USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 64
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
"Next to these Spanish ladders I have mentioned, the oldest relics I ever found in
592
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
the cave were two whisky bottles. They were discovered on my first visit in 1882. Just such bottles, shaped like a canteen, were in use by the army many years ago. One of the bottles had blown in the glass a flag and a cannon and the date 1835. These were evi- dences that some one had been in the cave long before, perhaps at the time a body of regular soldiers passed through long before the Civil war. The first descent into the cave of which I have found any definite account was made by Henry T. Blow and a prospecting party in search of mineral in 1869. The prospectors went down into the cave and left a record of their visit on the wall of the Registry room. We found it there. From 1869 I don't think the interior of the cave was visited until our party came in 1882. There was no means of descent. We spent some time preparing a way to get down. A large tree was suspended from the slit in the floor of the crater. Holes were bored and rounds driven through, making what is known as an Indian ladder. With that we made our descent."
Discomfiture of Dr. Beaver.
One of the most persistent upholders of the theory of hidden treasures in Marvel Cave was a man who called himself "Dr. Beaver." The Doctor was on hand at the time of the explorations of 1882.
"Beaver claimed to be able to read Spanish. He also pretended to have a lot of in- formation, charts, and so on, about the location of the treasure. He even insisted that he had been in the cave years before, but I am satisfied that he had never gone down until our visit. At first we paid some attention to Beaver, but gradually we all became confident there was nothing in him. Dr. Jones and I concluded to make a test of him. We found some pieces of slate and notched and scratched them so as to make them look as if they were intended to convey some secret information. Then we daubed clay on them and partially washed it off. We took bits of rope and rubbed clay into them and dried them to make them look old. We put these things on a ledge up back of the Great White Throne. The next day when we went down to continue the exploration we took Beaver along with us and gradually worked around to the ledge. We fixed it so that Beaver was in advance and so that he was the first to see the slates and rope. The discovery tickled him immensely. He carried the slates away and made a study of them with the aid of his alleged charts. After awhile he came back with a complete translation and a bigger story than ever about the buried treasure. We let Beaver run on for some time about the importance of the discovery. Finally Dr. Jones remarked :
"'Well, there's more in 'em than I thought there was when I made 'em."
"When he saw how he had been duped, Beaver was so mad he wanted to fight. He insisted that he would whip the Doctor, but of course we wouldn't let him. He lost all interest in the cave exploration after that, and disappeared."
Cave Stories.
One cave story of which Mr. Powell found partial confirmation was told to him by an old hunter. "In 1883," said Mr. Powell, "this old hunter heard that I had been exploring the cave. He had never been down, but he had hunted and trapped all through this region, and knew of the cave. He came all the way from his home over near Ozark to tell me the story. Thirty-seven years before, the hunter's narration ran, he and an Indian followed a bear to the crater above the cave. The bear crawled under a large rock which partially overhung the opening into the cave. The hunter and the Indian sent the dog in under the rock to dis- lodge the bear. It was a failure. Then the Indian drew his knife and crawled under the rock. He stabbed the bear. The bear jumped forward. Indian, bear and dog went through the hole and disappeared. The hunter listened long, but could hear no sound. He went home. After thirty-seven years the curiosity
1
Courtesy Missouri Historical Society
ST. LOUIS IN 1860 The year before the Civil War when river transportation was at its best.
Vol. I-38
595
MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD
to know the sequel to that story prompted him to journey thirty miles across the mountain and see whether any trace of Indian, bear or dog had been found." Mr. Powell and the hunter went to the spot where the fatal encounter had taken place. Mr. Powell noted the probable direction of the fall. He descended into the cave, and, after a little search, found the skeleton of the bear. Of the Indian and dog there was no trace.
Another old resident of the region entertained Mr. Powell with the story of two dogs that had been lowered into the cave and turned loose. These dogs, the tradition ran, had after some days found their way out of the cave and returned to their master. The Powells tried this experiment until they felt sure there was nothing in it. They thought that it might lead to the discovery of an outlet on the level. But the cave has a strange effect on dogs. Instead of seeking an exit the unfortunate animals go wild with fear. They lose all of their ordinary sagacity. So far from making any effort to thread the passages they crouch down in the Amphitheater with their eyes on the opening far above them and howl and whine most piteously by the hour.
