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Spencer Party Explores Famous Cave In Greene County — More Extensive Than Boone's or Porter's. Ray's Cave, eight miles east of Bloomfield, will well repay one for the trip, particularly if one enjoys underground exploration. It is more extensive than either Boone's or Porter’s cave in this county though it lacks the beau ties of Porter's. The entrance is less inviting than the opening at Boone’s, but once inside, the going is somewhat easier, though much stopping is necessary in places. A party of Spencer and Jason ville folks visited the place Sun day and traversed a great part of the main passage. An exces sive amount of water wade ex ploration of the back reaches almost impossible, owing to the low hanging roof rock. A fea ture of the cave is the presence of numerous fissures extending far up through the roof rock, cut by water action into all manner of fantastic designs. Stalactite formations are just deginning to take shape in these fissures, and bone was found that was snow white: the others have the brown cmuddy cast common in caves of this section. In one place, in a side fissure, was found a deposit of this lime that resembled a miniature glacier. These de posits were left on o a gently sloping “bench” fissure extend ing well back into the side wall, and the deposit had formed in a rolling cascade, with all the ap pearances of a little placier, and ponder the glare of the neerylene lamp presented a beautiful pic ture. No animal life was found in the cave, not even traces of the crawfish so often found in Indi ana caverns. Neither were there any indications of bats. We were told the story of “old Jim’? Ray, from whom the cave takes its name. His log cabin was located down the gulch be low the cave entrance. He raised tobacco and cane and, it is Whispered that he also made “a little licker now and then’’. And he sold it both the ‘“whuskey” and the tobacco without Uncle Sam's official stamp. As a result the ‘‘reve nuers” got after him. He got word in some way, that a U. S. marshal was coming. He had six children of his own and he ““borrowed”’ six neighbor chil dren, clothed himself in rags and tatters and was ‘‘pinched.’’ He put up a pitiful story in U.S. court; it was verified by the officer, who had ‘‘seen Jim’s children,’’ and the result was that Jim Ray was the only man ever dismissed from Federal court and sent home with a cash donation and a new suit of clothes.
Newspaper Details
Spencer Owen Leader
Spencer, Indiana, US
Wed, Oct 01, 1919
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Ashley P.
USA 20 Aug 2026
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