Following the guide I now slipped down into the larger nook just vacated, and saw with considerable chagrin that the next step was down a perpendicular wall more than ten feet in height, facing a high, narrow fissure, the floor of which was merely two shelves sloping to an open space along the middle, almost two feet wide, with the darkness of continuing crevice below. Further progress seemed absolutely impossible. All things are, however, possible to those who will, and it had been willed to pay a visit to the grandest portion of Wind Cave. In order to do so the descent must be made and was. Then some little distance must be traveled along the crevice, but the angle of elevation taken by both sides of the bisected floor served as a sort of prohibitory tax together with the calcite paving, since to maintain an upright position on such a surface would require long training of a certain professional character. That difficulty, too, was overcome by placing a foot on either side of the open crevice; the first consideration, of course, being safety and not grace.

We now came to the enjoyment of the reward of merit. Flooded with the brilliant white light of magnesium ribbon, the crevice walls could be seen drawing together at a height of sixty-five feet, and both composed entirely of larger box work than any seen before and very heavily covered with calcite crystal, colored a bright electric blue and glowing with a pearly lustre. This is the Centennial Gallery, and leaving it with reluctance we passed on into the Blue Grotto to find it finer still. It is somewhat wider and higher, while even the extremely rough, uneven floor shows no spot bare of heavy box work of a yet deeper blue.

The wonderful beauty of this Blue Grotto necessarily stands beyond comparison because in all the known world there is nothing like it. The forms of crystal are chiefly aragonite.

From here we pass to the "Chamber de Norcutt," which would be considered a very handsome room if it had no superiors: and the same can be said of Union College, in which, however, is the Fan Rock to claim special notice; an immense piece of fallen box work shaped like a lady's fan half opened.

An imposing vestibule leads into the extensive but rather dreary Catacombs, from which we crawled through a little hole into the M.W.A. Hall, emerging at the top of a steep but not high slope covered with the smooth yellow crust of calcite encountered at other places, and in trying to make a dexterous turn so as to go down feet first, the descent was accomplished with uncalculated suddenness and an unsought but liberal collection of bruises. This, however, was not a happening of the unexpected and could have no attention amid scenes of wonder and beauty, and we were close to the Geysers. From a scientific point of view this is the most important portion of the cave, for here is an indisputable proof that the water in the cave was hot and that it was subject to geyser action. The surrounding region is covered with the crust already described, and at the top of a gentle elevation is thrown up in the unmistakable form of geyser cones; there being two near together on the surface described, with a third visible through one of these on a slightly lower level, this one being a new discovery, as it had escaped observation until we called attention to it.

These small cones show that after the degree of heat and the volume of water had become reduced to the merest fraction of their former greatness, they continued their accustomed work here in the depth of the earth long after the once grand old geyser had ceased to show an outward sign of life. When the water finally became so reduced even here that the steam could no longer force it through, or to these latest vents, the last rising vapors fringed their edges with a beautiful snow-white border of crystallized carbonate of lime as fine and soft as a band of swan's down, which it resembles. In the pure, still atmosphere of the eighth level, almost five hundred feet beneath the entrance, this silent proof of ancient action will endure for the admiration and instruction of many generations yet to come. Few mortals will ever be honored with memorials so lasting or so convincing of vanished power.

Proceeding on the journey the next chamber is the A.O.U.W. Hall, a large, irregular room, by the rise of which a return to the seventh level is accomplished; and the next entered is the Tabernacle, not at all resembling the last, although a similar description would be correct.

Now is reached what many consider the cave's greatest charm, The Pearly Gates. And marvelously beautiful it certainly is.

Approaching by a slightly lower level, we see a gateway opening between large rocks that light up with the soft lustre and varied tints of mammoth pearls. A wonderful effect is produced by the white calcite crystal spread in unequal thickness over the dark surface of the encrusted rocks. Just without the gate is a short but not golden stairway leading to it, and immediately within is the Saint's Rest, a chamber of moderate size beautified by another great rock on which are combined the warm, pearly glow of calcite and the cold glitter of frost by the later addition of lime carbonate vapor-crystals to the calcium carbonate aragonite.

Next beyond is the chamber containing the Standing Rock behind which Mr. Johnstone made his famous discovery of the concealed pin-head. It is an immense great fallen rock on whose dark surface are scattered transparent flake-like crystals of satin spar, resembling the congealed drops of a summer shower. The mind-reader entered the chamber by the way we shall leave it.

Returning to the spot from which the Pearly Gates were first viewed, we stand facing the most beautiful of this imposing group of brilliant scenes, The Mermaid's Resort. This is a small cove with wave marks in the white beach sand, above which rises a projecting, sheltering cliff as purely white as freshly fallen snow, with a fine deposit of frost work in thick moss-like patterns two and three inches deep.

This crystalline mass, so white and fragile, has to perfection the appearance of hoar-frost about a steam-vent in extremely cold weather, and was, no doubt, formed in a somewhat similar manner. It is crystallized carbonate of lime, and could have been deposited in such extremely delicate forms only by the heavily charged vapors rising from hot water. No one needs to be told that hot water will take and hold in solution a much larger quantity of solid matter than is possible to cold water, with all other conditions the same; nor is it news that a portion of the solid substance is carried off in the rising steam. Now the geyser cones, so recently visited on the next lower level, prove both the heat of the water and its heavy charge of solids, which gave it a far more intense heat than pure water could have equaled, and this in turn drove the steam to greater distances than otherwise it would have reached. When cooled to such a point as to be reduced to a light vapor, its movement was checked by various walls, projections, and ceiling as were in its upward path, and these received the minute particles of burden, while the somewhat brisk motion of the atmosphere, occasioned at these points by the mixing of that of higher temperature from below with the lower from above, is responsible for the dainty and varied forms assumed by the fragile structure.

Once more resuming the journey, we admire the rugged charms of University Heights, a somewhat larger and higher room than the next, St. Dominic's Chamber, but perhaps not more interesting than the Council Chamber, which besides other attractions is to some extent also a Statuary Hall. From the Council Chamber the Alpine Way leads up into the Fair Grounds directly above. This Alpine Way is a sort of cork-screw twisting through the rocks, not unlike a badly walled well, assisted at the lowest portion by a short and nearly perpendicular ladder. Next is the Assembly Room, or Crown Chamber, as it is also called on account of a handsome crown conspicuously placed. This room also contains a Moose so perfectly carved that the skeptic who searches diligently for imperfections finally clamors for the whole company to celebrate his discovery of the artist's noble skill.

Leaving this room we re-enter Milliner's Avenue and soon cross the bridge from which, a few hours ago, we descended into the eighth level by way of Castle Garden; and now the return to the surface is by the route followed before, and we arrive there at last terribly weary, but more than well pleased.



CHAPTER XII.

WIND CAVE CONCLUDED.

GARDEN OF EDEN, THE GLACIER, AND ICE PALACE.

There is yet another long and charming line of travel open to those who have sufficiently steady heads and light feet to suffer no loss of confidence or depression of spirit when mounting the steep stairway whose limit seems lost in the dark distance above.

There being but the single entrance, a repetition of the worn and ancient statement that all roads lead to Rome, means that many journeys may be taken in Wind Cave, but all must have the same beginning.

In the tourist season the guides have not time during the day to bring out specimens to supply the demand, so on this account night trips are of frequent occurrence; and on these occasions the number of persons in all that vast space seldom exceeds half a dozen, but their voices and laughter, and the blows of their hammers, can be heard at greater distances than would seem possible, and give an agreeable sense of companionship; yet the voice does not travel by any means so far as in other caves.

The evening we were to make the long trip just mentioned, our guide being ready before any others had gone in, we started the advance on the ninety-seven miles of enclosed, unoccupied space and had almost reached the level of the Bridal Chamber when he remembered a forgotten and necessary roll of magnesium ribbon, for which it was needful to return to the office in the upper building. I sat down on the lowest step of the great stairway to wait, and for a very short time was entirely alone in the largest cavern in the world, excepting the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.

The unexpected experience seemed suddenly to become one of the great events of a lifetime, and was unmarred by the disturbing apprehensions of any possible danger. The entire absence of sound was indescribably awe-inspiring as

"Strata overleaping strata from the center to the crust, Rose, Alp-high, in molten silence, as the dead rise from the dust;"

but the feeling of complete isolation from the living world would not require an unlimited time to merit the one word—horrible. Even some peril with ample companionship would be more agreeable, while it is a curious fact that the combination of companionship with silence is charming. On the occasion of one visit to the cave it was painful to observe the actual suffering of a lover of quiet, from the good-natured, but heedless, chatter of two of the party.

Presently steps on the stairs broke the stillness, a glimmer of light pierced the intense darkness that surrounded the circle of one candle, and the upper world seemed not so far away.

The interrupted journey was resumed, the route being that already described as far as the Confederate Cross Roads, where, this time, we go straight on in the main fissure instead of turning into the cross-crevice, as was done before.

