THE THRONE, WYANDOTTE CAVE.—Although less celebrated than Mammoth or Luray Caves, Wyandotte fully equals them in many of its wondrous and beautiful formations. The Throne and the hall in which it is located are truly marvels of Nature’s handiwork. Imagine great bunches of white, delicate, branching coral, twisting, curling and interlacing itself, serpent-like, into every conceivable fantastic shape, and you have only a faint idea of the truly extraordinary scenery of this glorious temple erected by Nature. In all directions are to be seen fantastic examples of stalactite formations, and marvelous decorations of whitest gypsum. Huge rocks, overhung by galleries of creamy stalactites, with vermicular tubes intertwined, while frozen cataracts and vine-like pendent forms cluster along the walls in a profusion almost incredible.
Beyond Wallace’s Dome there are a hundred halls of great magnificence, in nearly all of which are seen fantastic examples of stalactite formations, and marvelous decorations of whitest gypsum, Milroy’s Temple being a very exhibition-room of these exquisite curiosities: huge rocks, overhung by galleries of creamy stalactites, vermicular tubes intertwined, frozen cataracts and vine-like pendant forms of stalactites, cluster along the walls in a profusion almost incredible. Imagine great masses of white delicate branching coral, twisting, curling and interlacing itself, serpent-like, into every conceivable fantastic shape, and you have only a faint idea of the truly extraordinary scenery of this glorious temple erected by nature. Other halls of almost rival splendor are known as Snowy Cliffs, Frosted Rocks, Fairy Palace, Beauty’s Bower, The Throne, and Pillared Palace, in all of which gypsum and stalactites occur in the most charming and imposing forms. Pillared Palace is particularly entrancing in its sumptuous and architecturally beautiful decorations. It is from five to six feet high, forty or fifty feet wide and several hundred feet long. Its ceiling is a complete fringe-work of stalactites, while its floor is as thickly set with stalagmites, many of which latter unite with the former, making the grandest pillars. Drapery of every conceivable style may be seen, some of which is as transparent as crystal and rings like a silver bell when exposed to a light blow. After Pillared Palace comes the Palace of the Genii, which for delicate formations even excels the former. Here are found stalactites of every conceivable form, many of them as white as if they were made of sugar or whitest marble.
Passing through Fairy Grotto, Neptune’s Retreat, and Hermit’s Cell, the visitor enters a larger chamber invested with the same charming ornamentation, and in the center is a rich canopy of stalactite overhanging a stalagmite which has been likened by some imaginative person to a chair richly upholstered. This is called the Throne, a designation appropriate enough, for it is one of the most royally beautiful curiosities in the Cave, as the illustration will show.
That portion known as the Old Cave, while scarcely so interesting as the galleries and vaults of the long route, contains several halls of much interest and one, called the Senate Chamber, which rivals Wallace’s Dome. In the center of this room stands a mountain whose top is covered many feet deep with stalactite formations, upon which stands the Pillar of the Constitution. This is an immense stalagmite measuring seventy-five feet in circumference and thirty feet high, reaching from the top of the mountain to the ceiling above, fluted and carved after a manner that would have put to shame the most extravagant architecture of Rome’s most halcyon days. The world has not yet produced, so far as civilized man knows, anything of the kind to equal it. A writer says of it:
“Before us arose a considerable hill, upon the top of which stood, like a column supporting the ceiling, a vast stalagmite like an immense spectral-looking iceberg looming up before us, appearing as though it had just arisen from the foaming waves of the ocean, on a dark and foggy night. In the uncertain light of our lamps it presented an appearance grand, if not appalling; but when the Drummond light had been set off, all this changed to the most unearthly beauty. The ceiling above, with its long fringes of stalactites, came out to view, and the great pillar could be seen in all its grandeur and beauty.”
Beyond this is Pluto’s Ravine, where stands Stallasso’s Monument, a large white stalagmite, marked all over with pencil inscriptions, some of them sixty years old, composing an autograph album of wonderful curiosity, containing hundreds of names which to fame are otherwise unknown, and effusions of doggerel poets whose reputations, alas, will no doubt be forever restricted to the limits of this cave chamber. A short distance beyond Pluto’s Ravine is the termination of this section of the Cave, and from this point return is made to the open air. A ramble among the subterranean glories and petrified splendors of Wyandotte Cave was a fitting conclusion to one of the most interesting tours that was ever taken through the picturesque regions of our country; a tour affording so much information, pleasure, adventure, and profit, that the remembrance must forever remain a source of intense satisfaction and delight. It was with feelings of deep regret that we separated after the completion of our work, and each returned to his respective home, to take up anew the old labor which we had laid down when the start was made upon our long journey. During the trip our photographers took five thousand pictures; many of these were taken under unfavorable conditions, and upon development were found unworthy of reproduction. Many others were excellent and well deserving to rank with those which we have here used, but there is a limit to all things, and ours does not exceed the space occupied by the 520 odd views which we have presented; these, however, are fairly representative of the incomparable scenery that charmingly diversifies our native land, a land kissed by the lips of liberty, bounty, and beauty, and blessed with an amplitude of powers, under the exercise of which the largest freedom, benefits and sovereign rights are obtained for the whole people.
[The End.]