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Show MAMMOTH CAVE LONG FAMOUS. Has Been Acknowledged One of th World' Wonders, Practically Sine the Year 1809. The most famous cavern In America Ib Mammoth cave, in Kentucky, writes "Nlksah" in the Chicago Daily News. Mammoth cave was an old Indian refuge, ref-uge, and the story of redskin adventures adven-tures is written plain In the skeletons, tomahawks and reed torches that hava been found in the cavern depths. Then, in 1809, a white man, a pioneer hunter, followed a wounded bear Into the mouth of the great cave, and from that time on Mammoth cave became in American estimation the eighth wonder of the world. Almost as soon as the white man discovered the cavern he began to make practical use of It. Long before the era of Indian possession bats had Inhabited the cavern halls and in the course of time their skeleton had accumulated ac-cumulated on the floor, especially near the entrance. These skeletons, containing nitrate, played an Important Impor-tant part in the war of 1812, for nitrate, so needed for making explosives, explo-sives, was scarce In the colonies and the Mammoth cave became the mala source of supply. When the country settled down to a period of comfortable prosperity. Mammoth cave became, even more than it is today, a great show place of America. The cave's history is told. In the names of the various rooms and galleries. Jenny Llnd and other artists visited the cave and sang or playedi the airs that had made them famous in "Ole Bull's Concert Hall" or other cavern corridors. In a room since named "Booth's Amphitheater," Edwin Booth was inspired to declaim some of the lines of Hamlet before a small1 and select audience. |