We were overtaken by the specimen party and recognized the three laughing young girls only by their voices, as in full suits of overalls and white duck caps, they looked like boys. Those who reside near the large caves have overcome their objection to this costume, as it gives much greater freedom and ease of movement, besides being a decided economy. Feminine garments are so easily destroyed, but for artistic effect the substitute cannot conscientiously be recommended.

Beyond the Cross Roads the first chamber is Breckinridge Gallery, a long, rambling hall in which are combined the attractions already passed and those yet to come, but having no striking feature predominating to give special character other than the grandeur of extreme roughness, which is also the quality most observed on passing into the Stone Quarry, where great accumulations of blocks seem waiting preparation for shipment.

The next "open country" is protected from public trespass by the Garden Wall, which appears to have been well built in the long ago by masons properly trained in their craft, and extends, at a uniform height, to the Fallen Flats, where the floor is covered with slabs of enormous size that have fallen from the ceiling since water occupation ceased, as is clearly shown by the sharp edges and surfaces entirely unworn.

The journey now becomes more interesting as the Cliff-Climbers' Delight is reached, and we go steadily up the long nights of stairs until visions of St. Peter begin to rise and we wonder which way the key will turn. Near the top is a handsome growth of snow-white mold hanging in long draperies behind the ladder or spread like on asparagus fern flattened against the rock.

Arrived at the top limits of the stairs the ascent is by no means finished, but continues through three large chambers known as Five Points, the Omaha Bee Office—named by one of the staff of that well known journal—and the W.C.T.U. Hall, dedicated to the service of the organization by one of its workers.



At last the upward journey is ended at the Silent Lake in the first, or highest, level. This, as has already been observed, is the only body of water now standing in the cave, and is not more than ten feet long by six in width and twelve inches deep. The scanty volume is maintained by the very limited inflow of acidulated percolating water which reaches the small receiving basin charged with calcium carbonate; and being cold, the charge is being precipitated on the bottom instead of forming a crust over the surface as in former times when the controlling influence was a degree of heat sufficient to sustain solid matter without disturbing motion.

Rising above the Silent Lake is the Glacier, its moist surface suggesting that the lake is fed by a slight thaw, while the perpendicular front at the water's edge gives the impression of a berg having recently broken off and floated away.

The Glacier flows between two high walls of dark rock, and the steep incline of perhaps seventy feet, covered with a smooth deposit of calcite and shining with moisture, has the appearance of ice and is as uninviting for a climb. The top is connected with the roof above by a group of short, and for this region, heavy columns of dripstone, the oldest formation of that character in the cave.

An occasional overflow of the lake passes out to one side, then turns and goes under the Glacier where its first few feet of descent are called the Pearl Beds, where a variety of water-polished pebbles are being coated over and cemented together with calcite crystal.

From the Glacier down to the lowest level of the cave by another route than that taken for the ascent, there is abundant evidence that at one time this portion of the cave was subject to excessively violent activity, and if studied with a view to the penetration of the principle of geyser action, offers many interesting and valuable suggestions that can be added to and expanded into definite theories in connection with the balance of the cave; all important requirements are clearly shown.

At a short distance from the Glacier is a small circular dome, called the Picture Gallery, which evidently was shaped by water forced up from below. The descent from here takes us into the St. Louis Tunnel, a long rough passage leading down into the great Cathedral, by the still descending irregularities of which we finally reach the Garden of Eden, the objective point of a favorite tourist route, but usually approached from the opposite direction. It is a large chamber of very irregular shape, with an extremely uneven ceiling, dipping nearly to the floor and rising suddenly to distant heights, while every portion of all the varied surfaces glitters with a mass of frost work in every form it is known to have assumed; the banks of orange buds in different stages of expansion being exceptionally handsome. A portion of this wonderful room especially admired is Cupid's Alcove, where the frost is tinged with a pinkish flush from the brilliant paint clay captured in minute particles by the vapors. The whole room is a marvel of loveliness, but unfortunately visitors have wrought such noticeable damage that wire screening must be placed before the general admittance of large parties can be resumed.

Passing out and down to a lower level, by way of Jacob's Well, we find the source of that magnificent abundance of frost work to be in the Chamber of Forbidden Fruit, where a yellow calcite floor-crust indicates the surface level of water diminishing in volume by evaporation long after the upward flow had forever ceased, and from which the rising vapor ascended to decorate the Garden of Eden, just described. But since this water completely disappeared, leaving in evidence only the record-bearing crust, a percolating drip has prepared indisputable proof of the remote distance of that time by depositing on the crust great clusters of luscious fruits, chiefly cherries, which appear to have been carelessly tossed down in heaps, but are firmly fixed in place.

The onward journey continues up and down through Beacon Heights, a large chamber which imitates Rocky Mountain scenery and terminates at the Corkscrew Path which, as the name indicates, is a spiral path winding down like a great stairway against the wall of an approximately circular chamber which is perhaps the highest in the cave, and shows the most violent water-action. The plunging torrent rushed on from here to tear out the heavy rock and form the next chamber, known as Dante's Inferno, whence, its force being divided, it went more gently in various directions. And by one of these passages we now re-enter the main route of travel once more, and finally return to the face of the earth, wondering if it will be possible to so describe those wonderful scenes as to represent with even a limited degree of fairness or justice the awe-inspiring grandeur of the entire trip, or the perfection of fragile loveliness formed and preserved as by special miracles in the Garden of Eden.

One peculiarity of this great journey was that the box work, so abundant in other portions of the cave, was here conspicuously absent.

THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

Another route in Wind Cave is that to the Crystal Palace which, although the shortest, is the one most seldom taken by visitors, because of a certain amount of difficulty and discomfort being unavoidable. Only a portion of the great stairway below the entrance is descended, when we abandon it and climb into a hole in the side-wall of the narrow passage, from which point to the end of the trip our feet prove to be merely encumbrances.

The space crawled into and through widens sufficiently in several places to form chambers of good size, but the height of the ceiling is nowhere more than three feet and most of it only two or even less. The rough rock floor is partly carpeted with patches of loose moist clay, which is the means of our becoming as grimy as tramps, and its source is readily accounted for by an examination of the ceiling. This is easily made while resting one skinned elbow at the expense of the other. The word "abraded" is inadequate where anything approaching real cave study is attempted.

The box work of the ceiling has almost entirely lost its crystallization, and is as ready to crumble as the enclosed clay, which is still retained because it had not yet reached the necessary point of deterioration to be carried out before the great volume of water, required for that service, retired from this high level of the cave.

When finally reached, the Crystal Palace proved worthy of the effort, its decoration being entirely of dripstone and very beautiful, although on too small a scale to be compared with similar work in many caves: it is merely an attractive "extra" in Wind Cave, and not one of the important attractions that give the Cave the rank that may have a few equals but no superiors.

The first room is scarcely more than twelve feet in either direction and not quite six feet high. The glassy ceiling is thickly studded with small stalactites from two to eighteen inches in length, and mostly of the hollow "pipe stem" variety, from which the surplus drip rests in white masses on the clean floor around a central bowl of good clear water.

Down the middle of the wall directly opposite the entrance a rushing little white cascade has congealed, and on either side just under the ceiling is a hollowed-out nook closely set with short stalactites and small columns, all pure white.

Near by but not connected is another room too well filled to permit an entrance, but a portion of the wall having been carried out a satisfactory view is not denied. Here the floor rises to within three feet of the ceiling, and the deposit is much heavier, so that many fine columns rise from bases that spread and meet or overlap. If the cave had no greater claim to notice than these small drip rooms, it would still be worthy of a visit.

The effort to secure flash-light pictures could only be considered successful because there are none better to be had.

The atmosphere of Wind Cave is marvelously fresh and pure, and possesses in a high degree the invigorating quality which in most caves renders unusual exertion not only possible, but agreeable as well. In all the chambers and passages there is little change in the quality of the air, and thorough tests with a standard thermometer showed the variations on the different levels, from the highest to the lowest, to be about 2 deg.; but on different days the range was from 45 deg. to 52 deg. This curious state of affairs some one else will have to explain.

The only forms of life ever found in Wind Cave are a small fly and the mountain rat.

While visiting the cave, every one connected with it was most kind and obliging, especially in showing those beautiful and difficult portions that few visitors are so fortunate as to see. While this is very far from being a complete description even of the parts visited, it will serve to show what a truly grand cavern is located at the south end of the Black Hills.

The elevation at Hot Springs is three thousand, four hundred feet, and that of the entrance to the cave is four thousand and forty feet. A source of disappointment in connection with Wind Cave is that its fine scenery cannot be effectively pictured.



CHAPTER XIII.

THE ONYX CAVES.

