306 /■///•: AMKRICAX MCSKIM ./OlliXAL 



way uj)\var(l anion^^ these for a few yarrls, we emer^^ed into a c-lear eliaiuljer 

 fully tliii-ty feet high and forty feet aeross. The Hoor vosv at a steep angle 

 and its coating became part of the Kase of a great stalagmite. 



This large room was one of the most beautiful sights imaginal)le in the 

 brilliant illumination of huiiiing magnesium ril)l)on. Its floor was a thick 

 mass of dripstone, its walls were partly smooth white calcite and partl.\-, 

 toward the top, the deep velvety brown, red and black of the iron- and 

 manganese-stained i-esichic of the decomposed country limestone, w hilc the 

 ceiling was mainly of the hnn'stoiic l)ut l)a.ii<lcd with sheets and small 

 stalactites of calcite. These occurred along the old cracks in the mountain 

 mass, which formed the channels for percolating w-aters, an important factor 

 in the formation atid incrustation of the cave. The lower part of the walls 

 was thickly covered with botryoidal clusters of white calcite, some areas 

 of which were tinted a delicate salmon color with carbonate of manganese. 



The chief featuic ol' tlie room was the great greenish white stalagmite 

 rising at its upper end and reaching almost to the ceiling. So impressive 

 in size and setting, so beautiful in outline, ornamentation and surround- 

 ings was this wonderful object that it seemed to us little short of vandal- 

 ism to destroy or mar it, or any part of the cave which it adorned, although 

 in the interests of science or the necessities of mine operation. This stalag- 

 mite is about fourteen feet high above the shelf of lim.estone on which it 

 stands and its diameter at the same point may l)e taken as being four- 

 teen or fifteen feet. Three feet al)0^•e the shelf the column is ten feet 

 through. Stalagmite is of extremely slow grow^th and even under the more 

 favoralile conditions prevailing at Luray Cave, Mrginia, where measure- 

 ments have been made, such a mass would have required more than 67,000 

 years to form; hence it is safe to assume that this cavity in the Queen 

 Hill has had its present size and shape for a much longer period than that, 

 since the rainfall is less and the consequent solution slower in Arizona 

 than in Virginia, though evaporation and consequent deposition are con- 

 versely more rapid in Arizona. The stalactite growth above this stalagmite 

 was insignificant. 



Climbing up the congealed waterfall forming a smooth apron in front 

 of and below the stalagmite, we passed to the left of the column o\-er a floor 

 carpeted with coarse botryoidal clusters of calcite and clambered through 

 an opening in the black rock into a room that might be considered the fourth 

 story of the cave. Immediately at our right was a compound stalactite 

 which our miner associates promptly called tlie " elephant's ear," while a 

 few feet beyond was a remarkable stalagmite three feet in diameter and 

 rather more than three feet high, which with its smaller stalactite and its 

 accompanying crystal-covered floor and wall formed a charming grotto. 



