and in certain localities therein, particularly in
Florence Avenue, the walls are richly decorated. On
the left, about half way down the steps and reached by
a narrow passage about thirty feet in length is the
Chinese Wall, in a room about one hundred feet in
diameter and containing a pool of water, of which the
Chinese Wall is the rim. The ceiling in this chamber
is covered with thousands of small stalactites; there
are also several large ones and a number of large
stalagmites, nearly all perfect and composed of alabas-
ter, so clear that the light of the lantern can be plainly
seen through them. One of the stalagmites, about six
feet in height, has been named the Pagoda, for its close
                         31



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HANGING ROC, COLOSAL CVERN
            32



 











resemblance in shape to the sacred towers of the far
East. At a point about two hundred feet beyond the
base of tht spS a path dverges to the New Dscover
   To the right of the path in the main cave is seen
Uncle Tom's Pool, a beautiful spring of clear cold water
at the base of a small dome. Here will be first noticed
the perpendicular markings in the rocks at the back and
sides of the dome Midway between Uncle Tom's Pool
and Lizard Spring and drectly in the center of the avenue,
iStanding Rock, a huge piece o limestone four feet
in thickness, eight feet in width and twelve feet in
height. But a short distance beyond and in a small



CHINESE ROOMI, COIOSRAL CAVERN
            33



Loulsville  Nashville Railroad



 











Sub iterratan Wonders of Kenitncky



FLORENCE AVENUE
    34



 












grotto, is Lizard Spring. In this spring and against
the far wall is a remarkable image of a large lizard, com-
posed of flint and nearly black in color. To the left
and on the wall is a large frog stool composed of the
same substance. The passage to Vaughan's Dome
leaves the main avenue just beyond this spring. The
height of this dome is one hundred and sixteen feet.
The walls are beautifully marked, the markings beiug
perpendicular. There are really two levels, the first
dry, the floor being covered with sand; at the lower level,
a few feet below the first, will be found a beautiful spring



SAMSON'S PILLAR

      35



 



















































BICYCILE AVENE, COLOSSAL CAVERN
             36

 










of clear, cold water. The acoustic properties here are
remarkable, the walls of the dome serving as reflectors
of every sound and sending it back in beautiful har-
mony, intensified a thousand times.
   Again following the main avenue we come to Everett
Rock and the Grand Crossing, so called from the fact
that Florence Avenue crosses the main avenue at this
point. Everett Rock is a large detached rock that has
fallen from the ceiling and leans against the wall to the
left. Back of this rock can be found many beautiful
formations of gypsum. For some distance down the
main avenue, on the wall to the right, will be seen thou-
sands of beautiful gypsum formations closely resem-
bling flowers of various kinds, such as roses, daisies and
lilies. In the Ruin of Carthage, where enormous rocks
have from time to time fallen from the ceiling, will be
found the largest detached rock in the cavern. It is
forty feet long, fifteen feet wide and about six feet thick.
From these ru ns we pass through a large but very
rough passage to Samson's Pillar, which is composed
of limestone and about thirty feet in diameter. On
the far side will be observed the profile of a large
bird in flight, the whiteness of the stone in the figure
forming a noticeable contrast with the dark stone back-
ground of the pillar. To the right of the pillar will be
seen the stern of a large ship, the rock being so smooth
and the outlines so graceful that it looks as if carved
by hand. Passing through more rough passages, we
come to Table Rock at the foot of Sandstone
                        37



Louisville  Nashville Railroad



 









Subterra ean Wonders of  entucky



BEAUTIFUL FORMATIONS IN COLOSSAL CAVERN
              38

 








Louisvill9te t Nashvillte Raltt=ro 0 adt



Mountain.   When at the top of this mountain the
visitor 3 but twenty feet below the surface of