Northwest of Hot Springs there is a group of three onyx caves, the distance to them being estimated at from seven to ten miles, if the party does not get lost, which is the usual fate of those who dispense with the service of a driver familiar with the country. In going, the longer way, over the hill-tops, claims a preference on account of distant views with a favorable light. When the Onyx Cave Ranch is reached its scenery is found to be charming, with an ideal log house overlooking the canon, and itself overlooked by the rising slope of the wooded hill. The entrance to the cave is in the opposite wall of the canon, and is covered by a small cabin, at the door of which the view demands a pause for admiration; then the party disappears down a narrow, rough, sloping passage of sufficient height for comfort to none but know the value of comparative degrees. It soon appeared, however, that personal comfort would travel only a short distance. The mud increased with every step, and in its midst was a small hole through which it was necessary to pass to the next lower level. This hole being so small and its walls slanting, the only way to accomplish the first half of the descent was to sit down in the mud and slide, stopping half way to examine a fine ledge of beautiful striped onyx, white and a brownish pink, the first outcrop in the cave, but in the next level it is seen in rich abundance and variety; the colors being red, black and white, brown in several shades and pure white. All are handsome and of commercial quality and hardness; and just above them is a ledge of fine blue marble.

The next chamber is called the Bad Lands, on account of a certain resemblance to that desolate region. The way into it is through the Devil's Corkscrew, a most uninviting passage because it stands on end and is about twelve feet deep with circular, perpendicular walls discouragingly free of prominent irregularities; but careful study reveals a few available crags and rough edges, by which the descent is made. Fortunately the party decreased in size just within the entrance. Climbing up into a hole in the wall of this room, with no little difficulty, the Aerial Lake is the reward of a breathless upward struggle, and a satisfying one. The Lake is very small, but under its clear surface can be seen numerous growing deposits of calcite, while the roof of onyx gleams with a mass of small white stalactites.

Returning again to the main route and traveling to the end of a short passage we beheld the entrance to Red Hall, a piece of rope ladder dangling half way down a perpendicular wall, the other half having no help whatever. The way was clear so far as the length of the ladder, and with trust in the future soon learned in cave work that distance was at once passed, and sitting on the very narrow ledge to cogitate on the possibility of further progress, Mr. Sidey solved the problem by suggesting, rather doubtfully, that the easiest way would be to drop off and allow him to interrupt the fall. This method had twice proved the only means of advance in Wind Cave and can be termed rapid transit. The walls of Red Hall are of stratified limestone variegated with patches of red rock, and clay of the same gay hue. It is the highest chamber in the cave and probably the largest. A hole in the wall at the floor level, near the entrance to the passage beyond, gives a glimpse of the cave river flowing on a slightly lower level, not over two feet below the floor we stand on. The water is said to have a depth of fifteen feet, and a rock thrown in gave back the sound of a splash into water not shallow. Entering the passage already referred to, its dimensions decreased to a crawl and then to a squeeze, so that most of its length was taken in a very humble position, which permitted no regard to be paid to the ample mud or little pools of water that must be serenely dragged through as if carrying them away were an agreeable privilege. Even a muddy passage ends in time, and at last we gained a standing point and after a short climb were in Fairies' Palace, a marvel of dainty beauty, and worthy of the distasteful trip just taken. We stood in a narrow passage that divided the small chamber like the central aisle of a cathedral, above which the white roof formed a Gothic arch from which depended countless little stalactites and draperies, while on either side, six feet above the passage, was a floor of onyx supporting exquisite columns of which the highest are not more than three feet. Only a short distance from the Fairies' Palace is the almost equally beautiful Ethereal Hall, and connecting the two I had the pleasure to discover a small arched passage more beautiful than either.



Although much of the cave was still not visited, the long drive to town demanded a return to the surface, but several stops were made on the way to admire masses of onyx and groups of curious forms in deposits of that fine stone. One high, crooked chimney above the Corkscrew is especially fine and correspondingly difficult for a grown person weighted down with garments dripping mud and water; but Kimball Stone, our boy friend, scampered up like a squirrel.

Two of the Onyx Caves had not been seen at all and Mr. Sidey expressed special regret on account of the latest discovery as no woman had ever yet entered it; but the sun was low in the west and the road had some dangerous points that must be passed before dark, so the reeking skirt was removed and without waiting to dry by the great fire kindled for the purpose we hurried off, promising to return if possible, and carrying treasures in specimens, besides an ancient lemon, which may not be called a fossil, since soft substances are said not to fossilize; but however that may be, this is a perfect lemon whose particles have been replaced with the lasting rock in the same way as the numerous Cycad trunks in the same region have been preserved to prove to us conclusively that formerly the region flourished under tropical conditions, and supported an abundant animal life of tropical nature and habits.

Soon after leaving the ranch, we descended by a sort of goat-trail-road into a grandly beautiful canon, along the bed of which the road continues until it flows out as the water did in ages gone. By this time it had become quite dark, and the chill of the northwest night formed a combination with saturated clothing that cannot be highly recommended as a pleasure; but the natural chivalry which prompted our young escort to insist on lending his own coat, and his evident disappointment that the sacrifice was not allowed, afforded a pleasure that will continue.

THE WHITE ONYX CAVE.

A few days later it was convenient to return to the Onyx Cave ranch with the special object of entering the newest cave, which could be done with the assistance of seventy feet of rope. While necessary preparations were pending, a walk up the canon was proposed. At a distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile above Onyx Cave evidence was seen of a very remarkable form of ancient life. It is not the usual few bones but is a cast in the rock of the canon bed of an animal clothed in its flesh. The appearance of the head, neck, body and wings is preserved, but the tail and four limbs have been carried away by eroding waters which even now have not quite forsaken the canon. The containing stratum is not seen in the canon wall, and near the lower end of the canon a fine white sandstone crops out beneath. We ask: "Was the canon cut to its full depth while yet a Cretaceous sea was depositing beach-sand, and did the earliest horse, with wings, appear at the close of that period? Or, did an animal with fore limbs developed, retain its wings into Miocene time and leave record of its life in an arm of the Tertiary lake?" The body is that of a horse with wings attached to the shoulders. The head is unlike that of a modern horse, being much shorter and more rounded, but the parted lips give a glimpse of the teeth of a young horse. If only the feet could be found, I feel assured they would prove that the three-toed horse of ancient time, so abundantly in evidence throughout this region, was possessed of wings and in some way furnished the idea of Pegasus.

A few feet further down the canon are a pair of twisted wings that show the animal to have perished in company with its mate, while trying to escape from a sudden flood that rushed down the canon like a moving wall.

After some uneasy discussion about the means of entering the new cave, it was finally decided that the available rope was too short and not of sufficient strength. This was, of course, a disappointment but not a surprise, as a very peculiar quality in the rope used to enter caves of this kind had come to notice before. The peculiarity is, that a rope entirely above suspicion for the safety of a two hundred pound man, at once weakens and must be condemned when threatened with one hundred pounds of woman's weight, yet there is an implied compliment hidden somewhere about this protective system that tends to reduce the sting of disappointment.

So it was agreed to spend the afternoon in the White Onyx Cave, which is generally spoken of simply as the Upper Cave because it occupies a higher level than the Onyx Cave already described, and is supposed to be an extension of the same although no connecting passage has been discovered.

The accompanying friend had not been costumed for caving, but was persuaded to accept a full suit of overalls, which needed the addition of a pick and pipe to make the picture perfect. Unfortunately a snap shot failed.

The entrance is in a perpendicular portion of the canon wall, but a narrow path that starts some distance away and appears in eminent danger of falling off, makes most of the ascent comparatively easy; and the balance is completed by a short ladder whose rounds dip toward the canon bed in a rather alarming manner, but this only proves the folly of giving too much heed to appearances, for it is strong and firmly fastened to the rocks.

Just within the entrance there is height sufficient for standing, but the roof descends suddenly and the walls come near together, reducing the passage to a crawl, and showing that in past times water poured in at this opening and not out as might be supposed. The first chamber entered is the Crystal Gallery, but it is so nearly filled with great masses of pure white onyx no standing room remains. Drops of water on portions of the onyx ceiling here are the only moisture remaining in this cave. When Mac's[5] head came in contact with the roof he called to the guide: "See here, little boy, you ought to sing out 'low bridge' at that sort o' places, 'cause when I'm busy hunting a spot to set my foot in, I can't see what my head's coming to, and I like to mined a lot o' this rock with it."

Slowly, and with no danger and less comfort, we creep over, under and between great massive beds of the fine white crystalline rock until at length we enter the Ghost Chamber where no onyx has been deposited, but where numerous mountain rats have evidently been at home for many years, if we may judge from the enormous quantity of pine needles with which they have carpeted the floor. The walls show small box work crumbling to dust, and Ray climbed high into the chimney-like opening above our heads, but reported that it ended suddenly and had no attractions to offer.

Coming out, the way was somewhat varied, but more difficult, as the passages through the onyx beds were more irregular and more nearly closed; Onyx Hall being only a fair specimen of the marvelous results achieved here by the persistent regularity of an uninterrupted but slow drip, continued through hundreds of years.



It is surprising that in all these heavy beds there is no line or tint, or slightest trace of color anywhere, while the other Onyx Cave, so near as to suggest connection, has a gorgeous variety of rich coloring.

The view looking out from the entrance of White Onyx Cave is wonderfully fine, and equally so whether the rain falls or the sun shines, a timely shower giving us an opportunity to enjoy both.

