FOWKE] ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 55 



Measured along the east wall, it is 40 feet from this entrance to the 

 apex of the triangle separating the two parts of the cavern. The 

 greatest width of the united caves, 70 feet, is just beyond this point. 

 The earth floor in the branch, a fine-grained yellow earth apparently 

 deposited by quiet or gently flowing water, is 3 feet higher than it is 

 at the highest point farther back in the cave, and is 4 feet or more 

 higher than the bedrock at the front. No direct communication is 

 possible, in front, from one entrance to the other. The only means 

 of transference is by passing through the caverns around the 

 triangular partition, or by going down to the talus from one opening 

 and then up to the other ; though only a few feet of descent is neces- 

 sary. There is an easy passage to and from the Gasconade, which 

 flows at the foot of the bluff ; and a good path in either direction to 

 the top of the hill. 



Very little refuse occurs, and the site is not worth examining. 



RAILROAD CAVE 



On railway property, north of the Gasconade River on the east of 

 the Waynesville and Crocker road, is a noted cave which " runs clear 

 through the hill," and can be entered from either end. From the 

 descriptions given it certainly could never have been utilized as a 

 dwelling place, 



BAT, OR PAGE, CAVE 



Bat Cave, so named because it formerly harbored immense num- 

 bers of bats, is on Robert Page's land, 4i miles from Crocker, near 

 the Waynesville road. The entrance is 40 feet wide and 30 feet high. 

 Cave earth extends for more than 200 feet in plain daylight; at this 

 depth the cave separates into two branches, one directly over the 

 other. The lower division continues into the hill on a level ; the 

 upper rises at a slight angle ; neither is high enough to permit a man 

 to stand erect. 



The greatest width, a few rods from the front, is 55 feet, A 

 drainage channel near one wall shows a considerable outflow in wet 

 weather. In the low, vertical bank of this drain, gravel and small 

 rocks are mingled with the earth in such quantity as to comprise 

 more than half the mass. But this is probably due to the fact that a 

 large quantity of earth, mostly, of course, from the upper part of 

 the deposists, has been taken away for fertilizer. Neither in the 

 bank of the little channel nor about the pits left by this digging is 

 any refuse to be seen, and there is none about the entrance. So, in 

 spite of its suitability for residential purposes and its favorable 

 situation, it does not seem ever to have been utilized. 



