Feb. 1901. Observations on Indiana Caves — Farrington. 253 



described by Collett* as " a vast elliptical amphitheatre * * * 

 The sides are built up with massive ledges of limestone, thinning 

 and converging upward into a monster dome with a flat elliptical 

 crown 50x20 feet in diameter. The center of this vast room is piled 

 up with a great mass of rocky debris fallen from the immense cavity 

 above." Blatchleyt gives the exact measurements of the hall, so far 

 as its length and breadth are concerned, as 144 feet and 56 feet 

 respectively. He gives further the following graphic description of 

 the Pillar: '* The mass of fallen rock in the center, known as 'Capi- 

 tol Hill,' is about 32 feet in height, and is crowned to a depth of 

 several feet with an immense mass of stalagmitic material. From 

 the center of this mass rises from the top of the hill the grandest 

 natural wonder in Wyandotte Cave — the great fluted column of satin 

 spar or crystalline carbonate of lime known as the ' Pillar of the 

 Constitution.' Perfectly cylindrical, 71 feet in circumference, and 

 extending from the crest of the hill to the ceiling above, this enorm- 

 ous column exceeds in magnitude any similar formation in any known 

 cave on earth." No statement of the height of the Pillar is given by 

 this author. Collett states that the Pillar is about 35 feet high, and 

 Mr. H. A. Rothrock, the present manager of the cave, informs me 

 that this is undoubtedly correct, so far as the southern side of the 

 Pillar is concerned. Owing to the fact that the stalagmite is situated 

 a little to one side of the apex of the cone of debris, the deposit has 

 formed about ten feet farther down on the southern side than on the 

 northern. On the northern side, therefore, the height is about 25 

 feet. The mean of these, or 30 feet, may be taken as the height 

 above the debris as a wb^ole. The intimate structure of the mass as 

 shown by examining fragments taken from the pit artificially exca- 

 vated at its base is distinctly banded or onyx-like. The individual 

 bands are so narrow as to be scarcely distinguishable with the naked 

 eye, but these are grouped into series of larger bands, 0.5 mm. to 

 5 mm. in thickness, which differ in color or in structure so as to be 

 plainly distinguished from one another. A secondary fibrous struc- 

 ture in which the fibres are at right angles to the plane of deposition 

 has been developed through most of the bands. The latter lie for 

 the most .part nearly horizontal, but occasionally are highly contorted. 

 The only statement I can find as to the mineralogical nature of the 

 substance of the Pillar is that of Blatchley, who refers to it as made 

 up of "satin spar, the purest form of carbonate of lime." Having 

 examined somewhat carefully the substance of several hand speci- 



*Indiana Geol. Survey, 1878, p. 473. 

 tO/. cit., p. 156. 



