The Journal of

Spelean History OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION

GROTTA DEL C A NE.

r}

~\o Volume 30, No. 3 July-September 1996

THEJOURNALOFSPELEAN HISTORY

Volume 30, No. 3

The Association

The American Spelean History Association is chartered as a non-profit corporation for the study, dissemination, . and interpretation of spelean history and related purposes. All persons who are interested in these goals are cordially invited to become members. Dues of $8 are due January first of each year. Meetings are held in conjunction with the annual convention of the National Speleological Society and sometimes at West Virginia's Old Timer's Reunion.

Front Cover

Print of Grotta Del Cane from Famolls Caverns and Grottoes by W.H. Davenport Adams, in the chapter on Grottoes and Caverns of Volcanic Origin. Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1890.

Officers

President: Susan Holler PO Box 100

Old Fort, NC 28762

Vice-Preside1lt: Carol yn E. Cronk 1595 Blueberry Hills Rd

Monument, CO 80132

Secretary-Treasurer: Fred Grady 1202 S. Scott Street #123

Arlington, V A 22204

Trustees

Larry E. Matthews Gary K. Soule Marion O. Smith Jack Speece

July-September 1996

The Journal of Spelean History

The Association publishes the Journal of Speleall History on a quarterly basis. Pertinent articles or reprints are welcomed. Please send typed manuscripts to Carolyn E. Cronk at address below. Photos and illustrations will be returned upon request.

Back Issues

Most back issues of the Journal are available. Early issues are photocopied. Indices are also available for Volumes 1-6 and 13. Send your requests to Fred Grady (address given with the officers). All issues of Volumes 1-7:2 are available on microfiche from:

Kraus Reprint Company Route 100

Millwood, New York 10546

Official Quarterly Publication AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY

ASSOCIATION History Section

National Speleological Society

Production

Editor: Carol yn E. Cronk 1595 Blueberry Hills Rd

Monument, CO 80132

Proofreading: . , Robert N. Cronk

Printing.: D. C. Grotto Potomac Speleological Club Press

Spelean History Abstracts, 1996 NSS Convention

The Truth A bout the Gold of Spanish Cave Donald G. Davis

For more than 60 years, newspapers, magazines, books, and television have promulgated tales about a lost Spanish gold mine, with skeletons and ancient relics, concealed in the mysterious depths of Spanish Cave in Colorado's mountains. My research from 1960 to 1995, however, has failed to produce sound confirmation that the Spanish ever saw or entered the cave. The "Spanish" cross and artifacts are more probably attributable to an 1870s colony of German settlers below the mountain.

Music in the Mammoth Cave: An Inquiry into an Important Aspect of 19th Century Cave Tourism

Joseph C. Douglas

Music was a significant component of most tourist trips into Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, during the 19th Century. Visitors to the cave often perceive natural and man-made sounds in the cave as musical. Tourists also frequently made their own music while visiting the cave, using voices and instruments. In addition, the guides to the cave typically sang for the tourists during their excursions. Finally, professional musicians, whether members of the Mammoth Cave Hotel band or travelers like Ole Bull, visited the cave and sometimes performed. Although not usually thought of as an important part of caving in the 20th Century, music was an integral part of the cave experience in the 19th Century.

South Carolina's Historic Rockhouse and the Great Flat Rock Revisited

Cato Holler and Nancy Holler Aulenbach

Two historic South Carolina caves in granitic rock were first described by John Drayton, governor of the Palmetto State, in 1802. In his monumental book entitled A View ofSouth Carolina as Respects Her NaturaL alld Civil Concerns, Drayton paints a romantic description of a large talus cave on Flat Creek, which he refers to as the Rock House. In addition, he refers to "two caverns" located at the base of the Great Rat Rock, now known as Forty Acre Rock. Additional 19th Century literature re-emphasized the significance of these si tes.

The latter caves are now part of a Nature Conservancy Preserve and frequently visited, but the location of Rock House Cave has, until recently, been lost with time. While engaged in field work for the Carolina Cave Survey, we mentioned our search for the Rock House to a local hunter, Kenny Henson. After he had read a copy of Drayton's description, he felt that he had come across that very site a short time before. With his excellent directions, we were able to reloCate the cave the following day. Indeed, the 19th Century descriptions of the area were not exaggerated: "Upon the whole, the cascade of Juan Fernandez, celebrated by circumnavigators, may be more beautiful; as that of Niagara is more grand and sublime; but still this Rockhouse and Cascade \vould rank high in ornamental gardening wi th all those ... "

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Preserving NSS Guidebooks on CD'-ROM

Garry Petrie

Every year more originals of limited publication guidebooks are lost. The conventional process is to preserve books on microfilm. Today, it is possible to more than preserve the image of the printed page. Using the Help system of Microsoft's Windows, a guidebook's text, maps, and photographs can be saved and made accessible. The text can be indexed, searched, and linked. The photographs can be digitized in full color and resolution. A guidebook on a CD-ROM can give an old document new life and preserve it for hundreds of years.

ANTE BELLUM CAVE SURVEYS IN AMERICA

by Angelo I. George

Europeans have been surveying caves since before the 17th century (Ellis, 1987, p. 52). These surveys were professionally executed, some with transit and chain, drafted with great skill, and displayed an abundance of internal cave detail coupled with external surface features. Up until the late 18th century, none of the caves in America are known to have been surveyed. Cave mapping was not considered a viable part of land ownership. The need or especially the desire to map a cave apparently never occurred to early cave explorers. With little leisure time, the pioneers had more important things on their minds, the settlement and taming of an othenvise virgin countryside. Early cave maps were directly related to their economic mineral potential.

Not all of my collected cave surveys are profiled in this review. Only those cave maps which set a precedent, employ a change in cartographic style, and thus acted as the impetus for further cave surveying are included in this review. Spelean history research on the evolution of cave mapping has been restricted in part to Mammoth Cave (Call, 1896; Quinlan, 1964; Meloy, 1968 and 1975). What has been lacking was to bring the Mammoth Cave maps into context with cave maps from the rest of North America.

The exploration and mapping of Madison's Cave, Virginia, seems to be connected with Thomas Jefferson's curiosity and his pursuit of scientific knowledge. This earliest of cave surveys was made in 1782 and published in Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia (Anon., 1889, in Halliday, 1981). The map is highly generalized by today's cartographic standards. Its style would be cataloged as a simple cave map. Madison's Cave map first appeared in print in 1787. The original manuscript for Notes, was written for the French government under the direction of Francois, the Marquis de Berbe-Marbois, Secretary of the French Legation in America (Schachner, 1957, p. 224). The map, like everything else in Notes came from Jefferson's pre-existing files and correspondences.

Jefferson's sketch map of Madison's Cave shows about 650 feet of passage and uses arrow symbols to indicate the direction of floor slope (Shaw, 1979, p. 65). Trevor R. Shaw said the use of slope arrows on this cave map was the first of its kind ever used anywhere. The arrows point in a down slope direction. The eye draught map is drawn at a scale of 1 inch equals 50 feet, and suggests a sketch and pace survey. The map shows multiple entrances and when a cave passage ends, the cave wall lines are closed around that

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area. If the passage continues beyond exploration, the wall lines remain open. This drafting device is still llSed today.

