U>1 "I I III 11.1 CAVE. 11 



about thirty to forty thousand feet, these lower deposits have not losl 



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



is thai this sel of caverns remain far longer in existence than do those 

 in the Subcarboniferous limestone. I am inclined I" 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 perhaps date their origin back to the early part of the Pliocene time. 



1 1 is clear that the cave in which the bones before described were found 



is >f tl Idest of these verj ancient caverns. It is well elevated 



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

 flat-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 thai it is verj ancient. The streams that must 

 have cul it out are now 3een in channels far below its level and hori- 

 zontally Ear a\\.i\ . 



The cave is nol conveniently placed for the use of even primitive man. 

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

 within is not large, there being only a few hundred feel 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 aboui in the vague searching of 

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

 going more than a fool <>r two below the surface of the earth. There 

 seemed to be no considerable amount of stalactite matter on the floor <>t' 

 the cavern, the insoluble nature of the overlying rocks nol 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 animal- of the country, so that I am unable 

 tn state just whereabouts in the cavern they were found. The whole search 



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



passages of the cavern were left quite untouched. 1 am disposed to believe 

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

 bones of the interesting creature described in the monograph of Mr 

 Allen. 



