AGE OF THE ELY CAVE. 11 



about thirty to forty thousand feet, these kiwer deposits have not lost 

 more than about five to eight hundred feet of their depth. The result 

 is that this set of caverns remain far longer in existence than do those 

 in the Subcarl)oniferous limestone. I am inclined to believe that one of 

 these caverns in the high-lying ridges of Powell's Valley may be five or 

 ten times as ancient as those in the Subcarboniferous escarpment; they 

 may perha.ps date their origin back to the early part of the Pliocene time. 



It is clear that the cave in which the bones before described were found 

 is one of the oldest of these vei'y ancient caverns. It is well elevated 

 above the present drainage level of the country, lying upon one of the 

 fiat-topped ridges which rise from one to two hundred feet above the 

 small spurs that intersect the ground. It is near the top of the ridge, 

 a position that indicates that it is very ancient. The streams that must 

 have cut it out are now seen in channels far below its level and hori- 

 zontally far awaj^ 



The cave is not couA^eniently placed for the use of even primitive man. 

 The entrances are by difficult and rather blocked-up ways. Tke space 

 witkin is not large, there being only a few hundred feet of narrow and 

 rather damp chambers. During the civil war it was used as a place of 

 storage for valuables and for concealment of small bands of partisans 

 during the various raids made through this country by the two armies. 

 In this occupation the remains of Indians, which had been plentifully 

 deposited here, had been much dragged about in the vague searching of 

 various persons. We did very little digging in the cavern, in no case 

 going more than a foot or two below the surface of the earth. There 

 seemed to be no considerable amount of stalactite matter on the floor of 

 the cavern, the insoluble nature of the overlying rocks not favoring the 

 formation of such deposits. The bones described in Mr. Allen's memoir 

 were obtained somewhere in the course of these slight excavations. At the 

 time I paid no attention to them, supposing that they belonged to some of 

 the ordinary cavern dwelling animals of the country, so that I am unable 

 to state just whereabouts in the cavern they were found. The whole seax'ch 

 did not occupy more than half a day's time, and many of the low, tortuous 

 passages of the cavern were left quite untouched. I am disposed to believe 

 that a careful search of this cavern will be likely to disclose the other 

 bones of the interesting creature described in the monograi:)h of Mr. 

 Allen. 