Since the early 1800s, there had been political talk of war with England, France and Spain. The infra-structure of American gunpowder factories grew from 1802 onward. The factories relied on imports of Bombay and Calcutta saltpeter from India; sulphur from Italy; and charcoal from domestic sources. By 1805-1806 the domestic saltpeter industry was well established as enterprising businessmen went into the production of saltpeter from caves and rock shelters. When war finally did erupt against England in 1812, the domestic saltpeter mines, powder factories, and private and government material contracts were ready to meet the war requirements. During these tumultuous times, a few caves were mapped by persons associated with the saltpeter industry. Mapping was done to show: the extent of the cave; location of economic mineral resources; distribution of engineering constructions; spatial relationship between adjoining caves; as an advertising tool to sell stock in a saltpeter company; or to act as an illustration to scientific research.

Mining ventures in some of the caves required the services of a hydraulic engineer. One of his duties would be the design of a pumping system to bring water into or out of the cave. A cave map plan with vertical longitudinal control is required. Level surveys of this nature apparently were conducted in Mammoth Cave, Great Saltpetre Cave, Madison'S and in Grand Caverns.

The map of Great Saltpetre Cave, Kentucky, is a paramount achievement in cave cartography by the first American viticulturist, John James DuFour. DuFour was contracted by Samuel Brown, M.D. and Thomas Hart, Jr., of Lexington, Kentucky, to act as saltpeter maker and to conduct a physical survey of the cave and surrounding topography (DuFour, 1805a, p. 309; 1805b; n.d.). Two maps were produced, each a specialty in their own right. One of the maps is the first transit and chain survey ora cave in America (George, 1988, p. 33); and was completed by early April of 1805 (Brown, 1805). DuFour was a skilled land surveyor and his tools would have been an open sight transit on a Jacobs staff and a four rod chain (sixty-six feet) of one hundred links. No information is available to suggest he used a tripod.

DuFour's map is a high quality pin and ink drafted survey showing cave walls, location of saltpeter vats (both rectangular and V-vats), water sources and place names. Place names commemorate prior owners and descriptive physical features in the cave. The map has a long north arrow affixed to a bar scale in poles. Use of the long north arrow is typical of European land surveys. The other map is a pencil sketch showing cave passages, surrounding geography and the industrial saltpeter refining complex outside the cave (DuFour, n.d.). The American Philosophical Society erroneously attributes this map to Samuel Brown. Comparison of hand writing clearly indicates DuFour as the cartographer. Both maps accompanied Brown's monograph on the manufacture of saltpeter published in 1809. The maps were never published. One of Jefferson's associates, Eleuthere Irenee du Pont made a hand drawn copy of the DuFour transit survey (du Pont, 1805). The cave contains evidence (physical and on antique maps) for a hydraulic system of pipelines and pumps for bringing water into the cave and for extracting the saltpeter liquor from the vat processing stations. Such an instillation \vould require in addition to the plan map, a vertical elevation survey between all processing stations. Such a map has not been located .

In October 1805, a transit and chain survey was made of Madison's and Amen's (Weyer's, Weir's, or Grand Caverns') caves, Vi'rginia, by I Peck (Cornelius, 1818, p. 317; Halliday, 1981, p. 18). I suspect the cartographer to ·be Captain John Peck. During the American Revolutionary War, he was an inspector 6fsaltpeter, gunpowder maker, ship builder, and naval architect (Smith, 1876, p: 256; Struik, 1948, p.52,62). He worked in the

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Continental Powder Mills of Pennsylvania in l777. He was suspected and later acquitted of sabotage for an explosion that wrecked the mill (Salay, 1975, p. 438). Part of an on-site assessment for a saltpeter mine would have been the preparation of a map of the cave. A manuscript map copy (in color) is in possession of William R. Halliday, M.D., and an engraved copy of both caves appeared in the 1853 edition of Jefferson's Notes. The undated Halliday copy contains: less text; variation in descriptive place names; arabic numbered locations of place names are different; contains more internal detail; and no longitudinal cross sections. Probably Halliday's copy is an earlier rendering of the 1805 survey. Another Amen's-Madison's cave map of a later annotated vintage served as the base map from which the 1853 engraving was made.

The map is significant because the two caves are spatially placed against one another in relation to surface geography. A level survey with longitudinal cross-section services both caves and it has a bar scale in feet and a north arrow. Place names and cave symbols are affixed and keyed by numbers to a table for Amen's Cave. The map is simple in cartographic style and uses slope arrows as in Jefferson's map of Madison's Cave. These slope arrows point in an up-gradient direction. The preferred trail and longitudinal section through each cave is indicated by a dotted line. Generally, the Peck map follows the style used on Jefferson's early cave map.

It is curious to speculate on the purpose of the Peck map. Amen's Cave would not be open for tourists until 1808 (Green and Lotz, n.d.). Stair casings are indicated on this map and there is a note that says, "to visit all parts of this wonderful cavern will take up (in going & returning) a distance of 2000 Yards." That suggests an earlier date for the tourist cave. Even Jefferson (l787) says Madison's Cave is located near the intersection of two major wagon roads and is frequently visited. The cave was owned by Matthias Ament (a.k.a. Amen, Amon, Amond, Aymand, or Amendt) from l788 to 1810 (Green and Lotz, n.d.). He then deeded the cave "to his daughter Mary and her husband, Henry V. Bingham." Madison's Cave would be mined for saltpeter during the War of 1812, under Bingham's ownership.

A sketch map of Weir's Cave was made by Calvin Jones in 1815. It is a bare outline plan of a map that obviously used the Peck 1805 map as its model. Peck's specialized map symbols were employed. Place names were located on the map by single alphabet letters keyed to a written description in the published text.

Since 1810, more than one hundred maps have been prepared for Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (Meloy, 1977, p. 42). The earliest maps were used to manage and promote the saltpeter factory. Later generation maps were used to illustrate travelogues and to assess its true length. Most were never published, and those that were had no bar scale or north arrow.

The first Mammoth Cave maps were of a utilitarian nature. These were sketch (eye draught) maps, apparently drawn from memory, and showed where the mineral resources (saltpeter, glauber salts and springs) and saltpeter hoppers were located. The first maps are believed to have been used as a prospectus to entice possible investors (Meloy, 1968, p. 49; Hill and DePaepe, 1979, p. 249). Without standardized cave map symbols, these early maps relied on written text next to or in the interior of the illustrated cave passages. The earliest map was made prior to March 11, 1811, and one was sent to Benjamin Rush, M.D., by his prior medical student, Frederick Ridgely, M.D. Ridgely announces the map to his friend as a curiosity "for your amusement." Dr. Rush, in keeping with the American Philosophical Society's precepts of applied technology, sent a partial copy of Ridgely's letter and hand colored map to the American Philosophical Society. He had hopes that they would publish it in their Transactions.

