Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills | Page 9

artistic superiority of
architectural form, its acoustic properties having been tested, it is found
to be truly an auditorium. The curving walls and pure atmosphere
combine to aid the voice, and carry its softest tones with marvelous
distinctness to every portion of the immense inclosed space. As a
concert hall its capacity has been tested by musicians who are said to
have been enthusiastic over the success of their experiments. Several
years ago a piano was lowered into the cave for use on a special
occasion, and still occupies a position on the dancing platform, where it
will probably remain indefinitely under the scant protection of a small
canvas tent.
The chief ornament of the Auditorium is the White Throne, a
stalagmitic mass that when viewed from the stairway appears to rest
solidly against the most distant wall, and looks so small an object in
that vast space as to render a realization of its actual measurement
impossible. The height of the Throne is sixty-five feet and the girth two
hundred. It is a mass of dripstone resting on a limestone base reserved
from the ancient excavation to receive it, and on careful inspection the
perpendicular lines, observed on the front, are found to be a set of
rather large organ pipes. A fresh fracture shows the Throne to be a most
beautiful white and gold onyx. The outer surface has now received a
thin coating of yellow clay which was, of course, regretted, but later
observations on onyx building reveals the pleasing fact that if the
crystal-bearing waters continue to drip, the yellow clay will supply the
coloring matter for a golden band of crystal.

The Throne is hollow and has a natural opening in one side by which it
may be entered, but the space within is too limited to invite a lengthy
stay. That portion of the outside which is nearest the wall is formed
with sufficient irregularity of outline to admit of an ascent to the top,
and the view obtained is well worth the difficult scramble up and the
apprehensive slide down. Being raised so high above all objects that
divide attention or in some degree obstruct the view, permits a freedom
of outlook that sensibly increases the appreciation of the vastness of the
enclosed chamber and its enclosing walls. Efforts to establish the age of
the deposit by observations on the yearly growth, would afford little
satisfaction, for the obvious reason that conditions governing the
growth are dependent, in a measure, on each season's vegetation.
Deposit began, of course, after the erosion of the chamber ceased, and
therefore represents only a fraction of the age of the cave itself. About
thirty feet west of the White Throne and against the wall, stands the
next onyx attraction in the form of a beautiful fluted column nearly
twenty feet high, tapering up from a base three feet in diameter, and
known as the Spring Room Sentinel, because the Spring of Youth is
just behind it although not directly connected with the Auditorium; it
being the first chamber on the left in Total Depravity Passage, a wet
and dangerous way of which next to nothing is known, but the entrance
to which is a fine arch a few feet west of the Sentinel. The Spring of
Youth is reached by climbing through a window-like opening, and is
very small, very wet, very cold, and very beautiful. It is not more than
ten feet high nor six in its greatest length and breadth, but every inch of
its irregular surface is composed of dripstone of a bright yellowish-red
and colorless crystal; and down the glittering walls trickles clear and
almost ice-cold water, to the onyx floor where it is caught and held in a
marvelous fluted bowl of its own manufacture. This is said to be the
gem of the whole cave and seems to have been placed where it is for
the consolation of those who are unable to enjoy the peculiar grandeur
of the Auditorium, and leave it as some actually are said to do, with a
sense of disappointment, because it is not the gleaming white hall of
marble which some writers for reputable journals have allowed their
imaginations to create.
In winter the Spring of Youth Room takes on a complete coating of ice,

with icicles of all sizes hanging from the ceiling and projections. The
effect is described as being wonderfully beautiful.
Further down Total Depravity Passage we were not urged to go,
because at that season of the year it is wet and difficult, without any
sufficient promise of a brilliant compensation for the achievement of
such a journey. But the Spring of Youth Room, or as it is generally
called, the Spring Room, is more than ample justification for the
existence of the