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Show DISCOVER REMARKABLE CAVEIN FOREST Supervisor Shepard of the Cache Forest' Explores the Chamber The forest officers hnvo recently explored a large, envo located within tho national forest In Big Creek, about seven miles west of St. Charles Idaho, According to the best information obtainable, this cave was discovered In the spring of 1915 by a Boy Scout troop from St. Charles. On August 18, n crew of forest officers, making a study of grazing conditions on the forest in company with Ranger Romero, Ro-mero, made a thorough exploration of this quite remarkable cave, it was again explored on August 28 by Messrs Palmer, Aldous nnd Scofleld, of the Grazing Studies Crew, in company com-pany with Supervisor and Mrs. Shop-d. Shop-d. The entry to this cavern Is an inconspicuous in-conspicuous break in tho limestone ledge ono half mile south of tho Nelson Nel-son Arnell Saw Mill in St. Charles, or Big Creek. This opening Is about two feet in height by ten feet wl'de. A strong draft of cold air meets tho explorer, who must descend on all fours down a slope of about thirty per cent for a short dlstonco oer a ledge of coarse lime stone fragments which have, In time past, fallen from tho arched vault of tho cave. After penetrating for about fifty feet, the cave broadens and deepens, forming a chamber in places thirty feet high by sixty feet wide. At about two hundred feet from the entrance the cavo bears to tho left at right an-gls an-gls and extends fully three hundred feet further end upward at varying angles. In this portion of tho cave there aro found thousands of llmu deposits, de-posits, formed by the slow dripping of water that Is saturated with llmo salts, which crjstnllze, forming curious cur-ious shaped doposlts both hanging from tho domo and built up froij. tho floor. Each pendant "icicle" has Its partner directly underneath. These stalactites and stalagmites, as they aro known tp geologists, have In numerous nu-merous places "grown" together, and thus formed solid columns of lime deposit de-posit from roof to floor. Somo of these aro over two feet In diameter, artd all ore curiously shaped. The first Imprcsslcn on seeing these white columns In the flickering light of n candlo Is of a cemetery with many ill shaped tombstones. Although tho cave Is probably, but recently known to man, it bears evidence evi-dence of having been long known to other creatures of tho nnlmal world. Rats nnd bats by tho hundred hnvo spent nt least a part of their exist-onco exist-onco hero, and numerous famlllos of , porcupines mildly protested against the intrusion of tho Inquisitive hum-! nns. The exploration of this cavo Is mado easier by tho prcsenco of freo air currents from some undetected unde-tected source. Ordinary candlos burn brightly and their light Is very , much needed to show tho way over ! tho rough, slippery rocks, where n careless Btep may result In a sprain-1 cd .initio. I It Is believed that wiicn tho presence pres-ence of this quite unusual cavo becomes be-comes generally known. It will ho tho object of many a visit from tourists and campers. Tho entrance to tho cave, however, can be reached only by a steep climb over brush nnd rocky ledges to tho obscuro opening at tho foot of tho limestone cliff a half wny up tho mountain sldo nnd at an olovntlon of 7G0 feet, Big Creek is ncccsslblo by n poor auto road to five miles from St. Charles and tho additional two miles to tho Nelson Arnell Mill can bo mado hy wagon. From that point a horao may bo ridden rid-den to within a short distance from tho entrance of tho cave. From that I point tho climb Is a steep ono, but tho tavern Is well worth tho effort. im at |
