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QNIFICMNT CAVERNS NEWLY DISCOVERED IN VIRGINIA. Nowmarket (Va.) Our of the N..¥. Herald.] The whole country lying between the ue Ridge and the Alleghanies in Virginia, uprising the. P.ge and Shenandoah val ve, Which are separated by the Massanut i range, appears to be honeycombed with eras. The land ‘throughout this region of a rolling character and is mostly under tivation. Here and there are to be seen uses of a considerable ‘size, built of brick of wood, with verandas;. These are the tation houses of the olden time, Most , the other habitations outside of the vil ‘ges ara’ small one-storied cabins, many of som being of logs. But it is the under pund world that in this region has the m ost interest for the visitor. The existence acave is usually indicated by numerous ‘pressions of the land, into which surface terrain freely in wet seasons, and from hich draughts of air are observed to come. Me of these openings have been ex red, but ‘few’ of them have been and . to ..possess any considerable mensions. ‘The Weyers, the Madison ad Fountain caves were the largest town until within a year. They were dil vered about seventy-five years ago. They Situated five miles from Weyers station, id the Valley Branch of the Baltimore tho railroad, and their entrances are all thin’ the compass of half a mile. The eat Luray cavern was discovered about one ar ago. It is situated in‘the town of Kray, about sixteen miles northeast of wimparket station,on the same railroad. The circumstances under which it was found ere as follows: A traveling photographer sited the place, and, becoming interested the subject of caves, commenced making i n vestigations. Soon he was joined by two sidents of Luray who had made some ex porations, and the three made a systematic damination of the whole region. ‘One day, an open field, within a short distance of veral houses, they removed some loose ones at the bottom of a little hollow and paid a passage, large enough to admit a an, leading vertically into the ground, one of the three was lowered by a rope w hile the others remained outside. In the meantime a party of boys had come to the ot. When the man came up he was pale ith emotion, so grand was the subterra ean world of which he had had a glimpse hile below, but seeing the boys and deter med to keep ‘his discovery a secret with is own party for the time being, he de lared that another failure had been made, the three managed to get money enough Lacthier to purchase the field, and the value the discovery was not made known to tha t blic until the deeds had been passed and D asession of the property secured. .... NEWLY DISCOVERED WONDERS, _ About six miles southeast from Newmar fat station, in the foothills of the Massanut m range and on the land of Mr. Reuben irkle, ‘a farmer of independent means, in ications of a cavern have been noticed for jars. A few weeks ago Mr. Zirkle and one ¢ two members of his family were strolling out the place, and, removing a few stones at they thought might cover an aperture, vealed a jagged opening descending almost expendicularly.Having procured lights, pey descended, and at the depth of thirty et found themselves in a roomy chamber, Exploration has been vigorously prosecuted y Mr. Zirkle and his two sons, J. O. and i, and they have a up to this date pene tated to the distance of nearly a mile in a bredt line. The descent into the first floor is now made easy by means of a ooden stairway.. This apartment is about 00 feet in length, and its ceiling, which is 2 to 15 feet high, is studded with’pure white stalactites of mammary or beet-shaped run., A side-room, 15 feet wide and high, is 4 smoothly arched ceiling, extends on this for a considerable distance. Pro jecting through a long passage varying from to 4 feet in width and from 5 to 7 in eight, and crossing at right angles a long, a gallery, then going through a large p assage and making a sharp turn, the sec nd hall is reached. This is 25 feet wide, 00 feet long, and from 25 to 50 feet high, to smooth walls. Stepping then to a uch lower level, a room is entered which of a very irregular form and cumbered with enormous blocks of rock which have pilen from the roof. ‘In the ceiling is a wide agure extending upward out of sight. On saving this scene of chaos the course is to level 60 feet higher through an intricate vetera of chambers, the largest 40 by 60 et and 15 feet high. Descending from once over succession of shallow basing hich in rainy seasons are filled with water, you come first too half 100 feet in neth, with a smooth ,vaulted ceiling, and om this pass into a grand chamber 500 et long, 60 feet wide and 30 feet high w ith a floor covered with angular masses of tone. An apartment following this is about 0 feet high, 300 feet long and 40 feet wide, nd this is succeeded by a room 100x50 feet nd 15 feet high. From this a beautiful *bed passage leads to a chamber 60xh0 ot and 30 feet high, n which one of the antlers of the cave is to be seen. The oor. is divided by an immense fissure hich extends in a