Another long ago tradition of the neighborhood was that the cave was used before the war as a hiding place for runaway negroes. A story is told of a hunter seeing a negro come out of what was supposed to be an outlet of Marvel Cave. This alleged outlet is in the glades of Indian creek, not many miles from Marvel Cave. It goes by the name of the Nigger Hole to this day. But if there is a connection between the big cave and the hole it has not yet been traced. The theodolite has been used. It was shown that the Marvel Cave extends a long way in the direction of Indian creek. The theory is that somewhere along the creek is the entrance by which the thousands of animals, prehistoric and more recent, found their way into the great chamber to die. It is instinct with the feline tribe to seek a hidden spot when the pangs of dissolution come on. It is. also instinct which takes them into just such catacombs as the Dead Animal Chamber. Rarely, however, do they find a place where the mummifying conditions-the evenness of temperature and the dryness-are so perfect. Runaway slaves, numbers of them, made use of the smaller caves of this region for hiding and resting places on their way from Arkansas to Kansas. This is well authenticated, but there is nothing to show they descended into the great Marvel Cave.
Traces of mineral, zinc and lead are found in the cave, but nothing that is workable. There is tripoli also. And it is one of the standing jokes of the guides to prompt visitors to test their lifting powers on the rocks scattered about. When the visitors have strained their backs, the guide picks up a chunk of tripoli about ten times the size of the largest rock that has been lifted and handles it as if it was a base ball. After the mystery is explained, there is a laugh all round.
Cave Sensations.
The sensations in the great caverns are very peculiar. They are altogether different from those experienced in mines. No man has ever been able to sleep in the Marvel Cave. Mr. Powell tried to perform the feat, but with all of his love for the cave and with all his steadiness of nerve, he has failed to make a comfortable night of it. The Powells have frequently passed nights underground, but they were engaged in exploration. The first impression upon lying down to
596
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
sleep in the cave is of intense stillness. Then noises are heard and they grow more and more distinct. The strain on the nerves finally becomes such that sleep- ing is entirely out of the question.
"I went down into the cave one night intending to sleep there," Mr. Powell said, "just for the novelty of the thing. It never occurred to me that I couldn't do it. I picked out a comfortable dry place in the Mother Hubbard room and lay down. It was very still at first. Then I began to hear the dripping of water. It was a long way off, but it sounded very sharp and grew louder. The next noise that took my attention was made by the bats. I could hear them flying about in the darkness over me. Their wings seemed to squeak. Next an owl flew through the amphitheater and gave a yell just as he passed Echo Point. The echo swelled the sound tenfold, and the yells seemed to come from as many directions. I jumped to my feet in spite of myself. Of course I recognized in a moment what it was and lay down again. Then I could hear the water rolling in rooms I knew were a quarter of a mile away. The sound seemed to grow louder and to come nearer. I heard the splashing of the waterfall still farther away. One thing succeeded another. It was useless to keep up the experiment. I came out of the cave and went to bed. Working in the cave at night is all right. You do not observe any difference from working down there in the day time, but sleeping is an impossibility."
The Amateur Scientists.
Of all the visitors the one who least impressed Mr. Powell was the genus scientificus.
"The most of these scientists," said Mr. Powell, "are very thick-headed. They don't know enough to amount to shucks." One day Mr. Powell was going by the cave, when he found an old man with four boys there. The old man said the party had "come all the way from Kansas to see the cave in the interest of science." While Mr. Powell was debating in his mind whether to follow the trail of a wounded deer or sacrifice himself to science two drovers came along. They, too, wanted to see the cave. The party was made up. The old man watched the preparations for the descent and took a good view of the long ladder. Just as the word was given and the party started the old man suddenly weakened and said :
"Well, boys, I've brought you this far. There might something happen. I won't go down."