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Ridgely (1811) excuses the rough sketch quality of his Mammoth Cave map by saying there were several compass surveys initiated in the cave, and all failed because "in whatever position of the cave the compass may be placed, the needle directly points to the mouth or entrance - can this be owning [sic] a magnet about the entrance or not - no metalic [sic] substances or ores of any kind have been noticed in or about it." The American Philosophical Society'S Review Committee rejected the Ridgely map for publication. Because the map made no mention of this magnetic anomaly, the compass was not field tested above the cave on the surface, nor did the map indicate the cartographer. There was the possibility that the purported cave length could be an exaggeration if not a hoax. The cartographer of the Ridgely (1811) and the du Pont (1811) map copy is unknown. The handwriting is different on each map and is not the penmanship of Ridgely nor Charles Wilkins (part owner of the cave). Additional hand written corrections of the du Pont map are in the same script as on the Ridgely map. At present, no handwriting examples for Heming Gatewood (the other part owner and saltpeter maker) nor Archibald Miller (cave manager) or their brothers is known.

The Ridgely map would be engraved and published in Jefferson's Noles in 1853; and the manuscript copy was published by Hill and DePaepe (1979, p. 250). The powder maker, E.1. du Pont received another copy of the map in mid yearof 1811. The map is essentially the same as the Ridgely map except there is more descriptive text. The du Pont manuscript copy was published by Burton Faust in 1967 (p. 231).

Daniel Drake, M.D. (n.d.), had in his possession an apparent ink-traced copy from another early Mammoth Cave map. This was a specialty map with the briefest of economic mineral notations. Drake's map was probably an actual horizontal length measurement survey to Booths Amphitheatre. The rest of the map is a sketch with distance estimates in miles. The map shows the saltpeter engineered constructions in the cave and a cartoon likeness of Fawn Hoof, the Indian mummy from Short Cave, positioned in the lower right hand corner. Cartography of the map is still of simple draftsmanship showing four rectangular saltpeter hoppers at Booth's Amphitheatre, hollow log pipe line and three pump towers in the cave. From the Ridgely and du Pont maps, a late 1811 date seems adequate. The Drake map is believed to pre-date a December 16, 1811 earthquake and post-dates the discovery of Fawn Hoof (the mummy) in September 1811 (George, 1989; 1990).

The first published map of Mammoth Cave was similar to one supplied by JOM G. Bogert, a New York attorney and mineralogist to Samuel L. Mitchill, editor of the Medical Repository (Gratz, 1815, p. 393). The cave is still depicted in sketch map form with arabic numbers (for physical features and place names) keyed to a reference identification table. Harold Meloy (1975, p. 26) has located three different copies of this map. Prior to the publication of the new Mammoth Cave map, only Jefferson's map of Madison's Cave had been published during the intervening 28 years.

These early Mammoth Cave maps are important management tools used in the operation of the saltpeter mine. The maps showed the location of mineral resources, passage locations, and engineered constructions. The maps are important because they foretell the use of yet another specialized cave map. In order to construct a hydraulic system of three lift stations, pipe lines, and placement of leaching hoppers, a vertical level survey would have had to be undertaken by a hydraulic engineer. The hydraulic system would not work unless gravity drainage was possible through the cave. ' A level survey had to be done prior to construction of the elevated pump towers and to properly size the height and number of wooden Colonial forced pumps. This would be needed to gauge the number of wooden pipes to be laid in the cave. The vertical level survey hasnot been located.

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After Nahum Ward's November 1815 visit to Mammoth Cave (George, research in progress) he published several descriptions and later a map of the cave in 1816. Mammoth Cave became the cave of caves on both sides of the Atlantic. Ward's map is the prototype of the fantasy cave maps. He was given a compass by Archibald Miller to aid in his underground survey. Conceivably, this may have been the same compass initially used in failed surveys of Mammoth Cave. He only used the compass to survey trends of room length (Call, 18%, p. 49-50). The map was reprinted numerous times and often touted by Mammoth Cave guides as an exaggeration if not a fabrication of length and passage sizes (Blane, 1824, p. 276-277). The map contains a north arrow, passages which presently don't exist, and passages which cross under the Green River in the wrong direction. In defense of Ward, the guides and management at Mammoth Cave, before his visit, believed the furthest reaches of the cave did in fact cross under the Green River (Anon., 1810; Gratz, 1815). Ward used a dotted line between cave passage walls to indicate a cave passage crossing under another passage. The map sets the stage for future Mammoth Cave maps where secrecy of the true extent of the cave was needed and where fantasy was used to illustrate complex cave systems of long extent. Ward's (n.d.) manuscript map (in pencil) with the Fawn Hoof vignette in the lower right hand corner seems to have used the Drake map of one like it to balance out the map plan.

In August 1817, Elias Cornelius (1818) and the Reverend Huson produced a quadrant and chain survey of the Natural Bridge, Virginia. A physical description, survey notes and map were published a year later in Benjamin Silliman'S American Journal ofScience. This is the first accurate survey of a big room or passage and the first map to employ dashed lines to signify the entrance drip line. Ceiling heights were triangulated and wall trends were fixed by surveying along their Dank. Survey stations, drip line distances, the channel of Cedar Creek and north arrow were drawn on the map. One had to refer to a table for azimuth and distance readings between stations.

A sketch map of one of the Plymouth Caves, Vermont, appeared in the Vermont Journal, probably in July or August 1818 (reprinted in Anon., 1832). This is a somewhat amorphous multi-room map with room numbers keyed to a published physical description. Nahum Ward had used the same technique in several map editions for Mammoth Cave.

Sometime prior to 1820, the Russell Cave north of Lexington, Kentucky was "accurately surveyed for three quarters of a mile" (Anon., 1820, p. 163). No information has been discovered as to who performed the surveyor why the cave was surveyed. It is not a known saltpeter site. The map has not been discovered.

The Surveyor General of Canada, Colonel Joseph Bouchette, sketch-mapped a cave near Kildare, Quebec. The cave appeared in a book of his Official Tour of 1824 (Gibb, 1861). The father of Canadian speleology, George D. Gibb, christens this cave as Bouchette's Cavern. The sketch map has a north arrow and no bar scale. Distances, passage widths and physical passage descriptions are written out adjacent to the cave passage.

Robert L. Cooke (1840, p.43) in the spring of 1833 explored and mapped Weyer's Cave, Virginia. The map was made in concert with his brother and another gentleman. This very accurate survey of the cave was published in 1835 along with a guidebook (Douglas, 1964, p. 111). The engraved map contains an abundant amount of cave wall detail. A dashed line (as in the 1805 Peck survey) traversed along the main tourist trail. And that line is letter keyed to a longitudinal cross'section placed at the lower edge'of the map. The cross section indicates ceiling height along each passage reach. The map contains a north arrow, bar scale in feet and (I think) numbers keyed to a text description. I have not seen the two Cooke ' guidebooks, but an abridged version was published in The Family Magazine

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(Cooke, 1840). Vignette scenes of The Ball Room, and the Shell Room appear to the right of the map and help to artistically balance the drafting weight of the plan view.