Before leaving the ranch, a promise was made by Mr. Sidey to write a short description of the other cave, which he kindly did, and it is here given. He says:

"In trailing a deer I came across a hole on top of a long divide. On throwing a rock down the opening, I could hear it rattling against the walls until the sounds gradually died away, but there seemed to be no bottom to the hole, and I resolved to come again prepared and make explorations. After the snow had gone my twelve-year-old son, Ray, and I, mounted on our trusty horses, Bonnie and Dee, equipped with ropes, candles, hammers and a pocketful of matches, set out to explore the new cave. It was a beautiful, bright spring morning, and after an hour's hard climbing over fallen timber and rocks, we reached the summit of the mountain. A search of half an hour revealed the opening which was barely large enough to allow me to pass through.

"Fastening our ropes securely to a stout log rolled across the chasm, we began to pay it out, and although we did not feel it touch bottom, I started down to explore, the length of the rope at least. As I descended I found the opening gradually widened out to eight or ten feet, a sort of inverted funnel-shaped hole with irregular wall but smooth and affording little footing. As I neared the bottom I saw the end of the rope was within four feet of it, so I landed on terra firma and called to Ray, 'All right, come down!'

"Lighting our candles we found ourselves standing on a mound of pure onyx, and on looking around could see we were in an immense cavern, whose walls sparkled and glittered as if studded with diamonds. Going down twenty feet we found a smooth-floored room that measured three hundred feet in length, twenty five feet in width, and thirty feet in height. The walls were solid white onyx lined or banded with pink and golden stripes. The ceiling was arched, and draped in fantastic shapes, and hung with stalactites innumerable. The room was so large and the drapery and festooning so delicate and beautiful, that we were filled with awe and could not speak for a time.

"At last we started to further explore this wonderland. On going to the farther end of the room we found a passage leading on. This we followed for a hundred feet and found the whole cavern lined with onyx and crystals clear as glass. After loading up with specimens we retraced our steps and on reaching the large room we had first entered we heard a roaring, rumbling noise. An awful noise truly, which filled us with an unknown dread.

"On approaching the entrance we saw a stream of water pouring down, completely filling the hole.

"For a moment we felt like rats caught in a trap, our only way of egress occupied by a stream of water falling straight down seventy feet, and then we wondered how long it would take to fill up the room.

"Suddenly the thought that there might be an outlet for the water gave us new hope, so we went to see and sure enough we found a natural water-course down through an opening we had overlooked. We gathered up courage once more, and thought the best thing would be something to occupy our time. So we set to work getting out more specimens and in a couple of hours the water stopped running and we were ourselves once more.

"Ray grasped the rope, which was soaking wet, and went up the seventy feet, hand over hand, like a cat. I, being heavier, found it quite different from going down. The rope played whip-cracker with me for some time and before reaching the top I was covered with bruises. But daylight never appeared so beautiful before.

"Here we found the cause of so much water. A cloud-burst had occurred on the Divide and a large portion of it had poured down the passage way to the cave.

"We found our horses patiently waiting for us and night closing in. Mounting we rode rapidly home, resolved never to venture into this cave again without leaving some one at the entrance to give warning in case of danger.

"John F. Sidey."

The first specimen taken out was given to us on our first visit to the ranch, and is pure white with a stripe of brilliant golden yellow. Having been invited to give a name to this new find it seems quite proper after reading the description of the deluge and seeing the bright bands of color, and considering the hopeful promise of future possibilities, to call it The Rainbow Cave.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Colored driver.



CHAPTER XIV.

CRYSTAL CAVE.

South Dakota can boast of yet another cave in the Black Hills that was formed by volcanic disturbance of the rocks and afterwards decorated in a manner peculiar to itself. This is Crystal Cave. It is nine miles from Piedmont in the eastern edge of the Hills, and easily visited from that point by way of the narrow-gauge road, which winds along the natural curves of the beautiful Elk Creek canon, whose walls are said to expose a depth of almost a mile of geological strata, although the exposure at any one point does not exceed three hundred feet.

The disappointment of not having seen this cave during the summer visit to the Hills grew as the weeks passed, and a request that the owner should send a description was answered with an assurance that it was impossible. Therefore, on Friday, November 13th, 1896, with a small nephew, Herbert A. Owen, Jr., for company, the trip was undertaken a second time to complete the unfinished mission.

The first glimpse of the Hills is at Edgemont in the early morning, but the train makes its way to the north through the heart of the uplift, twisting about the curves of the hills and clinging to the sides of a beautiful canon whose high walls give way here and there to fine slopes densely covered with forests of pine and spruce. These look black in the distance and suggested the name of Black Hills to the Indians, who always have a reason for the names they give even to their children.

There are great tracts where fire has killed part or all of the timber but left much of it standing, while in other places nature has defied the power of fire and the hills are re-clothed with young trees. A recent storm had further beautified the region with a few inches of snow, but as the day advanced a chinook began to blow so that when Deadwood was reached, soon after noon, only the northern exposures retained an appearance of winter.

Deadwood is a most peculiar little city and very attractive in its peculiarity, being crowded snugly into a depression between a number of steep pine-wooded hills, which gives an appearance suggestive of a bird's nest securely located among the forks of a branching tree, and as is the case in a nest, business is chiefly transacted at the lowest depth of the enclosure. As the busy center of a great gold-mining region, the metropolis of the Hills, and the outgrowth of an exciting historical past, it claims and receives interesting attention. And while the whole Black Hills region is still distinctly a man's country, it is called woman's paradise, and surely nowhere else are the daughters of Eve received with a more gracious courtesy or surrounded by an equally unobtrusive protecting care.



The streets leading up to the residences lack very little of standing on end, and the houses appear to have been hung in place by means of hooks and wire cord like pictures on a wall. The smelter has no reception day but admits visitors as if their pleasure were a guarantee of profit.

The finest scenery in the Hills is said to be that of the Spearfish Canon, north of Deadwood, and the finest of that at the Falls, but this may be doubtful as other points are very beautiful, especially where the Burlington & Missouri Road requires a distance of seven miles to climb the canon wall.

Piedmont being the nearest town to Crystal Cave, we took the early evening train on the Elk Horn Road and soon were located, and shocked to learn that the proprietor of the cave had started several days before to drive to Wind Cave for specimens. The cave was closed and no one there. The trip had been taken for the one purpose of exploring Crystal Cave, and a letter sent in advance to announce our coming, but the train carrying it was an hour late so he drove off without the mail.

There seemed at first nothing to be done but take the next returning train, which, under the circumstances, was objectionable. A night's rest and a telegram that had to be sent twelve miles by special messenger, improved the situation. The proprietor was unavoidably detained at Wind Cave, but secured a reliable guide, expressed me the cave keys, and has since married the "specimen" he had gone in quest of. May great happiness dwell at the cave many years!

The morning of the third day after our arrival found arrangements all complete, and soon after the train left Piedmont it entered Elk Creek Canon, which is always beautiful, but on that morning was exceptionally so on account of a sudden change in the weather having covered every visible portion of the passing landscape with heavy frost. The trees on distant hills that ordinarily are black, were, for once, all softly white, and when the tall pines in the canon were shaken by a breeze, they cast a shower of flakes like snow.

Here the canon walls are in Carboniferous Limestone with a pleasing variety of color in the strata, and the erosion-carving not overdone, the most notable piece being the Knife-blade. This, at first view, appears to be a high, round tower, but the train following the curve, reveals the fact that it is not a tower, but a thin, curved knife-blade. The sun just for one instant shone through a rift in the clouds, and added special charm to the scene.



A short distance beyond is Crystal Cave station, where the guide was waiting to take us in charge. He is an intelligent young man who has served an enlistment term in the army, is recently married, very obliging, and proud of being trustworthy.

The scenery here is most beautiful as well as grand. The canon makes a sharp turn toward the south, and on the north opens out into another canon of even greater beauty and higher walls, the perpendicular being three hundred feet in places. Crystal Cave is in the hill embraced by the junction curve. The natural entrance is more than two hundred feet above the canon bed and was naturally approached from above. A short walk up the north canon, whose name has unfortunately slipped away, was over ice and snow the chinook had failed to reach, and brought us to a long stairway against the wall, which affords a more direct approach than nature gave and is a fair test of physical perfection.

Finally a resting place is reached where the grandeur of the view can be enjoyed; and then a shorter stairway completes the ascent of the wall, but not of the hill, so there is still a considerable upward walk through the forest of tall pines all carpeted with brilliant mats of kinnikinic with its shining leaves, glowing in shades of green and red, trying to rival the bright scarlet berries. The kinnikinic here resembles the wintergreen of the east, while in the mountains in Colorado it grows in the form of a shrub two to three feet in height, but with no variation in the leaf or berry.

At last perserverance is rewarded with a view of the cave buildings and the summit of the hill rising yet higher beyond, and tall, straight pines swaying in the rising wind over all.

One of the two houses was entered and preparations quickly made for entering the cave, the artificial tunnel entrance being only a little distance further on.

