ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY L3 



Further down the river at Rosi Claire and Fairview the most extensive 

 fluor spar mines in the country exist. Lead and silver are found with the 

 spar. Deposits are found further back from the river in many places and 

 some of them would no doubt be profitable to work if they were near a 

 river or railroad. 



Let us shift the scene to an especially interesting area in Pope county 

 about three miles west of Eddyville. Follow me for a day for an eighteen 

 miles drive starting before daylight from Stonefort or a ten mile drive 

 from Ozark or Simpson to the vicinity of the Belle Smith Spring, which 

 is not remarkable except that it is near a popular camping place. The 

 shortest approach from the North or West is by way of Hunting Branch 

 for three or four miles, which is a tributary of the upper Bay Creek. Hunt- 

 ing Branch is the vertex of a V shaped valley and is very rocky and con- 

 stitutes the only public highway in that direction. There is no room on 

 either side for a road and the grade is so steep that it is a rushing torrent 

 after a rain, but the water soon runs out. A better way is to drive over 

 a good road to the head of Clarida Branch and pitch camp near the cool 

 waters of Clarida Spring which is only a few hundred feet from the 

 head of the valley. Here, the water, for a few minutes only after a rain, 

 flows in a cataract from an extensive rock basin above, over the cliff which 

 overhangs as much as thirty feet. Just beyond this cascade, we climb 

 upon fallen rock masses onto the "Indian Ladder," a cedar trunk which 

 has, upon well authenticated evidence, remained loose in this position for 

 three generations and, according to tradition, was there when the first 

 white men came. At one place the cliff overhangs a distance of seventy 

 feet due to the rotting away of the softer layers of rock beneath. Where 

 Clarida Branch comes down over the cliff the undercutting is as much as 

 thirty or forty feet. We tried to photograph a phoebe upon her nest in the 

 roof back of the waterfall. It was too dark to accomplish much in daylight 

 so we attempted a flashlight. After arranging a battery of cameras and 

 making elaborate preparations for a good picture, the bird became alarmed 

 and refused to stay upon her nest. She refused to go back and the attempt 

 had to be abandoned after some hours of waiting. 



A few hundred feet from here Clarida Spring emerges from under 

 the cliff. Its waters are cool and abundant and pleasant to taste. I have 

 camped under the overhanging cliff near it on several occasions. One June 

 morning on my first trip to the place, when my friend, Rathbone, who 

 first led me here, and I, were crossing the lichen covered glade on the 

 cliff above, a nighthawk suddenly left her nest at our very feet feigning 

 a broken wing. Our camera was ready but we lost our opportunity. Hoping 

 that she could be coaxed back to the nest we let her get away without a 

 picture. We hoped she would return. She did not that afternoon nor the 

 next day. We have not seen her or one of her kind since. We marked 

 this as the greatest "bone head" play of our camping experience. A picture 

 of the eggs and nest, if a bare spot among the lichens by the side of a 

 piece of cedar wood may be called a nest, is our only consolation. 



Come with me over the ridge to the left of Clarida Branch to another 

 valley and enter the great Sand Cave, a dome shaped room in the solid 

 sandstone cliff, whose interior dimensions are one hundred forty-two feet 

 by one hundred sixteen feet and whose arched roof is fifteen feet high. A 

 large drove of horses, mules and cattle finds shelter here from cold in 