Mr. Powell urged. The old man became more and more positive. The drovers saw the old man's fears rising, and they joined with Powell in insisting that having come as guardian of the boys he must go with them or be remiss in his duty toward them. At length Mr. Powell announced his decision, that the old man must descend or the boys shouldn't ; he wouldn't be responsible for their safety unless the old man went down. The scientist hung to the ladder, talked of his rheumatics, and finally descended. When he found himself on a firm footing his self-confidence returned in part, and he began to talk.
"Boys," he said to his charges, with much show of cheerfulness, "I promised to explain things as I went along. Now, this here cave has been a volcany once. All this rock you see gone out of here was biled out by fire. Them things you
597
MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD
see down yonder is stagalmites. Them's nothing but melted rocks. They jest biled up and friz like you see 'em now. If we'd been on top of this hill when this was blowin' out, we'd better kept away. It'd been mighty hot."
Mr. Powell asked the scientist from Kansas what he thought had become of that which "blew out."
The old man studied a little and replied : "I reckon it must ha' run off down hill into the hollers. I didn't see nothing of it on top."
"How long ago do you think it happened?" asked Mr. Powell.
"Oh, it might have been 100 years," was the scientific reply.
The bats in the cave come to be on familiar terms with those whom they see daily. They will sometimes gather close around Mr. Powell and allow him to handle them, while a stranger can not get near without alarming them. On this occasion Mr. Powell put up his hand in passing near a wall and took down several bats, replacing them after a few moments.
"Right there, boys," broke in the old man, "ye learn the law of kindness. They know him, and he can handle them. If you'd take hold of 'em they'd wipe your lives out and eat your eyes out."
And then the scientist, who had never lost sight of the hole in the roof, in- sisted on going out, and made one of the boys go to the top of the ladder with him.
Rider Haggard Vindicated.
"I have read 'She' and 'King Solomon's Mines,' and those books which deal with wonderful caves," said Will Powell. "I never go up Lost River Canyon that I don't think of them. Haggard describes one long gallery which is almost identical with part of this canyon. I'll be darned if there isn't one place where the rocks are laid up in blocks sixteen feet long and three or four feet thick just as Haggard tells it."
"Haggard," said the father of the young guide, taking up the conversation, "describes in his books many cave effects which we find to be strictly true in our experience here. For instance, there is the crystallization which is forever going on under the fall. Haggard treats a like effect as a means of preserving human bodies. I don't know that this Lost River water will do that, but it will put a coating of crystal on a stick in three months."
Lost River Canyon is considered the most dangerous part of the cave because of its network of passages and the sameness of the region. Beyond Springstead Throne the canyon runs into a series of circular rooms, from five to ten feet high, looking just like so many circus tents. The voice room is one of these. It is reached by a crevice from Lost River Canyon about a quarter of a mile from Sentinel Rock. At all times it is possible to hear in this room a rumbling which resembles the human voice.
Near to the lower passage leading to the foot of the waterfall is the Neighbor- hood Room. It covers an acre of ground. Lost River is crossed nine times in the exploration of the room. The name grew out of a curious circumstance. One rainy day Mr. Powell and a companion in search of new cave territory went into this room. Mr. Powell left a candle near the entrance, and he and his com- panion started forward to examine the room. Suddenly his companion remarked :
.
598
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
"Looks like this was a settled neighborhood. We just left a light behind us, and here is another." It was the light they had left, and as often as they started forward they brought up in a short time with their own light in front of them. Great as it is in width and breadth, the Neighborhood Room is only ten or twelve feet high. It was reached by a descent through a fissure and a crawi of thirty or forty feet. Of the geology, Mr. Powell told some interesting conclusions.
The Geology of It.