The door was unlocked, candle-sticks taken from a shelf within, candles from the guide's supply lighted, and we went forward at last, into Crystal Cave. At the end of the new tunnel, a second door was passed through, which is locked on the inside during the visiting season by the last guide to enter, in order that no chance late arrival may enter alone and be lost.

The first room is a small one at the junction of the natural and artificial entrances, from which we go upstairs to the Resting Room, in the highest level of the cave, and perfectly dry but otherwise of no special interest. After a short rest here we went down stairs at the side opposite that on which we entered, into a passage leading to the cave's first beauty, the Red Room. As the name indicates, the walls are vividly colored and represent the uncertain line which separates the Carboniferous strata from the Triassic rocks. The color is handsomely brought out here in contrast with masses of calcite crystal, so as to present by the combination a charmingly beautiful room, from which we retired, feet first, down a "squeeze" to the Bridal Chamber, where we found ourselves perched on an irregular narrow ledge, high up on the wall, and cherishing a private conviction that exploration had met a checkmate; but the guide reached the floor and my nephew, Herbert, scrambled down with as much ease as the chipmunk he had chased to the house top a while before; so a little application settled the difficulty and re-united the party. The room is an artistic study in red, and the only reason for its being called the Bridal Chamber is that the way out is decidedly more rough and difficult than that by which the entrance is effected; this, however, is an observation not based on official information.

Off to one side of this room is Lost Man's Paradise, also in red and crystal, named in honor of the timely rescue of one who had faced the possibility of becoming a lost soul.

Another Fat Man's Misery, on a lower level, leads from the Bridal Chamber to the Big Dome, a large room with a fine dome-shaped ceiling from which heavy masses of crystals have fallen to the floor; and down a steep incline from here is Reef Rock, an immense fallen rock with box work on the under side, which at one time served to ornament the ceiling; and now this rock marks the beginning of Poverty Flat, a broad, low passage of great extent, that has been robbed of all its wonderful treasure of crystal and ends in a steep, rough declivity named Bunker Hill by the guides who dreaded to mount it when going out loaded with specimens. At the foot of the Hill is a bowlder of enormous size and with a pointed top, known as Pyramid Rock and giving the same name to the large room in which it stands.

Every portion of Crystal Cave has at one time been heavily crusted with calcite crystals, mainly of the dog-tooth variety, and any barren places are so either because the surface has been removed for specimens, or thrown down by the violence of an earthquake. But where the latter has been the cause of removal, the crystals have in most cases been renewed, which is amply evidenced by the fallen masses being crystallized on all sides; and these as well as most of the walls, are not covered thinly with one crust, but layer has been added to layer until the thickness is four to ten inches and often more. The ceilings that have been denuded by nature's forces during the same early period when water filled the cave were also renewed.

From the Pyramid Room a narrow fissure forms a passage to the Cactus Chamber, where there is a marvelous floor on which the crystals are in bunches like cacti, and the beautiful ceiling is the finest and most irregular unbroken mass of crystal yet seen.

Passing through a round hole known as the Needle's Eye, we enter Statuary Hall, where the latest inrush of water has eroded the sharp points from the crystals, leaving only smooth surfaces, and at the same time done much curious carving, the most conspicuous pieces of this work being a bear and the heads of an Indian and his baby.

Out from the Hall are two important routes, one down the steep incline of Beaver's Slide to The Catacombs, and another, which we followed first, is through Rocky Run, a rough and rocky pass, to a large and handsomely crystallized chamber called the I.X.L. Room, on account of those three letters, over twelve inches in height, being distinctly and conspicuously worked in crystal on a magnificent piece of box work that would weigh nearly half a ton, for which an offer of five hundred dollars is said to have been refused.

The next chamber beyond is Tilotson Hall, very large and extremely rough, and named in honor of a teacher from the Normal School, who delivered an address here that gave much pleasure to both visitors and guides.

The way to farther advance is now more difficult and through a jagged crevice of threatening appearance, but the trip is made in safety and with comparative ease, and brings us into Notre Dame, one of the largest chambers in the cave and perhaps the finest, although where so much is fine that may be uncertain. The display of box work and crystal is sufficiently gorgeous to do honor to the famous old cathedral of France, the ceiling especially being a masterpiece of the builder's and decorator's arts; but the grandest portion, which a visitor recently returned from foreign travel called The Russian Castle, on account of the magnificence of the large box work and pearly crystal masses, should rather be known as the great cathedral's crowning glory, The Altar.

Another large room, the handsome Council Chamber, is entered just as that Altar of pearl is lost to view; and from there an up-hill trip is taken through a narrow crevice to Whale Flat, which is the natural history room, with a large whale as the show specimen.

Going out from here we enter another crevice which serves as a steep stairway descending to a lower level, and measures from top to bottom one hundred and eighteen feet. This is called Rip Van Winkle's Stairway, and although merely a high and crooked crack in the rock, is very beautiful because heavily coated with crystal, the effect being especially striking at the top where the crystal is partly worn away and leaves exposed patches of red rock.

At the foot of the Stairway is the first room containing water, and is called the Gypsy Camp. It is the most charming chamber yet visited, with not the smallest spot of plain or common rock visible. The ceiling, walls, floor, and groups of fallen rocks, are all unbroken masses of pearly calcite in crystals of varied sizes, with here and there a patch coated over with pure white carbonate of lime, or supporting a bunch of fragile egg-shell, which is a thin, hollow crust of lime carbonate, almost invariably having the pointed form of the dog-tooth spar. And there are also beautiful mats and banks of dainty white carbonate flowers. While waiting here for the guide to go in quest of the lunch we had carelessly left behind, the time was utilized in measuring the room, which is a small one. The size of the cave and our limited time for seeing it, prevented much-desired measurements from being taken in all parts of the cave.

This room was found to be forty-eight feet long, the irregular width varied from fourteen to thirty feet and the height from four and one-half to ten feet. The crystal water basin is especially beautiful and the water so clear that we stood looking into it with disappointment, being thirsty and thinking it dry, until the guide laughingly dipped and offered a cupful. The basin is the segment of a circle rounding beneath a massive, overhanging crystal ledge of wonderful beauty, and is nine feet long by two in width. This room and the Stairway into it are alone worthy of a visit, but there is much that is finer still.

Out of Gypsy Camp by way of Gunny Sack Crawl, so named by the workmen who spread gunny sacks to relieve the torture of crawling over the beautiful floor of sharp crystals, we enter the first chamber, where active operation is still maintained and certain branches of the great decorative industry of the cave may be carefully studied. This operative chamber, which is unnamed, would no doubt be called a factory in the east, but in its own locality would more likely be referred to as The Works.

The next chamber entered is Crystal Flat, whose floor is completely covered with immense crystal blocks, and the wonderful crystal ceiling is exceedingly fine. But time being limited we must pass on into the Lake Room, where is Crystal Lake, the largest body of water in the cave. It is about thirty feet long by fifteen wide and its greatest depth is said to be ten feet. The water is cold and clear, and the gold fish introduced as an experiment three years ago are said to have grown rapidly but not yet turned white, and are not known to have become blind.



At some little distance from Crystal Lake, and not within the same range of vision, although in the same room, is Dry Lake, which to the surprise of the guide we found to be not dry, but full of limpid water through which we could distinctly see the delicate clusters of crystals it is depositing. They are of a pale honey yellow and are called Gum-drops on account of the resemblance to that variety of confection.

The name Dry Lake was given because in blasting out a passage a misdirected shot went through the bottom of the Lake, which in consequence was soon drained; but the heavily charged water has sealed up the unfortunate break, and resumed its interrupted work. The ceiling drops to a height of little more than three feet directly above the Lake margin, and is a beautiful crystal mass, which at a little distance down the sloping floor appears as the background for a fine piece of cave statuary called The Bridal Veil, and formed of cream-tinted dripstone. Not a great deal of imagination is required to see a slender girlish figure completely enveloped in the flowing folds of a wedding veil that falls lightly about her feet. The figure itself is three feet ten inches in height and stands on an almost flat circular base of the same material, that measures nine inches in depth and two feet eight inches in diameter. At times the water rises sufficiently to cover the base, in proof of which it left a fringe-like border of small sharp crystals, such as could be formed only beneath the water's surface. Most of this border has, unfortunately, been chiseled off for specimens, but will be renewed in time if left undisturbed; and that condition can easily be secured with a few feet of wire netting.

To one side of this room is a most daintily beautiful alcove so profusely decorated with fragile forms of dripstone that a passage through it without causing damage is extremely difficult. This alcove is about twenty-five feet in either direction, with a sloping floor almost covered with stalagmitic growths above the earlier deposit of sharp crystals, and many of these rise in slender columns to the glass-like ceiling, which varies in height from three to six feet and is thickly studded with small stalactites of both varieties—the pointed, solid form, and those of uniform size, which are always hollow like a pipe stem. The central ornament is the Chimes, a musical group of stalactites which is scarcely more beautiful than Cleopatra's Needle, at a distance of a few feet to one side, a transparent column four feet in height and having an average circumference of seventeen inches.