The first transit and chain survey of Mammoth Cave was made by Edmund F. Lee, a civil engineer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He spent the winter of 1834-1835 undertaking this survey (Meloy, 1969a, p. 26). George S. Gatewood served as guide and chain man during the four month survey (Meloy, 1969b, p. 57-58). Eight miles of a purported twenty mile cave was actually surveyed. The 1835 Lee map was a high order transit survey with level control on the vertical distribution of all cave passages and selected vertical shafts. The engraved map was printed in color with bar scale in feet (1 inch =325 feet approximately), and no north arrow. There was one vignette of the cave entrance in the upper left hand corner of the map. It showed the view from inside the entrance looking out. The exact reason for the survey is unknown. The Weyer's Cave map may have been the prototype for Lee's Mammoth Cave map. The cartographic design of the Cooke and Lee surveys were both prepared within the same time frame. Both produced guidebooks to their respective caves. Call (1896, p. 51-52) said the Lee map would serve as a base map for the cartography conducted by Stephen Bishop (1845) and Horace C. Hovey (1882). But Hovey (1899, p. 19708) disputes Callis statement.

The Lee map is a masterpiece in cartographic art. There are at least 24 longitudinal cross sections with place names of major passages and features indicated. The Amen-Madison Cave map by J. Peck was the first to use these devices in America. The Mammoth Cave plan shows an abundant amount of cave wall detail, breakdown piles and line squiggles for features in the ceiling. He adopts the use of a place name opposite the feature location in the cave. Light weight lines were employed to indicate cross-under passages, squares for saltpeter hoppers, and the L shape of Fleming Gatewood's house and path to the cave is shown of the plan view. No map with this amount of passage detail would be produced again in America until a decade after the Civil War. It ranks as one of the truly great cave maps along side Jefferson's map of Madison's Cave or DuFoufs map of Great Saltpetre Cave. Future cave cartographers failed to appreciate the detail quality inherent in the Lee map. They did not take the lead by copying from example the technical style presented at this early date. Most every other cave map is a jumble of seemingly confused cave passages placed without regard to style or balance in the design of their finished cartography.

With the crossing of the Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave (October 1838), the Lee map and. guidebook became obsolete (Meloy, 1975, p. 28). A tourist compass and pace survey was made of the Main Cave, across the Bottomless Pit, down to River Hall and points beyond (Anon., n.d.). Comparison of similar vintage place names from Mammoth Cave maps and guidebooks is enough to narrow the time frame of preparation for this early survey to the tourist season of late 1838 or 1839. Prior to the 20th century, these are the only manuscript survey notes known{or the cave, or for that matter, any cave.

Accompanying a three part description of Mammoth Cave, John S.Wood (1841, p. 86-87) produced a new map using "compass and time-piece, level and measuring line ... pencil and paper, biscuit and claret II This is the first published map of Fingal's (Stephen's) Cave and areas beyond the BottomlessPit. The map is drawn on 1/2 mile X-Y grid spacing, contains a north arro\v and a 112 mile bar scale. It juxtaposes the cavemapwith a few surfacefeatures. The map is nothing more than two line squiggles for walls, with alphabet letters - upper case for major passages and lower case and arabic numerals for cave features and rooms. The map purports to show 24 miles of explored passage . . The cave does have a southeast trend in the first part of the Main Cave. From there, the trend is generally to the south. Apparently Wood did not consult the Lee map. Woodis map is the first Mammoth Cave map to have both a bar scale and a north arrow.

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Bear Ca~e in southwestern Pennsylvania is a delightful maze cave of exceptional complexIty. The cave was surveyed on September 2, 1839, in the company of 18 dignitaries from the Philosophical Committee of the Westmoreland County Lyceum (MacLeod, 1839). The entrance elevation and the deepest position in the cave were fixed using a barometer. This is the first known (to me) use of a barometer for establishing elevations in a cave. Frederick J. Cope was in charge of the instrument survey and cartography. The map shows about 2250 feet of maze cave. No mention is made as to the kind of surveying instrument nor if they used a chain. Semicircular skewing of passage orientation of the Cope map when compared to the Schmidt et. al. (1960) map suggests in part a compass and pace survey. It is almost as if the northern half of the cave is just a sketch map, because the orientation of the passages is in no way consistent with contemporary surveys. The map does not have a north arrow or bar scale. There is a "N.E." type script along the free face of the hill side containing the four entrances. This is the only way the map can be orientated.

Stephen Bishop (1845) the legendary guide and explorer of Mammoth Cave produced one of the best known maps of the cave. It is a fantasy map of the mind, because it looks like a bowl full of spaghetti with twenty five miles of sketched-in passage. It is a simple map with no internal detail except shading for stream passages and deep pits. Using the Lee map as a base from which to work, numerous new passages and place names were added in pencil from Bishop's memory. John Croghan, M.D., (the cave's owner) inked in over Bishop's sketch for the lithographers (Thomas, et. aI., 1970, p. 336). The map is an excellent guide to little traveled portions of Mammoth Cave and it became the standard map for the next 40 years.

Lewis C. Beck surveyed two caves in New York state in 1842. Knox Cave is another amorphous looking bifurcating cave with no indicated entrance, interior detail, north arrow or scale. Distances for passage length appeared in the center of each segment. His map of Balls (Gage) Cave is nothing more than a longitudinal passage cross section with waterfalls, lakes, large rooms and a row boat with three men for scale. Distances are written out along each reach of the cave. Entrances to Knox and Balls Caves is by way of deep pits and as such makes these caves the first pit caves surveyed in America. Descriptions of fonnations and room attributes are written out in the interior of the cave cross section. William M. Mather (1843) redrafted the Beck map for his geological report. The background rocks encompassing the cross section cave passage are less obstructive to the eye than that of the Beck map. Another survey of Balls Cave was made in 1853 by W.H. Knoepfel. I have not seen this map.

Horace C. Hovey (1882, p. 127) gives a chronicle on the mapping of Wyandotte Cave, Indiana. The first map was made by Horace Chipman Grosvenor in 1852. Grosvenor was an architect and mining engineer from Cincinnati (Browne, 1864, p. 226) and as such knew the elements of underground surveying. His was a compass, line, and tape survey with vertical control. The finished survey revealed that the cave was not as big as initially thought. Grosvenor published the map and an article on the cave, but efforts to locate them have failed.

Hovey (1882, p. 127) considered the Grosvenor map a "curiosity in its own way." I think Hovey's explanation for his thoughts about the map are threefold. Grosvenor's map probably showed perhaps three miles of a purported eighteen mile cave, it was a true physical instrument survey, and it yielded a length greatly under what Talbot would map a year later. The mileage difference would definitely make the Grosvenor map a "curiosity."

