Journal of a Tour into the Interior of Missouri and Arkansaw | Page 5

and circuitous manner.
The top of these bluffs supports a substratum of a very sterile, gravelly
alluvion, and is covered by tall pines, which add much to the beauty of
the prospect from the valley below. In the stupendous wall of rocks
before me are situated several caves, whose dark and capacious mouths
indicate their extent. Many of these, however, cannot be visited without
ladders, as they are situated forty or fifty feet above the level of the
creek. With considerable difficulty and labour we entered one of them,
by means of a large oak which had fallen partly against the mouth of
the cave. We found it a spacious chamber, connected with others of less
size, and affording both stalactites, and stalagmites. The former hang
like icicles from the roof in various fanciful forms, and some specimens
which we succeeded in detaching were translucent, and exhibited much
beauty and regularity in the arrangement of their colours, consisting of
concentric lines of yellow and brown passing by imperceptible shades
into each other.Ê We also obtained in this cave native salt-petre, very
white and beautiful. It was found filling small crevices in the rock. The
number of caves which we have this day visited, large and small, is
seven, and all afford salt-petre. In the largest of these, great quantities
of this article are annually collected and manufactured by Col. Ashley,
of Mine ˆ Burton, and transported to his powder-manufactory, in
Washington county. The cavernous nature of the country bordering this
stream is one of its most distinguishing characteristics, and I have
seized upon this fact in calling it Cave Creek. This little stream is one
of the most interesting objects in the natural physiognomy of the
country, which we have thus far met with, and affords a striking
instance of that wonderful arrangement in the physical construction of
the surface of the earth, which gives vallies to the smallest streams, and
tears asunder rocks to allow them passages into rivers, and through
them into their common basin, the ocean. Its banks rise in majestic
walls of limestone, which would form the most ample barrier to the
waves of the sea, and they occasionally rise into peaks, which if located

on the coast of the ocean, would be hailed as landmarks by the mariner.
The Opposite banks correspond with general exactness in their curves,
height, composition, and thickness of strata, and other characters
evincing their connexion at a former period. Yet the only object
apparently effected by the separation of such immense strata of rocks, a
change which I cannot now contemplate without awe and astonishment,
is to allow a stream of twenty yards across a level and undisturbed
passage into the adjacent river, the Currents, which it joins, after
winding in the most circuitous manner about four miles below. In the
course of this distance, the views which are presented are commanding
and delightful, and to the painter who wishes to depict the face of
nature in its wildest aspect of rocky grandeur, I could recommend this
valley, and the adjacent county, as one of unrivalled attractions. A
scene so full of interest could not fail to receive the homage of our
admiration, and we rambled about the country, until night almost
imperceptibly approached, when we returned to our camp, repacked our
horse, and moved up the valley of Cave Creek, one mile to Ashley
Cave, in which we encamped safe from the weather, turning our horse
loose to feed about its mouth. We had just built our night-fire as it
became dark, and while I spread out our skins and prepared for sleep,
Mr. P. boiled our accustomed pot of coffee, and got ready a supper,
which, although not consisting of many dishes, or choice cookery,
excited our most cordial approbation, and we partook of it with that
keen appetite, and that feeling of lordly independence, which are alone
felt by the wild Indian, and the half-starved Missouri hunter. Having
finished our frugal meal, we determined to explore the cave before we
lay down, lest some beast of prey, hid in its recesses, should be aroused
by our intrusion, and pounce upon us during the night.
This cave is situated in a high wall of lime-stone rock, forming the
southern bank of Cave Creek, eighty miles south-west of Potosi, and
near the head of Current's River, one of the principal tributaries of
Black River, in Missouri territory. The entrance to it is by a winding
foot-path from the banks of the creek, and leads to the mouth of the
cave at an elevation of about fifty feet above the level of the water. Its
mouth is about ninety feet wide and thirty in height, a size which,
without great variation, it holds for two hundred yards. Here it

suddenly opens into