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Show 1 iiiS5:'5;5 S'S3XSS--'-SS-3; ? iS?"5S NEARBY AND YONDER Off the Beaten Path to Unusual Un-usual Places and Things By T. T. MAXEY WNU Service Carlsbad Cavern CAKLSBAD CAVEKN in the Guadalupe Guada-lupe mountains in northeastern New Mexico, although known locally for a long time, was not explored at length until quite recently. Its startling start-ling magnitude was a genuine sur-I sur-I prise. Descending some two hundred feet from the crest of a. hill, one gazes upon a new world, the enormity of which staggers the imagination. Apparently, Ap-parently, he has stepped off into what might have been some giant's playground everything having been conceived on such a large scale. Stretching away for practically a mile, like a broad avenue, are great j walls ranging from PX) to 1,00(1 feet apart, smooth Itere and rougli yonder, worn so doubtless by the coursing of water ages ago. There rises a great stalagmite formation with fluted sides, like a curved column for a king's mansion. man-sion. Yonder is a stone formation resembling a waterfall. Then, (here Is a straight-sided pit some 150 feet deep; great chambers of unbelievable size some- perhaps 500 feet wide, their high ceilings huug with stalactites stalac-tites ranging In size from a few inches to the full height of the room; massive blocks of limestone one hundred hun-dred or more feet across and other surprising specimens of subterranean architecture. No one knows how deep or how large this titanic cavern is. Students of caves think tbut it may exceed all other American caves, both in size and beauty of decoration and that some of its grotesque embellishments, which exist in total darkness, may be 100,000 years old. Sakakawea WHEN Thomas Jefferson was President of these United States he commissioned Captains Meriwether Lewds and William Clark to explore and trace the Missouri river to its source, cross the mountains moun-tains and follow the waterways to the Pacific coast, or as the Indians expressed it, "To make a trail from the Far East to the shore of the Everywhere Salt Water." They reached the Indian settlement settle-ment at Mandan, N. I)., in safety. Here they met an Indian squaw named Sakakawea meaning Bird Woman, who came from a country much farther west, and as a consequence knew something about this hitlierto-untrav-eled-by-the-white-man country, who volunteered to accompany them as guide and interpreter. Accordingly, they traveled on and on and on. Finally, they reached a valley inhabited by Indians. At a council between the explorers and the Indians Sakakawea recognized the chief as being her brother. He confided con-fided to her that they Intended killing kill-ing the white men to obtain their food, guns and black sand (gunpowder). By convincing him that such action would be a grave mistake, she made j it possible for Lewis and Clark to carry out the President's instructions instruc-tions and make the trail which extend-I extend-I ed tlie boundary line of our country I Ironi the Mississippi to Ihe Pacific. To commemorate so unusual a heroic he-roic and daring an event, even In I those pioneer days of hardship, the dull women and school children of North Dakota, In co-operation wilh the state legislature, provided funds for the erection of the bronze statue of Sakakawea which stands on the east side of tlie state capital grounds at Bismarck facing west. A Landmark in History r 1CHMOND, the capital of Virginia, - occupying seven hills, is ofttlmes and quite naturally referred to as the modern Home. This aristocratic old cby has been greatly to the fore In the history of our country. Think of tlie prominent part it played In the Civil war! Going beyond that, St. John's church H plain, simple frame structure,, wii'h h square, four-story steeple, topped by a cross and surrounded by a very an cient burying ground, was the scene of history-making times which led up to the Revolutionary war. This Episcopal bouse of worship, bnili about 1740 and subsequently enlarge' en-large' considerably, was the ineetinj place of the Virginia convention III 177.". Two delegates from every county coun-ty In lrginla, which at that time in eluded what Is now West Virginia and Kentucky, had come together to discuss dis-cuss the paramount question of Aineri-can Aineri-can independence. It was on this neon-dun that Patrick Henry arose and delivered the speech which made him famous and ended wl;h these words; "Is life so dear, is pence so sweet, r.s In be pnn-haned at the price of rl.air.s r.u-l Slavery? Forbid For-bid i:. Almighty God : I know not what course others may take; but. as for n.o. tive toe lilcrtv or give me !itl-. Tbo-e stirring wor's were rue of !. ir. :!!!; f:K-'o-s v.l.'cj) p a Vlr j ';.'l !.. :: e v;ir ;:,e Ar.c ic.ii I;-".' c!'!:' i;i. that r. -';ed in our pre.-, n '' -lor e lr;.:;s)!irk Is We ''".) -f, t!:;s rliy IVtr;-- I.rn.'y'? p-w '":: g m: 'V:'i n brass plate |