20 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 76 



entrance. The latter is 30 feet wide, 10 feet high, and its bottom is 

 10 feet lower than that of the main opening. The volume of water 

 passing out varies with the seasons, but is sufficient at times to cover 

 the entire floor of the side chamber and keep it swept free of earth 

 and small gravel. 



In the front portion of the main cavern the dry earth is 5 feet deep 

 in its thickest part ; but as it has all been leached for obtaining the 

 saltpeter or niter diffused through it, none of it is in the original 

 ijosition. Some earth has also been brought from farther back, 

 leached, and added to the pile in front; and much of this has been 

 hauled out for fertilizer. 



Near the main entrance is a large mass of breccia made up of 

 small angular limestone fragments cemented throughout with stalag- 

 mite material; it projects several feet above the present level of the 

 earth floor, so the character of the cavern must have changed greatly 

 since this deposit was formed. 



The only artificial object found was a fragment, about an inch 

 across, of dark, sand-tempered pottery. 



Owing to the extensive changes resulting from collecting the salt- 

 peter, the cavern would not repa}^ investigation. 



DENT COUNTY 



MAMMOTH CAVE 



The statement has been made that a large dry cavern, known as 

 the " Mammoth Cave," is in a bluff facing Current River, opposite 

 the mouth of Ashley Creek. It could not be located; and residents 

 in the vicinity assert that not only is there no cave near this site, 

 but there is none known as " Mammoth " anywhere in the region. 

 Some of them, however, had a vague idea that a cavern bearing the 

 same name exists " away down toward Eminence ; it may be on 

 Jack's Fork." 



GUTHOERL CAVE 



There is a cave on the farm of Peter Guthoerl, 6 miles east of 

 Salem. It is small, with very little level space in front of it, and 

 water from the interior runs or seeps out of it, keeping the floor 

 muddy throughout the year. 



SHORT BEND CA\T: ( 4 ) 



Short Bend post office is 12 miles northeast of Salem. Half a 

 mile east of it, in a bluff on the opposite side of the Meramec River, 

 is a cave with an entrance 25 feet wide and about the same in 

 lieight; the roof forming a fairly symmetrical Gothic arch. Were 