"Marvel Cave is not like Mammoth Cave. It is more after the order of Luray, in Virginia. It consists of many large rooms with small connections. Mammoth is a suc- cession of large rooms. But there is no room in Mammoth half as high from floor to roof as the amphitheater of Marvel Cave. Right in front of the Great White Throne the distance from floor to roof is 250 feet. The roof is a great sheet of marble. The depth of the cave is another extraordinary feature of it. I maintain that there are three dis- tinct formations in view. In the Registry Room one can see the roots of the rocks of one formation. The Upper Silurian system ends there. In the lowest parts of the cave are to be seen the Archaic rocks. We actually run through the Lower Silurian complete. When Ladd, the geologist, was down here he thought the lower rocks might be metamor- phosed. He wasn't quite willing to admit they were Archaic. I conjecture that they are Archaic because of the mica we find in them. A great deal occurred during the up- heaval, and much of it can be seen in Marvel Cave. Capt. Anthony Arnold, of Spring- field, spent a week here on two different occasions. His opinion is that the strata seen in the cave embrace three periods-the Sub-Carboniferous, the Upper Silurian and the Lower Silurian. I have had a good deal of experience with the geologists. Starting out from Galena to come over here they begin by contradicting me and saying that my theories are undoubtedly wrong, but after arriving and seeing they usually give up their preconceived ideas about the cave. It is a revelation to them in many ways. The onyx we find is a mere formation in the water in darkness. Ages of hardening are necessary to make it the article of commerce. In the top of the waterfall onyx is seen in the first stages of formation. As to the spring and the theory that the water forms from con- densation owing to the counter currents of air of different temperature, I have sought the opinion of scientists. I wrote to Prof. Eaton, of William Jewell College, among others, giving him a detailed description of the conditions. He corresponded with the profes- sors of the State University at Columbia, and they agreed that condensation was the principle which produced the steady dripping in the Shower-bath Room and the collec- tion of water in the spring. I don't know that there is anywhere underground a freak of nature just like this spring, at least of such magnitude. There is never any lack of pure air in the cave. Currents enter from different directions and are very perceptible. The 10° difference in temperature in different parts of the cave mystifies visitors. Chambers on the same level have this difference. The explanation is found in the bat guano, I am satisfied. The temperature in the chambers where guano is found is 10° lower than in those where no guano is found. The guano contains 13 per cent of ammonia, and that produces the cold. Some scientists shake their heads at this, but they can find no other explanation."
Warren County's Cave.
The main street along which the pretty town of Warrenton stretches for a mile and a half is known to this day as the Boone's Lick road. It was laid out and traveled in the pioneer's lifetime. Boone chose his last home well. Warren combines some of the most fertile slopes and valleys of Missouri, with some of the boldest and roughest gorges and bluffs. The combination is an unusual one. Here was a natural game preserve. The county has a number of large caves. Three miles from Holstein is one of the most notable. John Wyatt was out
-
599
MISSOURI'S UNDERWORLD
hunting bear and he followed one to the top of a high hill. Bruin dropped out of sight by a hole in the ground just about large enough to let him through. This was the discovery. This cave has been explored many times, but still contains an unsolved problem. One can travel for long distances underground. There are chambers thirty or forty feet across. Skeletons show that great numbers of wild animals hibernated in these chambers. One passage leads to a chamber from which the stoutest hearted shrink. It is bottomless. Large stones dropped over the edge give back no sound. The strongest torches thrown into the abyss go sailing down, the light growing fainter and fainter until it fades entirely away. The longest line let down fails to measure the depth. Not far distant from this cave is a high, rocky hill on the farm of Rudolph Kierker, where strange phenom- ena are observed. Every year, during the month of May, peculiar rumbling noises can be heard, seeming to come from the interior of this hill. At the same time one standing on the hill can feel beneath him a jarring motion. The oldest inhabitant does not remember the time when the haunted hill did not behave in this inexplicable manner during the month of May. In the vicinity of the cave and the animated hill have been found an extraordinary number of petrifactions. John Northcutt's farm, near Charette creek, has a pond 60 feet across, the bottom of which no sinker has ever been able to reach. What the connections are between all of these mysteries of nature, the wise men of the Central Wesleyan college have never been able to explain.
Greer Spring Canyon.
