This wind suggested the name Wind Cave, and will probably be utilized,
at no very distant time, to generate electricity for lighting the
cavern.
The wind is strongest at the surface, and a guide goes down first to
place lights in sheltered nooks where the force has begun to diminish,
about fifty feet below the entrance; and here we light our candles
which, if guarded somewhat, are not extinguished unless the current is
unusually severe. The balance of the descent of one hundred and
fifty-five feet from the surface to the first chamber is easily
accomplished.
This would be the least interesting room in the cave if it were not the
Bride's Chamber, on account of having once been the scene of a marriage
ceremony. But no others are in need of assistance of such romantic
nature, as all are curiously and handsomely decorated, with such a
charming variety of deposits, artistically massed, combined or
contrasted, that every step brings fresh pleasure, and monotony is
nowhere.
Passing from this room by a long, narrow passage, in the walls of which
are observed many beautiful little pockets of crystals, attention is
presently called to Lincoln's Fireplace, a perfectly natural specimen of
the old-fashioned design broadly open in the chimney; doubtless just
such an one as Mr. Lincoln's good mother hung the crane in and set the
Dutch oven before.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122