GENTRY CAVE.

The cave nearest to Galena, and the first visited by us, is Gentry Cave, situated a mile and a half from town. We started in the mail coach, but that vehicle met with a misfortune by no means unusual in that region, the total wreck of a wheel. Having only that morning arrived from the rich agricultural portion of the State where no surface rock can be found, we were pleased enough with the prospect of a walk in such charming spring weather, and set out with a cheerful certainty that the rough place in the road would soon be pa.s.sed. But the school of experience is always open for the reception of new-comers and we were admitted to full duty without question.

The topography was nearly as broken, in its way, as the natural "piking"

spread over it, and very beautiful with the dense forests lighted by the slanting yellow rays of the afternoon sun. The way leads up to the "ridge road" which is at length abandoned for no road at all, and descending through the forest, more than half the distance down to the James River flowing at the base of the hill, we come suddenly in view of the cave entrance, which is probably one of the most magnificent pieces of natural architecture ever seen.

Rounding a corner by a narrow path, we step onto a covered portico ninety-seven feet long, with an average width of ten feet. The floor is smooth and level, as also is the ceiling, which is nine feet above, supported by handsomely carved pillars and rising in a gray cliff projecting from the slope of the hill above, out to the brink of the more abrupt descent to the water's edge ninety feet below. Between the pillars are three large door-ways into the cave. The comparison suggested is an Egyptian temple, and the idea is continued within, where there are no chambers as in other caves; but instead, the entire interior is a labyrinth of pa.s.sages winding about in every direction among an uncounted number of low ma.s.sive pillars, some supporting a low ceiling and others connected by high arches, the highest point being estimated at sixty feet, but appearing to be more, because the enclosed s.p.a.ce rising to a dome is so narrow that the point of view is necessarily directly underneath.

All exposed surfaces of pillars and walls inside the cave are of clay or a soft porous rock having the same appearance, and are covered with curious little raised markings like the indescribable designs of mixed nothing generally known as "Persian patterns." This is, of course, easily explained; the clay being the residuum from disintegrated limestone, the markings described are the harder portions of the rock remaining after particles of clay had been carried out by flowing water while the disintegrating process was yet incomplete.

The Drinking Fountain is considered the great attraction of the cave, and appears to have been fashioned to suggest a model for the handsome soda fountains belonging to a later period. The water bowl is a large depression worn in the top of a rock which seems to have been built into the wall. In front it is five feet high and nine feet across, with artistic corners approximately alike, and at the back ornamental carving extends upward towards the ceiling with an opening through the wall at the center. This opening is divided by a short column down which water trickles to supply the bowl. The ceiling here is about thirty-five feet high and most of the exposed surface is a blue-gray limestone. Only one portion of Gentry Cave has received a deposit of dripstone and even that is of limited extent, and located at the end of a narrow slippery pa.s.sage between high, slippery walls.

The fine entrance is of grey limestone in undisturbed horizontal strata, and this is so plainly marked in the roof-supporting pillars as to give them the appearance of having been prepared by skillful hands, in several blocks, and afterwards arranged in place without the aid of mortar. Unfortunately, all efforts to photograph this wonderful portico have failed to give satisfaction--its position above the river being such as to afford no point for the proper placing of the camera; but a second visit made for the purpose of trying was far from being a loss, and part of the reward consisted of finding among the sheltered rocks, scarcely three feet above the floor, two humming birds' nests with their treasure of small eggs, and our little companion who discovered them was pleased to leave them untouched.

SUGAR TREE HOLLOW CAVE.

The name of this cave is due to the fact that the approach is through a "hollow" well wooded with sugar maple trees. It is two miles from Galena and the drive a beautiful one, as much of the way is through the forest without a road, but with a charming little rushing, crooked stream of clear, cold water: and in places the green slopes give way to mural bluffs of grey limestone in undisturbed strata.

The entrance to the cave is through a hole about two feet high by three in width, into which we went feet first and wiggled slowly down an incline covered with broken rock, for a distance of fifteen feet, where a standing depth is reached. A flat, straight, level ceiling extends over the whole cave without any perceptible variation, and this is bordered around its entire length and breadth with a heavy cornice of dripstone, made very ornamental by the forms it a.s.sumes, and the mult.i.tude of depending stalact.i.tes that fall as a fringe around the walls. The line of contact between the cornice and ceiling is as clear and strong as if both had been finished separately before the cornice was put in place by skillful hands.

Dripstone covers the walls, which vary in height from one foot to twenty feet, according to the irregularities of the floor, just as the width of this one-room cave varies with the curves of the walls, which are sweeping and graceful, the average being twenty-nine feet, but is much greater at the entrance where the entire slope extends out beyond the body of the cave. The length, from north to south, measures two hundred and thirty-three feet exclusive of an inaccessible extension.

The south end of the cave rises by a steep slope to within a foot of the ceiling with which it is connected by short but heavy columns of dripstone, and another line of pillars of graduated height meets this at right angles near the middle and ends in an immense stalagmite that stands at the foot of the slope like a grand newel post.