Greer spring is seven miles north of Alton, the capital of Oregon county. With its surroundings it might well become a state park, reserved for the delight of future generations of Missourians. A great volume of crystal clear water comes roaring from the base of two hills. It flows rapidly over a mossy bed between the hills for a distance of about a mile and joins Elevenpoints River. All who have seen Greer spring have been of one mind in giving it a conspicuous place among the wonders of the Ozarks. After she had visited this wonder Luella Agnes Owen, the author, wrote: "Taking a last look at Greer spring with its cave river, grey walls, gay with foliage, and all the harmony of color and form combined in the narrow canyon that was once the main body of a great cave, I recalled views on the Hudson river, and in the mountains of Mary- land, Virginia and Pennsylvania, and others out in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and the Wasatch in Utah, but amid all their wonderful grandeur and famous beauty, could remember no spot superior to this masterpiece of the Ozarks."
Old Monegaw's Mausoleum.
Without war but very reluctantly the Osages gave up their Missouri homes. There is no part of the Ozark country more picturesque than that through which the Osage makes its course of innumerable windings. In St. Clair county great cliffs frown upon the beautiful river from the mouth of the Little Monegaw to that of the Big Monegaw. These cliffs are hundreds of feet high and several miles in length. They abound in caves. In places the summits of the cliffs overhang. The entrances of the caves are in some cases reached by difficult
600
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
climbing. Here the Osages had natural fortresses. Monegaw was their chief. In a nation of red athletes of more than usual size, he is said to have been distin- guished for his physical appearance. He was an Indian`of great strength. He saw the white settlers coming in great numbers, and decided that migration to the promised reservation in the Indian territory was best for his people. But he couldn't persuade himself to go with them. Calling the head men of the nation to a council in one of the largest of the caves, the chief said to them: "Go! But Monegaw is your chief no longer. My hunting ground has been taken from me. My home on the Osage and the Sac is now in the hands of the white men. That which has been my home shall be my burial place. I will leave here only, to go to the happy hunting ground beyond the skies."
Monegaw remained in the cave. His people left him. After a time he was missed. White men found his body and gave it burial with the weapons and war bonnet beside him. The old chief had starved himself to death. In several of these caves are still to be seen the evidences of the Indian occupancy. On the side of one cave are carved the figures of three braves with their war trappings. Seemingly the braves are walking single file on the warpath. Turtles have been carved as if swimming in the river. Indians engaged in a variety of activities are carved on the walls. Some are leading ponies. Others are swimming. Still others with bows and arrows are apparently out on hunting expeditions. One of the life-like representations is that of an Indian sleeping in a blanket. The cave to which the name of Monegaw is especially given has been explored nearly a mile. It has a ceiling in places forty feet high adorned with crystal formations.
Cave Waters.
Fishing Spring is in Crawford County, near Steelville. It comes from a large cave on the Meramec River. The water boils up in a basin fifteen or twenty feet across. It-rises through three holes in the rock bottom in a modified geyser form. The spring, for a great many years, abounded in fish of the perch species. The method of fishing was to drop the line with heavy sinkers through one of the holes in the bottom of the spring. These openings are only three or four inches across. It was necessary to weight the line sufficiently to sink the hook eight or nine feet into a subterranean lake. At times not a single fish would bite. At other times fish were caught by the hundreds. These perch weighed about half a pound each. It is tradition that tons of them have been caught and carried away. The theory is that a very large underground lake is beneath the adjacent bluff.
In Webster county the Ozarks reach extraordinary altitude. In a depres- sion on top of one of the highest ridges is a body of water known as the Devil's Lake. The water is located in what was called the Devil's Den. The den is oblong, the sides enclose nearly an acre. The den has steep sides, but can be entered by a narrow passage in the rock. At one end of the den is the so-called lake. Strange stories are told about the movement of the water level. Rains or water levels in the vicinity seem to have no effect upon the lake and yet there is a difference in the level of thirty feet between what are "low water" and "high water" by those familiar with the place. The lake is about three hundred feet in diameter. Apparently it has some distant underground connection. The water
WINDOW SHADES
A Mc DOWELL & CO
KENNARD &.SON
WHOLE SALE
DRYGOODS
FLOOR OIL CLOTHSAFI CARPETINGS
OILCLOTHS
MILLINERY GOODS
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.