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Because of the short length the Grosvenor survey revealed, D.L. Talbot, M.D., of Jeffersoiwille, Indiana, produced another map of the cave in 1853. This was a compass and guesstimate survey showing over 20 miles of passage. The manuscript map was finished prior to July 14, 1853, for on that ,date John H. McNeely, a correspondent for the Indianapolis Morning Journal · explored the cave with a copy of the Tal bot manuscript map. He commemorates a number of new place names in the cave. A lithograph map of the Talbot survey was published, but no copies are known tei exist today. The Talbot map was annotated by Hovey (1879) in the summer of 1854.

George I. Langsdale surveyed the New Discovery area in 1859. This gave a cave length of over 23 miles of passage. The Grosvenor, TaIbot and Langsdale maps were combined and annotated by Hovey and published in Richard Owen's Report of a Geological Reconnaissance of Indiana in 1862. The Langsdale survey first appears on this map. The resulting map contains a north designation at the top of the map but no map scale. Place· name designations are written Ollt to the side, cross through, or are contained within cave passage segments. No cave symbols are used on this map. The map does not identify the cartographer. Hovey spent the next fifty years correcting this oversight.

Within a week, the Revel end G.S. Bailey (1863), explored and sketch-mapped three of the great commercial caves of Kentucky. Diamond Cave (Cavern) was mapped on January l7, 1860, Mammoth Cave the following day and Hundred Domes on January 23. These are sketch maps and show a departure from prior maps. Bailey uses new cave map symbols that are number keyed to a table. Before this time, stair casing, saltpeter vats, breakdown and streams were generally the only detail on a cave map. Here he shows stalactites, stalagmites, rimstone dams, pools, pits, cascades and the Tuberculosis Huts . Incorrect placement of major passages in Mammoth Cave suggest at least that this map was drawn after his return from the cave.

Most of the pre-Civil War cave maps were of very simple detail. A very few were transit and chain surveys. The maps consisted of walls, occasional cave streams, stair casings, saltpeter vats, place names and little interior detail. Longitudinal cave sections were used to indicate uneven topography and only the Thomas Jefferson and 1. Peck maps of Madison's Cave used arrows to indicate a change in floor topography. The map of Mammoth Cave by Edmund F. Lee is of exceptional cartographic detail. It would have been a watershed map if only his successors had copied the style of preparation. We had to wait for John Collett's 1878 cartography of Wyandotte Cave for a map showing a rebirth in artistic realism . The cartographic quali ty toward a visual representation of interior detail nevcr matched that of the Europeans at the same time period . The Europeans were producing cave maps of exceptional accuracy and detail, for example, the 1822 Grotto de Han map, by Jean Kicb and Adolphe Quetelet (Bastin, 1989, p. 20) . Even the Pen Park Hole in England, showed more passage detail in 1682 than any of the American cave maps (Shaw, 1979, Fig. 4).

Without readily available European cave maps to emulate, all of the early American maps are classified by their simplicity and non-standardized use of cave symbols. Cave mappers from this era were not artists nor skilled cave surveyors. They had little idea of perspective in placing a three dimensional cave object on flat paper. The use of longitudinal passage cross sections solved part of that problem. The over reliance of word script used to describe a cave passage of feature often appeared on these early maps. Chinese artllsed a similar device on paintings and illustrations.

The Journal ofSpe/eml HiSTOry 79

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many people and institutions have contributed documentation to this article over the past twenty years. The Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky, gave permission to quote from the unpublished Fingals (Manunoth) Cave manuscript survey. The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, gave permission to quote from Samuel Brown, John James DuFour and Frederick Ridgely letters and maps. The Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware, allowed me to use the E. I. du Pont manuscripts and cave maps. Permission to quote from the Draper Manuscripts was given by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The Kentucky Room, Louisville Free Public Library, Kentucky, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Tennessee State Archives, Nashville, Tennessee, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, Indiana, and the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, helped in immeasurable ways in supplying documentation to this research. Mr. Gordon L. Smith shared his unique cartographic and book collections and offered suggestions for the locations of early cave surveys. William R. Halliday, M. D., showed me his copy of the J. Peck map of Amen's and Madison's Caves, looked up cave references and offered technical suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript. Mr. Michael Sutton of the Cave Research Foundation provided a copy of the Lee map of Mammoth Cave. Mr. Thomas J. Metzgar provided information and the map of Bear Cave, Pennsylvania. Ms. Emily Davis Mobley and Mr. Thomas D. Engel provided information on New York area cave maps. Mr. Marion O. Smith provided information on Civil War era cave maps (there were none made). Mr. Gary A. O'Dell provided several Revolutionary era saltpeter and gunpowder items of interest. Mr. Paul Ash aided materially in providing part of his late brother Dr. Donald W. Ash's collection on early Wyandotte Cave. The late Mr. Harold Meloy helped with his publications and insight into the mapping of Manunoth Cave. Mr. Roger Gleitz, Assistant Manager of Wyandotte Cave, Indiana and Mr. Robert Ward, Historian, Mrunmoth Cave National Park cooperated with the author in a better understanding of the early maps in their respective caves. Mr. Langford G. Brod, Jr., my mentor at a distance, instructed me in the concept that there are more things pictorially possible on a cave map than two lines for walls .

SOURCES

Anonymous, "Fingals (Mammoth) Cave," Manuscript Collection, The Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky (n. d.)

Anonymous, "The Subterranean Voyage, or Mammoth Cave Explored, II The Enquirer, (Richmond, Virginia), Vol. 6, No. 109, April 20, 1810; reprinted The Journal of Spelean History, Vol. 3, No.3, p. 59-60 (1970).

Anonymous, "A Letter, Touching Russell's Cave, from a Tourist in Kentucky to his Friend in Philadelphia." Western Review, Vol. 3, p. 160-164 (1820).

Anonymous, "Plymouth Caves." The Green MOllntain Repository, (Burlington, Vermont), June, Vol. I, p. 135-137, June 1832~ reprinted in The Journal of Spelean History, Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 76-77.

Anonymous, The Grottoes of the Shenandoah, Consisting of Weyer a11d the Fountain Caves . .. Augusta COllllty, Virginia, Valley Virginia Press, Staunton, Virginia,l889; reprinted in The Journal of Spe/ean History, Vol. I, No. 2,p.. 23-26.

Ash, Donald W. "Geomorphic Development in the Mitchell Plain and Adjacent Crawford Upland in Harrison and Crawford Counties, Indiana;:" Guidebook to the Kentucky Speleofest, Meade County Fair Grounds, Kentucky, Angelo 1. George, editor, p. 42-59 (1985).

Bailey, G. S. The Great Caverns ofKentllcky. Church & Goodman, Chicago (1863).

Bastin, Bruno, "L'A venture des Explorations," in Han et Ses Grottes, Didier Hatier (1989)

The Journal ofSpe lea n History 80

Beaupre, Michel and Daniel Caron, Decouvrez Ie Auebec SOllterrain. Quebec Science Editeur, Presses de l'Universite du Quebec (1986).

