Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1875 — Lost in a Cave. [ARTICLE]

Lost in a Cave.

It is well known to the lead-miners of the upper lead-field that a great part of the country immediately west of Dubuque is ramified, at various depths, by caves of different dimensions, which run mainly east and west, but which are intersected by numerous smaller openings that course north and south. These conditions have been well attested by the explorations of miners. More than fifty of these caves have been worked, and in several instances single caves are estimated to have yielded as much as 6,000,000 pounds of ore each. 'These facts made these subterranean caverns the scenes of many adventurous explorations by the leaahunters in the early history of mining in the lowa lead-region. The caves, however, were not all of them ore-yielding, and the intrepid miner was not always rewarded for the danger and toil he incurred in groping and crawling among the “ bowels of the land.” The face of the country was cut up with hills and valleys at an altitude generally of 300 feet above the mean stage of the Mississippi River. The caves were designated as “bearing” and “barren” caves. The north and south (or cross) openings were frequently so small as to barely” admit the passage of a man’s body by crawling. The large caves were about 300 feet apart. The prospecting miner in searching for these connecting doors or holes often had to crawl through the mud and scrape away the clay from the wall of the main room till he found the mouth of the small passage which he was sure would lead to another large chamber. In most cases these small connecting caves were 300 feet long and filled with clay which had to be dislodged and conveyed back to tne large chamber to make the passage clear, and the process was tedious and laborious; yet experience early taught the miner the certainty of reaching a large chamber beyond, and the possibility of a rich discovery of ore and a sudden attainment of wealth nerved him to tireless exertion. An old lowa miner related to the writer a thrilling experience in .one of these caves. Our adventurer hid been previously very fortunate in his discoveries after working his way through these “ cross-courses,” and haa made several fortunes, which were lost by unhappy investments and speculations in the “ outside world.” Just previous to the incident we are about to recite he found himself “ flat broke* for the tenth time. Be determined to try his luck again beneath the ground- Supplying himself with provisions,, matches and candles,

he went down a shaft to “ put in” two or three days at cave prospecting. The shaft was eighty feet deep, with an east* and-west cave at the bottom; from this a north-and -south opening led into another east-and-west chamber. After following this a few hundred ieet the miner discovered a cross opening which had never been explored. It might take huh three days to work his way through, the aperture being tightly packed with clay; but, thinking his stock of provisions, candles and matches sufficient to last him through, he went to work with bis spade and commenced to make his way in. The work was very slow and difficult. At some points the opening was not large enough to admit his body, and befe he pecked and hacked aw ay the projecting ledge of limestone with his spade till the hole was large enough to squeeze through, crawling back and carrying the fragments of stone, as he did the clay, to the main cave. Thus he had worked, as he estimated, about three days, when a vigorous push of his spade sent the implement through the last foot of clay that obstructed his passage into the chamber he was seeking; his long and tedious labor was rewarded, for he immediately emerged and stood erect in a large chamber that dazzled his eyes with its splendors. For several hundred feet the roof of the cave was hung with pendant masses of lead ore, and from the clay on the roof projected huge cubes of the same formation, suggesting the exposed back of a gigantic lead vein, which, it indeed proved to be. Hanging in places from the roof was the most beautiful satin spar, whose glistening made the chamber resemble a jewel-shop. It was a fairy pal ace in reality. It was a fortune! Our adventurer walked up and down and contemplated the magnificence of his discovery. He tried to estimate his wealth, and his imagination conjured investments for it. In the near future he could see himself a millionaire, and wondered if he would become a “ bloated aristocrat,” like some of them. He sat down, and in liis contemplation leaned back against the wall of the cave, oblivious of all things save the consideration of his vast wealth.

Success, after long and anxious labor, begets sometimes a languor that is very insidious and often dangerous. Great victories are not infrequently by it turned into disastrous defeats. It should never be yielded to. Oui* miner forgot his surroundings, and, yielding to the fatal influence of success, fell asleep, having forgotten his last candle was burning low, that his stock of matches was exhausted, and that he had devoured all his provisions. How long he slept he did not know. When he awoke he found himself in darkness. Remembering where he was, he felt the necessity of immediate action, his first business being to find his outlet; for, after his wanderings in examination of bis discovery, he completely lost his reckoning, and now realized the fact that he could not remember the direction of the hole by which he entered. His situation was an alarming one. Alone, far beneath the surface of the earth, beyond the aid of friends, none of whom knew of his expedition, he felt the utter worthlessness of his discovery if he did not at once make his way out. He began his search, nerved now by the strong love of Hfe. Long he groped up and down his prison, at times in despair of ever seeing again the light of day. He estimated that he spent forty-eight hours in this wearisome search; when at last—just as he realized the probability that he was entombed alive,, that he must die of starvation, and that ages might elapse before his bones were discovered, for he was even then struggling with the grim monster of starvation —his hand entered the aperture he sought. He was saved! With what different feelings did that little discovery invest him! A moment before he would have given his interest in the whole world for a crust of bread ; now he was the possessor of Inestimable wealth. He did not, however, stop to moralize on his situation, but made hits best way through the labyrinth and by the shaft to the upper air, his first act being the eating of a “ good, 1 square meal.” The fearful experience of our adventurer was not thrown away. He realized a large fortune from his discovery, invested it safely and lived comfortably the balance of his days. He explored no more caves.— The Progressive World.