The Abode of the Fairies is a similar, though smaller room, with The Tower of Babel for a handsome show-piece. While this portion of the cave is extremely attractive, the measurements given show that in comparison with caves of other states the drip deposit here is too small to be reckoned an important feature in itself, but in conjunction with the miles of calc-spar that give the cave a character distinctly its own, it well repays all attention.

Leaving Lake Room we enter a newly opened, long, dry passage to Slab Room, where a comparatively recent earthquake has shaken down the ornamental ceiling and spread it in great slabs over the floor; and having since remained perfectly dry it has the appearance of being the work of yesterday. This room is remembered as the one in which a party of workers were lost, and one of their number gave a severe nervous shock to the junior proprietor by suggesting that as he was acting as guide and unable to lead them out, it was only right that he should be the first victim to satisfy their hunger. A rescuing party with extinguished candles was listening behind a rock to the blood-curdling speech, and came forward to restore cheerfulness.

A long, irregular, frosty looking crevice called Jack Frost Streak, conducts us from Slab Room and ends at Mold Ladder, on which we pause to admire a wonderful growth of snow-white cave vegetation, before ascending into Santa Claus' Pass, the longest passage in the cave. It is a rough crevice named from the fact of being discovered on Christmas Eve, and ends at the Government Room on the main tourist route where a U.S. pack saddle and apparently portable bath tub are conspicuous.

Next beyond is a very large room named New Zealand, on account or its icy appearance and the undisputed possession of a seal. This room in turn opens into Mold Chamber, where an old board platform, formerly used for the display of specimens, has fostered the most marvelously beautiful growth of mold: it hangs in ropes five and six feet long, with tasseled ends, and in broad, looped draperies; but is most beautiful where it has taken possession of the rocks and spreads out on the flat surface like large open fans, with deep, soft feather borders.

Having been in the cave eight hours, we now followed the outward passage from Mold Chamber and soon reached an open trap door where the guide suggested to Herbert that he would be afraid to go down alone and allow him to close the door; but the child surprised him by quietly stepping down and then asking why he wished it, only to be told "because we are coming too." Which we did and found ourselves in the main entrance passage, and in due time returned to the outer world where a terrific wind was roaring through the tall pines and the early winter evening had already closed in dark.

The guide locked the cave, walked with us to the house where he lighted a lamp and left us to prepare for the return to town; but the lamp, belonging to a bachelor, was empty, so we made our preparations in imitation of the blind. On the guide's return he lighted a candle, but suggested that twenty minutes were generally allowed for reaching the station.

The house was accordingly closed and as we walked down the long, curving slope to the stairway, he told of a new and unknown bob-tailed wolf that has recently made its first appearance among the hills in considerable numbers and to the terror of stock. It attacks and bites horses or cattle, and after waiting for the fatal poison inflicted to take effect, falls to and eats the victim.

The uncovered platform which serves as a station being reached a few minutes before the train arrived, I expressed an unwillingness to detain our guide longer on account of his having a walk of four and a half miles to his home; but he declined to consider the subject; saying he had been directed not to leave us until we were taken safely on the train, which came sweeping round the curve on time and stopped for us.



CHAPTER XV.

CRYSTAL CAVE CONCLUDED.

According to agreement the guide again met us at the station on the following morning, for another day in the cave, which we entered with no unnecessary loss of time, and hurrying through the main entrance passage, Government Room and Statuary Hall, went down Beaver Slide, which, on the previous day, we had passed to enter Rocky Run. Our descent into the crevice took us past those portions known as Suspension Bridge and Rebecca's Well, and over some very "rough country" to the most wonderful parts of the cave. Numerous passages open out in various directions; one to rooms of frost work of great beauty; another to the Ribbon Room where the drip deposits on the walls are in ribbon-like stripes of red, yellow, and white, while others yet are ways to the Catacombs. And it is the Catacombs we particularly wish to see, as they most perfectly represent the individual character of the cave and have, as yet, received no injury from either time or man; but is a region as difficult to travel as the way of the transgressor, and many miles can be traversed with no prospect of coming to the end. But where locomotion is so slow and painful, the owner of a pedometer would find that instrument a discouraging companion and soon learn better than to consult its record publicly.

The Catacombs are a series of connected fissures and small crevices in which every inch of exposed surface is covered with clear, translucent, almost transparent, calcite crystals, neither coated with lime nor stained with clay; nor even is the pearly lustre dimmed with the slightest trace of dust. The crystals are very sharp and of all sizes, ranging from half an inch to three and a half inches in length, the larger sizes being conspicuously abundant. The entire region is an enormously large, perfectly formed, and undamaged geode. In reality, the whole cave is a great cluster of connected geodes, and a similar work probably does not exist, but if it does, has never been discovered. The fissures from which it is formed were opened by volcanic violence and then enlarged, and afterwards decorated by the varied power of water, in action or repose.

When the storms toward the close of the Tertiary period suddenly overwhelmed with floods the dense growth of tropical vegetation and multitudinous animal life in the Northwest, the waters necessarily became heavily charged with the naturally resulting carbonic acid gas, and this, acting on the limestone rocks, would decompose them, leaving a residual clay and taking the chief portions of the mineral components in solution, to be afterwards deposited according to circumstances and conditions; and these are indicated by the various results found in Wind Cave, Crystal Cave, the Onyx Caves and the Bad Lands. The latter being previous to that time by no means "bad," but richly luxuriant in tropical vegetation, which gave shelter from the heat to great numbers of curious animals.

Some approximate idea of the extreme age of these caves may be gained from the fact that bones of a three-toed horse have been discovered in a chamber of Crystal Cave that must be practically unchanged since the remains were carried in from the outside, as otherwise they would have been buried beneath the fallen masses of crystal covered rock with which the entire floor is cumbered. And yet this room is so remote from any present connection with the outer world that it is impossible for their introduction to have taken place in recent times.

In the beautiful Catacombs progress is as slow as in a cactus thicket or a blackberry patch. The crevices lack none of the usual crevice irregularities; high places must be mounted or descended, chasms crossed and narrow passages crawled through, while extra caution must be exercised to avoid striking the head or making a misstep that might result in a fall. The hands are in constant use and soon become so sensitive that holding a soft handkerchief gives infinite relief; but the worst experience is the "crawls" where only the soles of the feet, being temporarily turned up, seem safe from the savage treatment of the sharp calcite dog-teeth. The worst crawl encountered was a small one having a downward slope with a jump-off at the end which necessitated its being taken feet first. Fortunately it was short. But in no place do the difficulties outweigh the pleasure of beholding scenes of such beauty, or suggest regret for the time, torn garments, and personal exertion required for its enjoyment.

In many portions of the cave the surface layer of crystals has had the points worn away by the action of water, later than that in which they were formed; but in the Catacombs and other extensive regions as well, the finished work of crystallization is preserved in an absolutely perfect condition. And everywhere the largest crystals are on the under side of a projection or the roof of a cavity.

As the day was passing far too rapidly and many points of special interest yet remained unseen, we turned with reluctance from the beauty and relief from the hardships of exploration in the Catacombs, and made our way over a crevice into Santa Claus' Pass, which was traversed for a considerable distance and then abandoned for a low crawl terminating at the Senate Chamber. This is a large room extending to Poverty Flat, and is brilliantly red and purely white, most of the crystal presenting a smooth surface. Under the Senate Chamber there is said to be some fine box work which we had no time to visit. The name of this chamber was given by a visiting party composed of members of both houses of Congress. A smaller room, which is really an extension of the Senate Chamber, has handsome walls of white and red box work on account of which the same distinguished party called it the Senate Post-office.

From here a difficult crawl, through red rock, well-worn by the action of water, leads to the Starr Chamber, another large room in white and red, and named by Senator Starr of South Dakota.

Opening out from the last room is a curious, dangerous looking, narrow, crevice-chamber known as Suicide Room on account of the threatening appearance of over-hanging rocks, some of which have at times fallen in great masses of various sizes to form an irregular floor; and a descent of this is necessary in order to reach a short and extremely rough crawl, beautifully and painfully decorated with sharp crystals above and below and on the sides. From this we emerge into Rainy Chamber, an elliptical room not less than two hundred feet long by one hundred feet wide, with a tent-like ceiling rising high in the center and sloping down to meet the floor, which also slopes irregularly toward a deep central depression, giving the room a greater height than any other visited. The high points are generally seen in the narrow crevices, while the rooms of generous length and breadth are usually low, many of the largest having an average of five feet or even less.

Although there is frequent intersection of crevices, and each chamber has passages leading out on every side, the general direction of the cave is said to be northwest-southeast.