There is no standing water in the cave, but everything is wet with drip, and consequently the formation of onyx is actively progressing and the south slope already mentioned shows a curious succession of changes in cave affairs. By the slow action of acidulated waters, the grey limestone deteriorated into a yellowish clay-bank, and now its particles are being re-united into solid rock by the deposit of calcium carbonate from the drip.

A careful test of the temperature of the atmosphere showed it to be fifty-eight degrees.

PINE RUN CAVE.

This also is a small cave easily visited from Galena, being less than two miles distant on the Marionville road. The entrance faces the road and is on the same level, consequently it is one of the easiest to visit. Just within is seen an opening in the ceiling, which we are told is one of the two ways to an upper chamber whose chief attraction is a dripstone piano, and the means of ascending is at hand in the form of a Spanish ladder; but an attempt of that sort might even cause the new woman to hesitate, and who hesitates is lost. The ascent was not made.

We advanced on a level with the road for a distance of perhaps twenty feet, when the direction of the cave changed with a right angular turn and we were in a straight gallery about two hundred and fifty feet long and fifteen feet in width, the height gradually decreasing to about three feet towards the upper end, where it widened out into a low but broad chamber. The floor of this chamber is most beautiful. It is composed of a series of connected calcite bowls whose beautifully fluted rims are of regular and uniform height, and all are equally filled with clear, still water. A great number of these basins are said to have been destroyed by an ax in the hands of a poor witless creature for the gratification of a burst of temper, and a magnificent stalagmitic column, too heavy for one man to lift, lay detached and broken, in proof that his body did not share the feebleness of his mind.

Beyond these basins is a low pa.s.sage through which is found the second entrance to the upper chamber, but the basins must be crossed in order to reach it, and this is not an easy undertaking even when their water supply is low, but in the early summer they are almost full.

There are said to be more than one hundred caves in Stone County, one of which is supposed to be fully as large as Marble Cave, if not larger, and is located in the southern part of the county but has not been explored.

Mill Cave is in the northeast of the county, and at the entrance is a saw mill which receives its working power from the cave stream. Inside the cave there is a lake.

Hermit's Cave is a few miles from Galena, and is so named on account of having been used as a dwelling by its former owner, who kept a coffin in which he intended to place himself before the final summons, but was overtaken by death in the forest and it was never used. He wrote sermons on the rocks in his cave and one of these was afterwards removed.

Wolf's Den is also near Galena, and has been utilized as a sheep fold.

Wild Man's Cave is near Galena, and on account of the stories with which people have been frightened, can only be visited by permission and with a guard stationed at the entrance.

Reynard's Cave is four miles west of Galena on the farm of Dr. Fox, but is so nearly filled up with dripstone that only crawling room remains.

The doctor's place is a fine locality for the collection of fossils.

At a distance of twelve miles from Galena there is said to be a fine natural bridge, well worth a visit and sufficiently near Mill Cave for both to be seen on the same trip.

In Bread Tray Mountain there is supposed to be a cave through which a torrent rushes at times, that being the only way in which to explain the strange thundering, roaring noise always heard after a storm, and never at other times.

Besides being a wonderful cave region, and rich in the great abundance and variety of native fruits and fine timber, Stone County has a vast amount of mineral wealth, the heaviest deposits being zinc, lead and iron, with some indications of silver, gold and copper, which have been found but not in paying quant.i.ty. Already since the summer of 1896 several exceptionally pure bodies of zinc have been discovered, the white ore of one recently opened deposit giving highly gratifying indications as to extent. Prospecting may be said to have only commenced in this very far from over-crowded region.

CHAPTER VI.

OREGON COUNTY CAVES.

GREER SPRING.

Oregon County is also at the extreme southern limit of the State of Missouri and was visited, not because its caves are supposed to be either finer or more numerous than those of all the other Ozark counties, but on account of remarkable attractions a.s.sociated with them that are not known to be equaled, or even subject to rivalry, by any similar works of nature in any portion of the world.

The most convenient railway point is Thayer; the station hotel affords comfortable accommodations for headquarters, and the last days of September proved a charming time. The foliage was in full summer glory, refreshed by a gentle and copious rain, and the insinuating tick had already retired from active business until the following season.

The carriage having been ordered on condition of its being a clear day, we left Thayer at eight o'clock on a perfect morning to visit Greer Spring, and were soon in the depth of the beautiful Ozark forest, from which we did not once emerge until Alton, the county seat, was reached, the distance traveled being sixteen miles. Here we stopped for dinner at the small hotel kept by one of the old-time early settlers who came to the region before the war. The dinner was a surprise, and received the highest commendation possible to a dinner, the hearty appreciation of a boy. A young nephew, Arthur J. Owen, having been invited to act as escort on the trip, found all the varied experience in cave hunting fully equal to the pictured joys of antic.i.p.ation. After a large bell suspended somewhere outside had notified the business public that dinner was ready to be served, we were invited to the dining-room, where on a long table was the abundance of vegetables afforded by the season and soil of an almost tropical state, and cooked as the white-capped chef of the great hotel, where the warm weeks were spent, had not learned the secret of; and the delicately fried chicken was not of that curious variety, commonly encountered by travelers, in which the development of legs robs the centiped of his only claim to distinction. As the dishes cooled they were removed and fresh supplies brought in.