Beck, Lewis C. Mineralogy ofNew York, White and Visscher, New York (1842).

Bishop, Stephen, Map of the Explored Parts of the Mammoth Cave of Ky., 1845, in Alexander Bullitt, Rambles in the Mammoth Cave, Morton & Griswold, Louisville, Kentucky (1845).

Blane, William Newnham, An Excursion Through the United States and Canada During the Years 1822-23, Baldwin Gradock & Co. (1824).

Browne, 1. Ross, A Tour Through AriZ011a, "Adventures ill the Apache Country", New York (1864).

Brown, Samuel, Unpublished letter to John Vaughan, dated April 9, 1805; Manuscript Collection, American Philosophical Society (1805).

Brown, Samuel, "A Description of a Cave on Crooked Creek, with Remarks and Observations on Nitre and Gunpowder," Trans. Am. Philo. Soc., Vol. 6, p. 235-247 (1809). .

Call, R. Ellsworth, "The Evolution of the Map of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky," Proc. Ind. Acd. Sci., p. 46-53 (1896).

Collett, John, Map of Wyalldotte Cave, ill Crawford COUllty, Illdialla, 1878, Ind. Geo!. Sur., 8th, 9th, &lOth Annual Rpts. of 1879.

Collins, Z., S. Govon, and C. Wister, "Unpublished Report of the Committee on the Draught and Description of a Salt Petre Cave Recently Discovered in the County of Warren and State of Kentucky," dated May 17, 1811; Manuscript Collection, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Cooke, Robert L. "American Caverns. Weyer's Cave," The Family Magazine or Monthly Abstract ofGeneral Knowledge, Vol. 7, p. 41-47 (1840) .

Cooke, Robert L. A Ground Plall alld Section of Weyer's Cave, Augusta Co., Va., Bloomfield, N. 1. (1835); map collection of Gordon L. Smith.

Cornelius, Elias, "On the Geology, Mineralogy, Scenery, and Curiosities of Parts of Virginia, Tennessee, and of the Alabama and Mississippi Territories, etc., with Miscellaneous Remarks, etc. in a Letter to the Editor," Am. JOllr. Sci., Vol. 1, p. 317-331 (1818).

Douglas, Henry H. Caves of Virginia. Virginia Cave Survey, Falls Church, Virginia (1964).

Drake, Daniel, "Map of a Salt Petre Cave in Green River Kentucky;" Draper Manuscripts, 2080, Manuscript Collections, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (n. d.)..

The Journal ofSpe/ean History . 81

DuFour, John James, Day Book 0/ Jean Jaques DuFour 0/ Sales 0/ Montreux, Bailiwick 0/ Vevey, on his Travels, 1805a; in Perret DuFour, The Swiss Settlement 0/ Switzerland County, Indiana, 1925, The Indiana Historical Commission, Indianapolis.

DuFour, John James, "A Survey of the Great Salt Petre Cave on Crooked Creek in Madison County, Ky.," unpublished, 1805b; Manuscript Collection, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

DuFour, John James, Unpublished map of the nitre caves of Kentucky, n. d.. ; Manuscript Collection, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly attributed to Samuel Brown. Hand script is that of John James DuFour.

du Pont, E. I. "Map of Great Salt Petre Cave," 1805; Manuscript Collection, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

du Pont, E. 1. "Eye Draught Map of Mammoth Cave," 1811; WMSS 4/D#W4-5033, Manuscript Collection, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Ellis, Brian, "Cave Surveying in Britain - An Historical Review," Trans. British Cave Res. Assoc., Vol. 14, No.2, p. 52-55 (1987).

Faust, Burton, "The History of Saltpetre Mining in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky," The Filson Club Hist. Quarterly, Vol. 41, No.3, p. 227-262 (1967).

George, Angelo r. "abs. Saltpeter Activity of John James DuFour," The NSS Bulletin, Vol. SO, No. I, p. 33 (1988).

George, Angelo I. "V-Vats and Rectangular Hoppers in Mammoth Cave," Cave Research Foundation Annual Report, 1988, p. 73-73 (1989).

George, Angelo I. Prehistoric Mummies from the Mammoth Cave Area; Foundations and Concepts, George Publishing Company, Louisville, Kentucky (1990).

Gibb, George D. "On Canadian Caverns," The Geologist, London (1861).

[Gratz, Hyman], "Green River, or Mammoth Cave, Henderson County, Kentucky," Medical Repository, Vol. 17, p. 391-393 (1815).

Green, John, and John Lotz, The Story 0/ Cave Hill. Upper Valley Regional Park Authority (n. d.).

Halliday, William R. "Two Centuries of History at the Grottoes of the Shenandoah: Grand Caverns and its Neighbors," Journal 0/ Speleall History, Vol. 1, No.2 (1968).

Halliday, William R. "America's Second Cave Map," Journal 0/ Spelean History, Vol. 15, No.2, p. 18 (1981).

Hill, Carol A., and Duane DePaepe, "Saltpeter Mining in Kentucky Caves," Reg. Ky. Hist. Sic., Vol. 77, No.4, p. 247-262 (1979).

Hovey, Horace C. "Map of Wyandot Cave," in David Dale Owen, Report 0/ the Geological Recon1laissance O/Indiana, H. H. Dodd & Co., ' Indianapolis, Indiana (1862).

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., .'

82

Hovey, Horace C. IIDiscoveries in Western Caves,1I Scientific American Supplement, . Vol. 17, No. 162, p. 2583 (1879). .

Hovey, Horace C. Celebrated American Caverns, Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati (1882) . .

Hovey, Horace C. IIMapping the Mammoth Cave,1I Scientific American Supplement, No. 1229, p. 197077-:19708 (1899) .

Jefferson, Thomas, Notes Oil the State of Virginia. John Stockdale, London, 1789; reprinted, Menill D. Peterson, ed. Thomas Jefferson, The Library of America, p. 123-325 (1984).

Jefferson, Thomas, Notes on the State of Virginia. 1. W. Randolph, Richmond, Virginia (1853).

Jones, Calvin, IIWeir's Cave,1I Western Spy. (Cincinnati, Ohio), August 11, 1815 n. S.,

Vol. 2, No. 56, p. 2.

Jones, Calvin, "Weir's Cave in Virginia, II The Port Folio, Vol. 12, No.2, p. 325-332 (1821).

Lee, Edmund F. Notes Oil the Mammoth Cave, James and Gazlay, Cincinnati (1835).

MacLeod, W. Nonnan, IIExploration of the Lyceum Cave," The Pennsylvanian Argus, and Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate, October 4, 1839, n. S., Vol. 8, No. 19, p. 1.

McNeely, John H. "Wyandotte Cave," Indianapolis Morning Journal, (Indianapolis, Indiana), July 26, 1853, Vol. 3, No. 84, p. 2.

Mather, William M. Geology ofNew York, Casrol and Cook, New York (1843) .

Meloy, Harold, "Early Maps of Mammoth Cave," Journal ofSpe/eall History, Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 49-57 (1968).

