French Lick Springs.—Two or three miles from this place is "Star Cavern," which is advertised as being of great size and beauty. The immediate surroundings are quite romantic and deserve the praise accorded the spot by visitors. The cave itself, however, more resembles an artificial tunnel than a natural result of erosion. The floor is clean rock with a little brook flowing over it.
Two other caves not far from Star Cave are dry, but with solid rock floors, so they were not visited.
Orangeville.—Near this place are the so-called Gulfs of Lost River. The stream sinks a few miles east of Orleans, emerges at the "Gulfs" from one side of a very large sink hole with precipitous margin, and immediately goes out of sight again in a deep pool or chasm. It reappears a mile or so away at the foot of a cliff where, after heavy rains, it boils up like a gigantic fountain. Numerous small caves or sink holes exist in the neighborhood, three of which were reported as being dry, lighted, having good entrances, and well suited for habitancy. One of them is at the bottom of a sink hole on a hill. The descent is steep and rocky for 20 feet (it was not followed farther) and no doubt so continues to the level of the river which flows almost directly under it.
The two others are in the principal "Gulf." They are open and of good size, but mud high on the walls shows they are filled with water in wet seasons.
CRAWFORD COUNTY
Marengo Cave.—This is growing famous as it becomes better known. Blatchley says that in it "are probably crowded more beautiful formations of crystalline limestone than in any other known cave of similar size in the United States." Visitors who have been in both say it surpasses Luray Cavern in the magnificence of its sheets and columns of deposited material.
As it was not opened until 1883, and the bottom can be reached only by a stairway 60 feet high, it was of course unknown to the aborigines.
A small cave near Marengo has an opening on a hillside, and can be directly entered from the outside; but it is at times a passageway for a strong current of water 3 feet deep and extending the full width of the cavity.
Milltown.—A mile north of the town is a large cave which would furnish an abode for scores of people. The entrance is in a slight depression on the level upland west of Blue River. The descent is down an easy slope of fallen rock and earth about 30 feet deep to a rock floor. Beyond the foot of the slope there is a slight thickness of earth, so that explorations could reveal nothing that had a certainty of antiquity.
There is presented here a fine example of the manner in which caves of this character become exposed to the upper world. At first, there was an underground channel draining the adjacent country over a territory of varying extent, sometimes many square miles. At some point the roof fell in more rapidly than in other parts, until at last it became so thin as to give way entirely. If the débris was not sufficient in amount to extend above that part of the roof which remained intact on either side, so that it would be gradually carried away, the cave would remain open in both directions, as is the case at the "Gulfs" just described and at other caves statements of which appear in subsequent pages. Usually the débris quite chokes up one side and all the superficial drainage is turned into the other, which is thus kept open. In time, the slope around the depression becomes tolerably uniform except close to the entrance, and there is no outward indication that the cave ever extended farther than the spot where the new entrance is located. So the cave, as it is now open to examination, is only a portion of the original passage, and as the explorer pursues his way, he may be going toward either the former mouth or the source. In the former case, he comes out of a large opening, or what was formerly such, on some slope in the neighborhood, or descends until his way is obstructed by water. In the latter, he may find his way shut off by diminishing passages, or he may descend to lower levels through newer drainage channels cut by the streams which have been reversed and forced to carve other outlets for themselves.