Our driver received directions about the road and we started on another drive of seven miles. These directions were "to follow the main road to the forks, and then keep to the Van Buren road and any one could tell us where Captain Greer lives."

The road was, as before, through the park-like forest, and as before, lay chiefly along the ridge, so that where clearings had been made for farms there were fine views over the distant country, which everywhere was forest-covered hills, of a rich green near at hand but changing with the growth of distance, first to dark, and then to lighter blue.

In these forests were fine young cattle and horses, and uncounted numbers of "razorbacks," or as they are otherwise called, "wind-splitters." For the benefit of those who may not be familiar with the names, it might be well to explain that they are the natural heirs of the native wild hog of Missouri and Arkansas. The nephew was greatly amused at seeing many of them with wooden yokes on their long necks, to prevent an easy entrance into fields and gardens by squeezing through the s.p.a.ces between fence rails. These animals are such swift runners it is said they can safely cross the railroad between trucks of the fast express. Their snouts are so long and thin, it is also claimed that two can drink from a jug at the same time; never having seen it done, however, this is not vouched for, but merely repeated as hearsay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wilderness Pinery, Oregon Co. Page 84.]

After a time we stopped to inquire the way of an old man dipping water from a pond by the roadside. He told us he was dipping water to wash the wheat he was sowing in the field just over the fence, and that we reach the forks, then to keep the Van Buren road, pa.s.s two houses on the left, a white one on the right, another on the left and then inquire the way--anyone could tell us, and Captain Greer would show us to the Spring, "for he is a mighty accommodating man."

On we went to the forks where in the point of the Y stood a large tree with a Van Buren sign-board on one side, and in the direction it pointed, we turned, although rather reluctantly, for it looked little used and rocky, while the other was in good condition; but we followed the sign-board and had no misgivings until it began to be realized that a great deal of time was being pa.s.sed but no houses. The morning had been very chilly, but now the atmosphere was just at that balmy point between warm and cool that makes mere living an unqualified luxury; and added to this we soon found ourselves in a deep canon no less beautiful than the justly celebrated North Cheyenne Canon near Colorado Springs.

There was now no doubt that we were on the wrong road, but such magnificence was unexpected and not to be turned from with indifference.

For some distance the road makes a gradual and rather perilous looking descent along the steep and broken slope on the shady side of the ancient river's great retaining-wall, while that opposite is glorified by the brilliant glow of the afternoon sun, which adds an equal charm to the rich, luxuriant foliage below and the tall stately pines that adorn, without concealing, the grey rock they proudly cling to, or that rises in a protecting rampart three hundred feet higher than the canon bed, with banners of the long-needled pine waving above to proclaim the perfection of Nature's undisturbed freedom.

The road descending crosses the thread of water still flowing among the great rounded bowlders left by the former torrent, and our view is changed to one of dense, but by no means melancholy, shadows, with a crown of golden sunlight; and presently the course of the canon turns to the east, and it is all filled with the yellow rays and we notice the bright red hawthorn berries, and ma.s.ses of hydrangea still showing remnants of their late profusion of bloom. We Missourians have a great love of fine scenery and generally take long journeys into other states in order to gratify the taste, while quite unconscious of the wonderful beauty and grandeur of the Ozarks.

Where the canon begins to broaden into a small sheltered valley as it approaches Eleven Points River, we turned and retraced our way to the forks, and a short distance beyond to a house where we might again inquire. A woman came to the open door as we stopped and in answer to a question said: "You ought to have asked me when you pa.s.sed here a while ago."

Apologies for the seeming neglect were offered and accepted, then she explained that both roads went to Van Buren but not to Greer Spring, where in due time we at length arrived.

The house being in one corner of a "forty" and the spring in that diagonally opposite, there was a walk of nearly that distance before coming to an old road inclining steeply down into what looked to be a narrow canon. About midway of this sloping road, the s.p.a.ce confined between perpendicular walls, rising to heights above on one side and descending to the stream on the other, widens suddenly and a picturesque old mill comes into view, it having been wholly screened from the approach by the rich growth of shrubs and trees. Chief in abundance among this luxury of leaf was the hydrangea,--a favorite shrub largely imported into this country from j.a.pan before it was discovered as a native. The mill site seems to have been selected for its beauty although we were told that at this point the stream is seventy-two feet wide, and two and one half feet deep, but could be raised thirty feet with perfect safety by a dam, for which the rock is already on the ground and much of it broken ready for use. The flow is said to be two hundred and eighty yards per minute, with no appreciable variation, and never freezes. The high walls of the Greer Spring gorge will, of course, far more than double the value it would otherwise possess, when it becomes desirable to control and turn to practical account the power now going so cheerily to waste, but the artistic loss will be proportionately severe.

The old mill was the scene of great activity in former times, but was closed on account of an unfortunate accident and for years has had no other duty than simply to serve as a portion of the landscape.