Meloy, Harold, "Lee's Notes on the Mammoth Cave,1I Journal ofSpelean History, Vol. 2, No.2, p. 26 (1969a).

Meloy, Harold, "The Gatewoods at Mammoth Cave," Journal ofSpeleall History, V61. 2, No.3, p. 51-62 (1969b).

Meloy, Harold, "Historic Maps of Mammoth Cave," Journal ofSpelean History, Vol. 8, No.3 & 4, p. 26-31 (1975).

Meloy, Harold, lIabs. Historic Maps of Mammoth Cave,1I Journal of Spelean History, Vol. 10, No.3 & 4, p. 42 (1977).

Meloy, Harold, IIOutline of Mammoth Cave History,1I Journal of Spelean History, Vol. 13, No. 1 & 2, p. 28-33 (1979).

Owen, Richard, Report ofa Geological Reconnaissance ofIndiana, Made During the Years 1859 and 1860, Dcx:idand Company, Indianapolis; Il1diana (1862).

The Journal ofSpe/eall History 83

Peck, 1. Plan of Madisons & Amens Caverns, 1805; in Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State o/Virginia, J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Virginia (1853).

Quinlan, James F. Jr. "The History and Evolution of the Map of Mammoth Cave," Mammoth Cave National Park Headquarters,S pp. (1964).

Ridgely, Frederick, Unpublished letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, dated March 11, 1811; Manuscript Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; extract in Minutes, p. 427-428; Manuscript Collection, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Salay, David L, "The Production of Gunpowder in Pennsylvania During the American Revolution," Pennsylvania Magazine of History alld Biography, October, p. 422-442 (1975).

Schachner, Nathan, Thomas Jefferson, A Biography, Thomas Yoseloff, New York, 4th Printing (1957).

Schmidt, V., A. Ellisher and 1. Dunn, Bear Cave, Westmoreland County, 1960; in William B. White, Caves of Western Pennsylvania, Penn. Geol. Sur., General Geol. Rpt. 67.

Shaw, Trevor R. History of Cave Science, Crymych, England, 2 vols. (1979).

Smith, Charles C. "The Manufacture of Gunpowder in America," Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, Vol. 14, p. 248-256 (1876) .

Struik, Dirk J. Yankee Science in the Making, Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1948). .

Thomas, Samuel W., Eugene H. Conner and Harold Meloy, itA History of Mammoth Cave, Emphasizing Tourist Development and Medical Experimentation Under Dr. John Croghan," Register, Ky. Hist. Soc. Vol. 68, No.4, p. 319-340 (1970).

Ward, Nahum, Mammoth Cave, unpublished manuscript map, Gordon L. Smith Collection (n. d.).

Ward, Nahum, "Wonders of Nature," The Kentllcky Gazette, Lexington, Kentucky, September 9, 1816, n. s. Vol. 2, No. 37, p. 2 (1816).

Wood, John S. "Mammoth Caves of Kentucky," The American Magazine and Repository 0/ Useful Literature, Vol. 1, No.3, p. 86-90; Vol. 1, No.5, p. 130.-133; Vol. 1, No.6, p. 184-190 (1841).

The Journal ofSpeZean History 84

T. J. BYRNE: A CONFEDERATE NITRE BUREAU OFFICER

Marion O. Smith

T. J. Byrne has not yet been adequately identified. His signature matches that of Terence J. Byrne, a private in Company E, 16th Tennessee Infantry, CSA, which was primarily composed of Warren County men. But no T. J. or Terence 1. Byrne has been found in that county's 1860 and 1870 censuses. All that is known about this man falls between September, 1862, and the end of 1863.

From September 16, 1862, until early November, 1863, Byrne was assistant superintendent (at $100 a month) of Nitre District No.8. Through July, 1863, he spent much of his time in Division No. 2 of that district, which had its headquarters at McMinnville, Tennessee. His exact duties are unknown, but in December, 1862, he was an "Asst upon exploration, and at office" and three months later was an "Asst to Lt [Bolling A.] Stovall," the chief Nitre Bureau officer in the area.

On April 21, 1863, a Federal force from Murfreesboro briefly captured McMinnville, along with a couple hundred prisoners, including Terence 1. Byrne, who claimed to be a soldier with the 16th Tennessee Infantry. Five days later Byrne signed a "Prisoner's Parole" at Murfreesboro, and he was forwarded via Nashville, LOuisville, Fort McHenry near Baltimore, and to City Point, Virginia, wher~ he was returned to the Confederacy.

After the Confederate army retreated from middle Tennessee, Byrne was in Chattanooga by late July; 1863; Dalton, Georgia into September; and after that, Kingston, Georgia. His duties included those incident with the retrograde movement. August 25 - 27 he went to Chatata Lead Mine near Charleston, Bradley County, Tennessee "to remove tools & property to Dalton Ga." Two days later he went "to Kingston Ga. to take inventory of Government Property removed there and for furloughing the hands of the 8th Dist." On September 5 he returned to Chatata Lead Mine to continue overseeing "the removal of the Government property there." Four and five days later he helped remove "horses & mules from Dalton to Kingston" and September 20 - 24 he went to Atlanta to receive and invoice saltpeter from the 9th [North Alabama] District. On October 5 he was sent back to Atlanta to "take charge of a Shipment of funds from the Govt Depositary to Kingston Ga."

While still at Kingston, Byrne, on November 7, 1863, received the following order from Captain William Gabbett, superintendent of the newly combined 8th and 9th Nitre Districts:

You \ViII proceed by wagon road with the laborers selected for your operations to ' ''Bell Nitre Works," near Blue Mountain Ala - Take with you the necessary tools & c ror the immediate opening of the' works.

Byrne moved the "working force" to Bell Cave by November 10 and renewed-the Government operation there. This cave; nO\\f' known as Lady-Weaver Cave, had been mined off and on since the beginning of the war, first on private account and then by the Government. While at the cave, Byrne, on November 19 - 23 made a trip "to Big Spring Nitre Works [Guntersville Caverns] Ala; in charge of white force." He remained as superintendent of Bell Cave of the Blue Mountain Nitre Works through December, 1863, and then he disappeared from the record. . . .

The Journal ofSpelean History . 85

SOURCES

Tennesseans in the Civil War (2 vols., NashviIle, 1964 - 65), Vol. 1,208.

Compiled Service Records, Record Group 109, Terence J. Byrne, 16th Tennessee Infantry.

Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, Record Group 109 (Microcopy 346, Roll 131), National Archives, T. 1. Byrne file.

Confederate Payrolls, Record Group 109, National Archives, Blue Mountain Nitre Works, November - December, 1863.

Bibliography of Tennessee Speleology. Larry E. Matthews. Tennessee Cave Survey Bulletin 1, 4th edition. November 1994,520 pp.