Rainy Chamber is named from the fact that during the early months of summer water falls constantly in the form of a light shower; but it drips at all times, and in consequence there is an opportunity to study the active process of formation of one of the deposits which is very abundant in Wind Cave and considered the most perplexing. This is the pop-corn, and the theories of its origin have been steadily rejected at Wind Cave because of a doubt being entertained as to whether it has been deposited under water or by drippings. Here in Rainy Chamber it is fully explained. Near the center of the room the fallen masses are heavily crystallized, much of the groundwork being fine box work and the crystals in perfect condition. On these crystals the pop-corn is being formed, and specimens can be seen in all stages of development, from the beginning to an approximate degree of finish; and whatever the position it occupies on the receiving surface, either on top, underneath, or on a side exposure, it always maintains the same relative position as growing plants on the mundane sphere. The water falling on the upper surface in scattering drops forms myriads of minute stalagmites; on side positions the falling drop first strikes the point exposed to its line of descent and then spreads. The scant moisture slowly makes its way down sloping sides and shelving edges, leaving on each small irregularity a tiny portion of its volume, to deposit an infinitely small charge of solid substance, and the balance finally hangs in moisture less than drops on the growing grains of the under surface.

Pop-corn, therefore, is the globular aragonite of the stalagmitic variety. A small specimen from Rainy Chamber, placed beside one of the same color from Wind Cave, shows them to be absolutely alike.

Rainy Chamber is the room in which the bones of the three-toed horse, already referred to, were found, but their presence has not yet been explained; therefore the case is open to conjecture and several theories may be advanced and their values considered. The first question when such a discovery is made, is whether the living animal was possibly a cave-dweller; which, as the horse was not, is quickly disposed of and attention turned to the next, the possibility of a carniverous animal having carried his prey into the dark recesses of the cave in order that the enjoyment of his dinner might be undisturbed. This theory is equally unavailable by reason of the topographical features presented. If the present natural entrance to the cave were the only way into this room from the outside, the distance was too great and beset with many difficulties; besides which the final passage is too small to admit an animal of sufficient size to carry any considerable portion of even a very small horse. But if at that period the room had direct communication with the outside through an opening since closed, the shape of the walls indicate that it must have been a pot-hole in the roof, and through this an animal could have entered by falling, which the horse and others may have done. But it seems most probable that the remains were carried in by the water through such a hole before it was closed at the beginning of the Quaternary period, when the erosion of the Hills was most active.

Rainy Chamber also contains a large and beautiful assortment of the small polished and coated pebbles called cave pearls.

The guide being anxious that we should not fail to see the Niagara Room, we now turned toward a low, broad opening in the wall, a short distance to the right of the entrance, where the rising floor and descending ceiling, failing to meet, had overlapped; so we made our way up a steep, smooth bank, and then down on the other side over a broken, rocky surface for a distance of about twenty feet, when the roof at last joined the floor and two small water-worn holes at the point of junction revealed an untempting passage within. The broader of these holes was three feet, but too low to be considered an entrance; the other was round but certainly not so large as our guide, who was preparing to enter it with doubts of his ability to make the trip, on account of having increased in size since his one entrance there, on which occasion two smaller guides pulled him through the tightest places. Carefully comparing his size with that of the hole he sat beside, there was no possibility of doubt that if the attempt were made he would stick fast, and that would place our little party in dire straits. Consequently I insisted that it should not be, but he was unwilling that Niagara should be missed when so near. Finally I positively refused to go unless he would consent to give us instructions and remain where he was while we went without him, to which he at last yielded with extreme unwillingness. He had frequently shown us the guide's marks, and now earnestly cautioned me to advance only as they point, and turn back if they should fail.

The small nephew went on a reconnoitering expedition to the end of the passage, and reported that the jump-off there was higher than himself but he could get down. I now crawled through the hole and found the passage to be a "crawl" or rather a "sprawl," from fifteen to eighteen inches high, but having an ample width varying from three to six feet. The smooth, straight floor has a steep downward inclination and is thickly covered with dust.

Having reached the widest portion, which is near the end, Herbert directed me to turn, so as to come down the jump-off feet first, where there was a little difficulty in landing, as the perpendicular wall, which proved to be almost five feet high, offered only one projecting help, and that within a few inches of the base; but in obedience to his advice to "reach one foot a little farther down and then drop," I advanced the right one, to be told not that, but the other, and was soon down where it was possible to observe with interest that the right foot had been swinging above an open fissure. We stood in a wide crevice running at right angles to the obnoxious passage we had just quit, and immediately found a guide's mark on a large rock, and others followed at intervals of a few feet over extremely "rough country" as the guides say. Everywhere the work of water was apparent, not in the crystal deposits of still water as in other portions of the cave, but the erosion due to its rushing through. Carefully following the marks, they led into a cross-crevice that took us under Rainy Chamber, and ends there by widening into a circular chamber of about fifty feet width in either direction, and rising to a height of nearly fifty feet in a fine dome. Down the wall from near the top of the dome there appears to flow a beautiful waterfall showing a variety of colors in the straight lines, as if from refraction. The fall is, of course, dripstone, and I knew we had found Niagara, although we had gone beyond the reach of the guide's voice almost at the start. A huge rock directly under the dome has received the falling drip until it represents a mountain cataract. These deposits testify to the great age of the chamber they adorn, as they were necessarily not commenced until all heavy flow ceased, and in Crystal Cave the accumulation of dripstone is so slow that it is said six years' observation can detect no increase whatever.

Several small passages at the floor level gave exit to the great volume of water that evidently at one time entered this crevice, from Rainy Chamber, by the route we followed, and being checked in its course the lower end of the crevice became filled, under pressure; and the low position of the outlets gave this water a whirling motion that in time excavated the dome-shaped room.

No part of Crystal Cave has ever been occupied by a river, but its fissures, opened by the violence of earth movements accompanying nearby volcanic disturbances, have been filled more than once by the inrush of waters which repeatedly submerged the whole Black Hills region.

Following again the marks which guided us into Niagara Room, we soon came within hailing distance of a voice expressive of profound relief; and as we crawled up the sloping passage, over-heated and breathless with the exertion, the guide assured us he was most truly thankful to see us again, as he had never in his life experienced so severe a scare as since it had occurred to him that we had gone beyond the limits of communication without a single match.

He also said I had been where no lady had ever gone before, and took satisfaction in the fact that many men have refused to make the venture with a guide.

Leaving this portion of the cave, by returning as we came, through Suicide Room, Starr Chamber, and Senate Chamber, we crawled along the rocks overhanging a narrow fissure, to reach a ladder at the end, by which we descended to another part of the Catacombs. Here, after traveling a long distance over uneven floors covered with sharp crystals, as were all surfaces, through large, low rooms, and narrow, crooked passages, constantly assisting the difficult advance with our hands, like monkeys, we finally came to The Grotto, which is probably the most remarkable room in this very remarkable cave. It is a large room, with much of the irregular ceiling so low that even the small nephew struck his head severely while turning to warn me, as he often did, of threatening inequalities in the floor and light them with his own candle. The crystals here are exceptionally fine, being very sharp and of unusual size, besides many of them being double—that is, pointed at both ends. Through this beautiful ceiling there is a percolating drip adding stalactites to the crystal-points and piling stalagmites on the crystal masses below, varying this with imitation cascades, mats of small flowers, and masses of pop-corn. Off to one side in a kind of recess there is a depression in the crystal floor filled with clear, cold water.

A glance at the time now showed us to be in danger of failure to meet the train to town, and consequently, tired as we were after nine hours of rough travel and much climbing, it was necessary to make our way out with more speed than comfort, and we found the weather turning very cold. The cave was carefully locked, preparations for the train hurriedly made, the house closed, and as we left it the train could be heard coming down the canon, but we arrived at the station first, though breathless, and a few minutes later were in Piedmont, too tired to properly enjoy a hot venison supper.

As to the size of Crystal Cave, it is impossible to make any positive statement; for as Mr. McBride, the proprietor, says, no survey has yet been made. Other persons said that thirty-six miles is the greatest claim made for the combined length of all passages, and sixteen miles the least, so it may be wise to accept the lesser number until a survey proves it wrong.

The box work in Crystal Cave is not of such great abundance as to demand special attention, but is very beautiful, and one variety deserves particular mention. These boxes have been formed in dark red sandstone, and after being emptied of their original contents, have been completely filled with colorless calcite crystals, and over this is spread an outer surface of the same crystals tinted a brilliant flame color by red paint-clay having been taken in solution by the crystal forming waters. A specimen of this was a temptation too great to be resisted even in the owner's absence.

Some of the box work is of such size that a single box may have a capacity equal to that of a bushel measure, but it is less beautiful than the smaller forms.

On the following morning we left Piedmont, and having a desire for greater personal knowledge of the Hills, took the same train which had taken us to the cave, and traveled to its western terminus, Lead City. The interesting scenery makes this a desirable trip for any one visiting the Hills, but its beauty is chiefly massed at the ends, the middle distance being over gradually rising ground, which is without a counterpart of the rocky canon left behind or more than a suggestion of the high hills yet to come. The special charm of this portion was the magnificent pine forest which covered it until three years ago, when it was swept by a terrible fire, from which the settlers escaped with only their lives; and even that would have been impossible if the railroad company had not kept refuge trains waiting for them just ahead of the flames. The prominent geological feature here is the porphyry dikes, which are becoming more numerous and more prominent, and in many places resemble a conspicuous group near Harney Peak, called The Needles. These dykes are of special interest in connection with a study of the caves, since they are probably of simultaneous origin.

