I'owKB] Archeological investigations 139 



from the slope above — several acres in extent — rushes into a hole 

 choked with loose stones and disappears. 



The second cave is about 3 miles northeast of Collinsville. Debris 

 from the mountain has formed a wall across the entrance, which is 

 naturally wide and high and opening out on a little flat in front. 

 Some digging has been done for saltpeter at the front part of the 

 cave, reaching about 30 feet back from the inner foot of the accumu- 

 lation. In the pit thus formed water stands after every rain until 

 it soaks away. Where it ends the " face " is about 5 feet high. On 

 top, farther in, there is much travertine or stalagmite ; in some places 

 it extends entirely across the floor. In other places the floor is bare. 

 There is constant drip, and in one room there is a little gully, where 

 surface water in wet weather, entering from a small branch cave on 

 one side, has cut an exit through the earth at the foot of the wall on 

 the other side. The hole in which it disappears extends beyond the 

 rays of a lamp, and a stone thrown in goes down a slope several feet 

 in length. Very little working is needed to reduce any of the earth 

 to soft, slippery mud, hence no excavation was possible. 



MARSHALL COUNTY 



Fearin Cave. — This is in a bluff on the right bank of the Ten- 

 nessee River, 10 miles below Guntersville. It hasi three divisions. 

 Shortly after passing the spacious entrance a branch turns to the 

 right. In a few feet a wall is reached which can be scaled only with 

 a ladder. Climbing this, a large chamber is reached, totally dark, 

 and the home of innumerable bats whose " guano " covers the floor 

 and fills the air with a stifling odor. This branch comes to light 

 again more than a mile away on the side of the mountain. 



Returning to the lower chamber and going back about 100 feet 

 from the main entrance, a wall similar to the first is reached, above 

 which is another large cave. Bats never inhabit this, and the floor 

 is of loose dry earth. But no ray of daylight penetrates it, and as 

 a great amount of saltpeter was made here during the War of 1812 

 scarcely any of the earth retains its original position. During the 

 Civil War the floor of the lower or main cave was also dug up for 

 making saltpeter and much of the leached earth piled in front of the 

 cave. This acts as a dam against encroachment of the river except 

 in the highest floods. There seems, however, to be a passage between 

 the cavern and a spring under the river bank, for water appears on 

 the floor as soon as it reaches the same height outside and the two 

 surfaces maintain a constant level until the freshet subsides. On 

 account of these facts no excavations were made. 



Hardin's Cave. — Nine miles below Guntersville, on the right bank 

 of the Tennessee, is a ferry known as Honey Landing. It is at 