Reviewed by Joseph C. Douglas

If newspapers, articles, and books are the historian's staples, then Larry E. Matthews has given us a wonderful menu in the 4th edition of his Bibliography ofTennessee Spe/e%gy, published in late 1994. A long-time cave historian with many works to his credit, Matthews has literally spent years chasing down references to Tennessee caves, and he has now presented them in a highly useful format. This latest edition of his bibliography is far superior to earlier ones, and it belongs on every speleologist's shelf, right next to the bibliographies of Mammoth Cave and Wyandotte Cave. Matthews has given us a wonderful research tool with an importance that reaches far beyond the borders of a single state.

In this work, Matthews presents three separate indices: an Author Index with 2,740 entries, a Cave Index with 2,427 entries, and a Subject Index with 557 different subjects. Thus, one can approach the voluminous literature on Tennessee caves (and Tennessee has more caves than any other state) from several different angles, depending on the thrust of one's research. The Author Index is especially useful in biographic research, the Cave Index is the place to begin research on a particular cave or case study, and the Subject Index guides the researcher to the literature on special topics, ranging from Accidents to Wooden Ladders in caves.

Of the three indices, the Subject Index may be the weakest, in that Matthews has not always re-examined the older, broader sources and separately indexed each cave reference. But this is a fairly minor criticism, as the broad sources (such as Goodspeed's History of Tennessee) appear in the Author Index and are generally well-known to many researchers. Despite this criticism, I have found the Subject Index invaluable in my own research on moonshine caves and fallout shelter caves. The Subject Index is very useful for speleologists engaged in topical research, whether on a local, regional or national level.

While many bibliographies contain works published by large organizations, Matthews includes references from smaller clubs and organizations, including grotto newsletters. This adds immensely to the work's value. He is also quite helpful in tracking down the (sometimes) obscure articles the Bibliography notes. In sum, r highly recommend the book, which is available from the NSS Bookstore, Speleobooks, and Inner Realm Books.

The 10llmal ofSpeleall History 86

"A VIEW AND DESCRIPTION OF THE GROTTO DEL CANE"

The Gentleman's Magazine, January, 1753

Submitted by Fred Grady

"At the foot of a mountain near the lake of Agnano, in the neighborhood of Naples, is a little cave, or grotto, called Grotto del Cane: it is 14 spans or palms high, six broad, and 16 deep. At the far end of the grotto, distil, from the roof, drops of water remarkably bright and lucid, resembling drops of quicksilver. If any living animal be put into this grotto it gradually loses its breath, and in a little time lies as if it were quite dead, and if not soon taken out again dies outright. But, if before it be quite dead, it be taken out and cast into the lake, it revives again by degrees and comes to itself. The experiment has been made with birds, frogs, lizards, and dogs. Charles VIII, King of France tried the experiment upon an ass, and Don Pedro de Toledo, Viceroy of Naples under the emperor Charles V tried it upon two slaves, and all of them died. The smoke of candles and torches, instead of ascending tends downwards, and creeps along the ground towards the mount of the grotto. If a pistol be fired near the bottom it gives no report, whence it is concluded either that there is an entire vacuum at the bottom, or that the air is there extremely subtile.

The water at the lake near this grotto is want to gurgle and boil up, when the lake is full, but when the waters are not so copious, and leave the shore dry for a few paces, then there is no ebullition. It is very dangerous swimming in this lake, for there is a sort of fish in it which fastens upon and sticks to people, so that not being able to disengage themselves they sink to the bottom. Many sportsmen have been drowned by attempting to swim in it, in order to take up birds which they had shot, and which had fallen into it."

Such is the description of this grotto and lake given us by an Italian author, a citizen of Naples, who wrote after Mr. Addison was in Italy. Each of them mentions particulars not taken notice of by the other: hence the advantage of having the same curiosities described by different persons. The Italian is somewhat more exact in describing the ror-n:, dimentions, and situation of the grotto: Mr. Addison is much more accurate In hIS experiments and more curious in investigating the cause of the phenomenon. They differ in one particular. Our Italian says, a pistol fired off gives no report, and thence conclud~s there is a vacuum in the grotto. Mr. Addison says, a pistol cannot be fired off at all tlll

The JOllmal ofSpeleall History 87

means be used to dissipate the vapour in the grotto; but he takes no notice of its giving no report. I fancy Mr. Addison's account of this particular is most to be depended on, for it is much more probable that the effects of the grotto upon animals and lighted torches are owing to stagnated vitiated air or to unctuous and viscous vapours arising from the bottom of it, than to a vacuum or subtility of the air.

In Sanders's travels this grotto is described and the vapour accounted for as follows:

"It is a little cavern at the foot of a hill just high enough for a man that is not over tall to stand upright in; and is about 12 foot long, and somewhat less than half that breadth. From the floor of this cave there arises a suffocating vapour of the nature of some of the damps in our mines, not the fiery ones, which take flame at a candle; but those which extinguish all lights, as this does, more readily than water. It is fatal to all kinds of animal life, if taken in with the breath; and dogs, sheep, and even men, have been killed by it. It rises, however, only about 11 inches; and if the head of any creature be ever so little above that, it receives no hurt from it. The people who shew us this, affect to make it appear miraculous. But anyone who knows a little chemistry, will find nothing so wonderful in it. We well know, that there is a mineral vague acid floating every where in the air, tho' usually but in small quantities; and that this is the nature of the acid extracted by chemistry, from sulphur, alum, and vitriol; for these are all alike. The acid gas of sulphur has the same effects with the vapour of this grotto; and if a dog's nose is put into the mouth of the receiver into which it is just distilled, he is suffocated, just as in this vapor; and will perish unless recovered by the very same means, the plunging in cold water.

The roof and walls of this cavern are of a very odd appearance. They are not formed of anyone continued bed of stone, but are made up of irregular strata, which looks as if they had suffered violence. There are many cracks in these, as well as in the floor. This is the only cavern I saw in this part of the world, whose roof did not afford the beautiful stony icicles which make so fine an ornament in the grotto of Antiparos; and I am of opinion that the acid steams arising from the floor are of power to dissolve these soft concretions, tho' not to suffocate animals. What makes me the more assured that they do rise higher than the eleven inches, tho' in less quantity, and not so concentrated, is that my curiosity tempting me to stay much longer than travellers usually do in the place, I felt the ill effects of it in a pain in my breast for three days.

What I principally observed was, that among the various matters of which the sides of the grotto were formed, there were vast masses of that mineral which the English miners call Mundick. This was of a glittering appearance; and lay sometimes in lumps, and sometimes in a sort of veins. The whole bottom of the walls, if I may so call them, was of this matter alone, up to the height of eleven inches, the regular height of the ascent of the vapour. All this space was covered also with a woolly or mossy matter, standing out to half an inch in length. This, when I tasted it, was plain vitriol; and it was of a dusky green colour. The guides told us, that the vapour turned the sides green as far as it rose; but I rather looked upon the determinate rise of that vapour to that height; and no more, which was just the height of the mundick, to be owing to that. All chemists affirm, that mundick is made up of vitriol and sulphur; and it is no wonder, that the congenial acid should be influenced by such a mass of these substances,and rise no higher than it does."

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88