Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills

by Luella Agnes Owen

"Within the next one hundred feet you encounter and pass in the same manner three more ponds of varying sizes. The guide calls your attention to the fact that you are not alone, and looking about you by the dim light of your candle you see numbers of small eyeless salamanders, from four inches to one foot long. They are peaceable and harmless, appear to have no teeth and are easily caught, if you so desire.

"Another hundred feet and the Rest Room, or Egyptian Temple is reached, and rising to your feet you may rest. The room is small, but contains beautifully fluted walls, resembling basaltic columns; and natural marks of erosion that resemble hieroglyphic inscriptions. From the other side of this room the passage goes on with the same characteristics, but as you enter to go forward a sound strikes the ear, and you pause to listen. It is a confusion of sounds, a babel of voices; and sounds like a distant conversation carried on by a large number of people. So striking is this resemblance that you instantly ask the guide if there are people in the room ahead, and hardly believe him when he says, 'No.'

"You hear voices of men, voices of boys, babies, girls and ladies, and occasionally loud laughter; but forward is the word and on you go, encouraged by the assurance of the guide that you are now over half way through the passage and that the sounds came from Blondy's Throne Room. Suddenly the passage divides into two much alike, and taking the right hand one, you make your slow advance until at last, with clothes soaked and covered with clay mud, and your strength about gone, you begin to feel desperate and tell the guide that you will go no further, when you see him rise to his feet, and he says: 'Here we are.' You step over a steep bank of clay and emerge into a large room. It is almost square in shape; about eighty feet long and sixty feet wide, and about fifty feet high, with white, smooth walls and a pure white ceiling, and sloping gradually downward on the left ends in a small, clear lake of water. This lake has a beautiful beach of white pebbles, and though shallow on the edge seems quite deep at the center; in fact it is believed to have there a concealed opening that gives exit to its waters. On the opposite side from you, a stream of clear water pours into the lake, and in doing so it gives off the sounds that in the passage you mistook for human voices; and this noble stream has been named Mystic River. It enters the lake from under a beautiful natural arch, about thirty feet across at the bottom, and six feet above the water at the center. The bed of the stream is eroded from strata of sandstone that is extremely hard, containing corundum, and so perfect is its continuity that it conveys sound distinctly for a distance far beyond the reach of the human voice, when tapped upon with a hammer. The top of the arch is studded with lovely stalactites, clear as glass, that extend to the outer edge of the arch and form massive and beautiful groups there. Above the arch is a large opening. In truth the side of the room is out, and a great dark space appears like a curtain of black. A natural path leads up over one side of the arch, and following the lead of the guide you go up above and learn that a room on the higher level extends off in that direction and gets larger and higher. The walls are stalagmitic columns in cream color and decked in places with blood-red spots or blotches of Titanic size. The ceiling you cannot see. It is too high for the lights you have to reach. On the left you are suddenly confronted by a stalagmitic formation so large and so grand that all others are dwarfed into insignificance. You think of the dome of the Capitol at Washington. You are standing at the sloping base but cannot see the top. Just here the guide announces in an awestruck voice 'Blondy's Throne.' And who is Blondy? Only a fair-haired, blue-eyed, intrepid and daring fifteen-year-old boy, named Charles Smallwood, who assisted the writer in exploring the cave in the early days of 1883, and going on in advance, reported back that he had found another and a greater throne than the Great White Throne in the Auditorium.

Blondy's Throne. [Page 47.]

"Well, here we are at Blondy's Throne at last, and surveying the base, we find that it is actually only half in the room we are in; the other half forms the side of another room. In a word, the Great Throne divides the room into two parts and makes two rooms of it instead of one. Yet the one half of the base has a measurement, by tape line, of one hundred and fifty feet. The guide now makes preparations to ascend the Throne. A chain has been fastened up towards the top, and by taking hold of this the climb can be made up the sloping sides of the Throne. We pass on and up over the clearest and most ice-like formation, resembling the great icebergs seen at sea. Reaching an elevation of sixty feet an opening into the dome is found, and stooping, you enter. It is a room about twenty feet across, with a white ice-like floor, a roof or ceiling ten feet above, and from it hang thousands of brilliant stalactites and from the floor stalagmites rise up to meet them. They are in all sizes, from an inch to two feet across. The sides are of the same material joined and cemented lightly together. Strike any of them and clear musical notes are given off; a musician has found two full octaves. Water is dripping in many places, and in the center of the floor is a tank full of clear water. It is four feet wide, twelve feet long and of unknown depth.

"On the opposite side of the room from which you enter there is a hole or opening in the wall. It is large enough to go through but it goes into the great dark room on the other side of the Throne. An abyss confronts you, a sheer precipice which descends for many feet, perhaps hundreds. No man knows. This outer room of Blondy's Throne has been named the Chamber of the Fairies. Leaving it and continuing the ascent, the top of the Throne is soon reached and is about twenty feet across; and from several points still higher, rise stalagmitic spires.

"The actual height of Blondy's Throne is not known, but is probably about one hundred feet. Again look upwards for the ceiling from the dizzy height on top of the Throne; you cannot see it. Burn magnesium ribbon and look up, and you see a white ceiling spangled with groups of stalactites. It is surely one hundred feet away. Then look off into the unknown room which is called the Great Beyond. No human being has ever explored or even entered it, but fire balls thrown in reveal the fact that it is of great extent; and part of the bottom water and part land. No way of getting into it has ever yet been found, so its mysteries, lessons and revelations are still safe from human intrusion. How far it goes, where it stops, and what it leads to, are facts for some future explorer to discover. Bats and white salamanders are found in Blondy's Throne Room, and some larger animals have been heard to jump into the water and escape on the approach of man, but their species is not known.

"The arched passage of Mystic River has been followed up for a journey of an hour, but further than that its extent is unknown. It was hoped that a way would be thus found into the Great Beyond, but it did not prove successful. A well equipped party could find there a chance for some grand discoveries, and it would be one of the notable pleasures of the life of the writer to be one of such a party.

"The exit from Blondy's Throne Room is always made with deep regret that the waning lights and meager supplies will not allow a longer stay. The long crawl, the mud and the water are all forgotten, and notwithstanding the terror of the trip one feels well repaid."