Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1877 — Strange Discovery in a Care. [ARTICLE]

Strange Discovery in a Care.

A coiuiEsroNDENT, writing from OneontA, N. Y., to a New York paper, says: A discovery, which has created no little sensation in this part of the State, liras made a few days since by three men. named W H. Wwger, Pi A. Strong and J. W. Shove, in the Township of Laurens, on the Otego Creek, Streeter’s Gorge, at Laurensville, a wild, rocky and in some place a almost inaccessible glen, which has recently come into some celebrity as a resort of* excursion parties and curiosity, seekers. Among the old settlers in the Susquehanna Valley there was a badition of the existence of a lead mine some, where on the Creek in that vicinity, and aftor the Indians were driven out of the valley straggling members of the tribe frequently returned and spent weeks in the neighborhood, and brought lead into the settlement to sell. No signs of Ary mine were ever found, however, but it was believed, if it existed .at < all, to be somewhere in the gorge. The three men named were exploring the gorge a few days ago. Strong fell from a ledge of rockto tne margin of the creek, striking in% mass of driftwood that had been left by freshets at the toot of the ledge, lo extricate him. Widger and Shove removed a large quantity of this drift, and in doing so came upon an opening in die rocks which had the appearance of antstrance to a cave. Strong was notinjured, and, upon his being drawn from the creek, the three men crawled into the opening. Pars lew feet they crawled through a dripping, slimy space some three fret square, when ft became dry and dusty, and gradually widened. After following the tunnel twenty feet or so, and encoun-

taring a strong draft of vciy cold air, the exploring party retraced their steps, and, procuring lights. . returnedjt) a thorough examination of tfie cavern. For fifty feet the tunnel extended into the ledge. Tbe sides and top weroof.jagged, .flinty rock. It then terminated in an apartment some thirty feet square andlnine or ten feet high. A very high wind prevailed in the cave, but there was not tire slightest opening except toe tunnel entrance. A dry, palpable dust characterized toe cave, os it had the tunnel. In one corner of the apartment the lights of the party revealed a mound of what seemed to be this dust. This proved to be a collection of nuggets of lftuh uhon which several inched of the dust Bad either settled orbeeapUgqff Near byjfte mound of mineral a partially-decayed human skeleton was found. The skull and large bones wqre yell preserved, but the rest of toe bones fell to dnit on being touched. Scattered about the cave, a number of implements, of curious construction and made of copper, wore Tridked up from beneath the dust. The relics were removed from (He oavu, and;tbdpieces of mineral were weighed and found to ipaks over a ton of .pare lead. N°tKha# In the rock or earth in the cave, or anywhere about it in the gorge, indicated the presence of lead or any qtbfer mineral, and how the large amount came ip this, longunknown cave is a mystery that no one can explain. There is no tradition in the valley of toe existence of this cave, and the formation of the implements found and the material from which they are made would seem to indicate that it was known to, and occupied by, representatives of a race different from the Indians who peopled the valley a hundred years ago. . There is a theory advanced that the Indians brought the lead from the lake country, ana, aware of the existence of this cave, used it as a storehouse for 'their mineral. The attention of scientific men has been called to the copper implements and the skeleton, and several offers have . been received from colleges and museums for their purchase.