The same volcanic movements that caused the violent upheaval of the whole region, and thrust up molten masses through the strata to form a central core to the Hills, must also have rent the nearby regions with fissures through which probably much gas escaped, and having been further opened and then adorned, now demand our attention as caves of unique and curious beauty.

The approach to Lead is over the hill-tops with a magnificent distant view, and the first glimpses of that young city famous for having as a center the Homestake mine, the largest gold mine in the world, are charming. It is situated far down in a valley among the high hills and spreads some distance up the surrounding slopes.

The works of the great mine are wonderful, and visitors welcome to examine whatever they find interesting; any questions they wish to ask are graciously answered, although every one is busy. This is not a special favor to the exceptional few, but the courtesy shown to all. Visitors are also welcome to descend into the mine, but as an attendant is necessary on account of dangers to be avoided, a permit must be obtained at the office.

Several other caves have been discovered in the Black Hills, the largest of which is the Davenport Cave at Sturgis. Very little exploration has yet been done in it, but indications are said to be that it will take rank among the large ones.

At Galena, a new mining town of golden promise, there is reported to be an Ice Cave, where ice forms at all seasons, and during the warm weather is a source of comfort and pleasure to the miners.

In the evening, as train time for continuing the homeward journey approached, the snow storm which began gently early in the afternoon, grew steadily more severe. A carriage to the depot was not to be had, as every vehicle in town had gone to the funeral of an old-timer in the Hills and the return delayed by the storm. The situation could not be regarded as a special pleasure, but cave hunters learn to accept whatever is and be thankful for the general average. At the last moment, however, a team was driven up and permission given us to make use of it. It proved to be the private conveyance of the hotel proprietor, and the young boy who accompanied us, his son.

Our train was on time, and the ride through the Hills to their southern limit, in the falling snow, was wonderfully beautiful; but the storm continued for many days and was one of the most severe on record.

Those persons who have been so unfortunate as to permit themselves to accept a ready made opinion of dangers and roughness to be met with in the more newly settled regions, might find a tour of the Hills doubly interesting by making a supplementary study of "The Living Age," which cannot be so correctly viewed from a distance as is sometimes supposed, since the specimens exhibited are not always a true average of the strata they are supposed to represent.



CHAPTER XVI.

CONCLUSION.

After a visit to the marvelous caverns of the Black Hills, much may be added to the pleasure already enjoyed, through the explanatory activity of the Yellowstone National Park, where even the wonderful combinations of beauty and grandeur are by no means the full measure of attraction and charm. Here is found evidence to verify theories concerning the caves, and those theories in turn contribute in no small degree to a satisfactory understanding of the mysteries of geyser action. For scientific study the two regions should be taken together, since the natural conditions are practically the same, and the chief difference lies in the stages of development; the present of the Park explaining the recent past of the Hills, while the present of the Hills foretells the future of the Park. It seems that Nature, with a full appreciation of the limits and restrictions binding our powers to penetrate certain secrets of an intermittent force, has in this great western country carefully prepared what might quite properly be termed a progressive course of study, wherein each locality makes plain a special point that somewhere else appears obscure.

As has been said in the preceding chapters, the two great caves in the Black Hills of South Dakota cannot be accounted for by the same methods as are recognized as being responsible for the slow excavation of the best known caves of the United States. Although there is every indication that both these caves have been subject to the action of enormous volumes of water, there is equally positive evidence that neither was ever the scene of a flowing cave-river. The lowest levels in both show the narrowest fissures and the heaviest deposits of crystal, by which we infer that the water was held in confinement here, while all the higher passages or channels bear witness to the water's flow. But many of these channels in Crystal Cave, or indeed we might say, most of them, present an unmistakable record of the gauge of the water stage at different periods. During the earlier time, when the volume of water and consequent pressure were greatest, frictional motion must have been limited to the main channel connecting with the vent, and the high gauge of water maintained a fairly uniform degree of heat near its surface. In consequence of these conditions geyser action, probably, was constant, and chemical activity was such that great chambers were formed and then decorated, as already described, with wonderful masses of crystal. As the water gauge receded to lower levels the higher chambers became storage basins for water and steam forced up by the pressure from below, and the time required for these to fill and accumulate sufficient pressure to continue the ejectment, formed the periods between eruptions after the geyser became intermittent. It was during this stage that the sharp crystals in many of the channels, now called passages, were worn down to smooth surfaces; and later, when water occupied only the lowest level, and the great geyser had become reduced to merely a steam vent, the channels immediately connecting with that level were in their turn subjected to the same smoothing process, and then all action ceased.

As no two of the glorious geysers of the Yellowstone Park are alike, neither do the two great caves of the Hills indicate that they should be so. The vent-tubing of each is quite unlike that of the other in all the essential governing points of length, size, shape, angle of inclination and power-conserving bends. And the differences extend in an almost equally marked degree throughout the vast and complicated succession of storage chambers and their connecting channels. The small vent of Wind Cave shows that the ejected jet was far from being equal to that of the Crystal Cave in volume; but the nearly perpendicular long arm of its tube shows also that its jet attained a much greater height, even supposing that it should be necessary to make some allowance for a short elbow at the top.

Dr. Hayden's geological party gave much attention to the Yellowstone Park while its wonders were new to the world, and observations were made at various times during the period included between the years 1869 and 1870. The special study, and full report of the geysers became the duty of Dr. A.C. Peal, whose descriptions and conclusions were published in U.S. Geological Survey Report, 1878, Part II. In the final pages of his report he quotes the leading authorities on geyser action, and applies the principles of their theories, according to his own judgment, to the geysers of the park. Since copies of this report are not now easily obtained, nor even always accessible to the increasing number of personages who visit the park, it may be well to quote from him some of the theories he discussed and the opinions he expressed. On page 416, beginning the chapter with the derivation of the word geyser from the Icelandic word geysa—to gush, he continues:

"We now come to the definition of a geyser. It may be defined to be a periodically eruptive or intermittent hot spring, from which the water is projected into the air in a fountain-like column. The analogy between geysers and volcanoes has frequently been noticed and the former have often been described as volcanoes which erupt heated water instead of melted lava. We have italicized the word hot in the definition just given, because springs containing a large amount of gas may simulate geysers.

"The difference between geysers and ordinary hot springs is not readily explained, nor even always recognized. The difference between a quiet thermal spring and a geyser in active eruption is very marked, but between the two there is every grade of action. Some geysers appear as quiet springs, as for instance the Grand Geyser during its period of quiescence. Others might easily be mistaken for constantly boiling springs, as in the case of the Giant Geyser, in which the water is constantly in active ebullition. This is true also of the Strockr of Iceland. Many of the springs, therefore, that in the Yellowstone Park have been classed as constantly boiling springs may be unsuspected geysers. The Excelsior Geyser was not discovered to be a geyser until eight years after the setting aside of the park. Almost all constantly boiling springs have periods of increased activity, and those which spurt a few feet into the air have been classed as pseudo-geysers.

"It has been noticed that geysers occur where the intensity of volcanic action is decreasing. In the neighborhood of active volcanoes, such as Vesuvius, the temperature appears to be too high, and the vapor escapes as steam from what are called stufas. When the rocks at the surface are more cooled the water comes forth in liquid form.

"We will now pass to the various geyser theories that have been proposed by different writers."

Dr. Peal then proceeds to give the theories of Sir J. Herschell and Sir George McKenzie, but as they are accepted and extended by others, we may pass on to Bischof's, of which Dr. Peal says: "Very similar to McKenzie's theory is the one adopted by Bischof in his Researches on the Internal Heat of the Globe (pages 227, 228). It is really the theory of Krug Von Nidda, who examined the geyser in 1833. Bischof says:

"'He (Krug Von Nidda) takes it for granted that these hot springs derive their temperature from the aqueous vapors rising from below. When these vapors are able to rise freely in a continued column the water at the different depths must have a constant temperature equal to that at which water would boil under the pressure existing at the respective depths; hence the constant ebullition of the permanent springs and their boiling heat. If, on the other hand, the vapors be prevented by the complicated windings of its channels from rising to the surface; if, for example, they be arrested in caverns, the temperature in the upper layers of water must necessarily become reduced, because a large quantity of it is lost by evaporation at the surface, which cannot be replaced from below. And any circulation of the layers of water at different temperatures, by reason of their unequal specific gravities, seems to be very much interrupted by the narrowness and sinuousity of the passage. The intermitting springs of Iceland are probably caused by the existence of caverns, in which the vapor is retained by the pressure of the column of water in the channel which leads to the surface. Here this vapor collects, and presses the water in the cavern downward until its elastic force becomes sufficiently great to effect a passage through the column of water which confines it. The violent escape of the vapor causes the thunder-like subterranean sound and the trembling of the earth which precedes each eruption. The vapors do not appear at the surface until they have heated the water to their own temperature.