semi-circular form to the ext apartment. A stairway has been con cucted to the bottom of the fissure, fifty - sixty feet below, where is formed a pream of pellucid water, five or six feet in idth. : THE DIAMOND Loom. The next chamber, called the “diamond pom,” because of the brilliancy of the in gustations on its walls, is 225 feet long, 50 get wide and 40 or 50 feet high, with a pnel ceiling, and following this in a mig ificant hall, 400 by 100 feet, and from 30 40 feet in height. At one end of this artment is a pit 15 or 20 feet in length ed depth. This is the farthest point to which a path has been opened and any one can comfortably go. With great difficulty , Peron can craep over a steep and slippery surface between the pit and one of the walls, and then by crowding himself through a fall opening reach another interesting fen ora of the cavern. This is a gallery formed of perfect circle, 300 or 400 feet in circum- 2roach, with a floored level at that of g allroom and 6 ceiling 6 or 8 feet high, shed with then utmost accuracy. At 2 foint nearly opposite the entrance era two walls, with perpendicular walls, leading to a lower level, and here exploration in this direction has stopped. From the bottom of the pit before. mentioned a narrow crevice leads to a series of low chambers 100 feet below the gallery, which have not yet been investigated. The formations in this cave comprise all of those which are common to the other caves of Virginia. The resem blances to statuary are numerous. ‘In one of the chambers is a stalactite, brown in color, with a figure in pure white of the exact form of a mouse upon it. The char acteristic feature is the presence of a vast quantity of fine perfectly limpid crystals, covering large sections of the walla and floor. _ DIFFICULTIES OF EXPLORATION Persons who come from a distance to view these subterranean wonders ‘are’ often em phatic in their denunciations of the seeming want of enterprise exhibited by the owners of caves. But listlessness is not always the obstacle that stands in the way of explora tion. In the first place a proprietor is not very desirous of opening a passage beyond the limits of his own possessions, lest his discoveries should simply inure to the bene fit of others. Then it must be borne in mind that the work of discovery is often carried on, not by the owner in person, whose interest it might be to have his un derground domains extended as far as possible, but by the person or persons who are afterward to act as guides to visitors, and who naturally do not care to have the cir cuit that they must travel hundreds of times made unnecessarily long. Again, it must be remembered that the exploration of a cave involves much discomfort and often requires comes nerve. From the main chambers of the Vir ginia, caverns side passages are seen to di verge in every direction. Sometimes the passage from one portion of the cavern to another will be through an apartment of great superficial area, but with a roof so low that one cannot even crawl through on his hands and knees, but may wriggle along for hundreds of feet until he comes to a chamber with a roof sufficiently high to allow him to stand erect. Again, it may be that he has to descend into a dark pit 50 or 100 feet by a rope, or it may be into a nar row fissure by pressing his knees and elbows against the irregular walls, and when he has reached the bottom he will perhaps find that he has in this unusual way entered a vast and magnificent hall. It is met without a sense of peril that now and then he finds himself, treading upon a floor of earthy formation, so hollow, and thin that at every step it resounds like a drum and threatens to precipitate him to unknown depths. Some of the passages are so nar row and crooked that it is only with the ut most difficulty that he can pull himself through, and the only way of returning is by backing out. Finally, after overcoming no end of obstacles, one may find himself overlooking an abyss so deep and so dark as to be almost appalling. It is one thing to walk through a cavern which has been furnished with guard ropes and flights of steps at every dangerous point, and whose well-worn paths indicate that many have safely traveled it before, but quite another thing to grope one’s way thousands of feet through dark and jagged chasms, where no human foot has ever trod, and where every step is surrounded with uncertainty. As the floor in most places is of rock, which will not show footsteps, the explorer carries with him either a ball of twine, which he pays out as he advances, or bits of paper, which he drops as he goes, so that he may —in case he losses his way, either return to the main passage, or indicate his course to others. The lights used in these Virginia caves are parasine candles, placed two or three together in a tin shield resembling those used for footlights at a theater.
Newspaper Details
Quincy Weekly Whig
Quincy, Illinois, US
Thu, Jan 29, 1880
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 26 Oct 2025
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