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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



public attention than any other by the description given of it, first 

 in an anonymous publication, probably written by the late John 

 Gebhard jr (1865) at one time a member of the State Museum staff, 

 and more recently by Dr H. C. Hovey in his book Celebrated Ameri- 

 can Caverns. 



Howes cave is 38 miles from Albany on the Delaware and Hud- 

 son railroad and is thus easy of access. It was originally known 

 as the Otsgarage cavern and was opened in 1842 by Lester Howe, 

 whose name it has taken. Howe made some exploration of its 

 interior but this was more fully carried out by the author of the 

 anonymous pamphlet referred to, who published maps and sections 

 showing the course of the principal underground stream. Dr 

 Hovey found that the entire length of the cave opened to the pub- 

 lic was about 2 miles but the tortuous byways and laterals have 

 not yet been fully explored. Howes cave presents some striking 

 subterranean scenery but no attention has been given to its real 

 problems, its origin, relation to the drainage system of the region, 

 its biology, etc. 



Balls cave on Barton hill at Schoharie is another interesting 

 cavern explored as far back as 1832 by John Gebhard and his 

 companions, whose maps and sections were published in Mather's 

 Report on the Geology of the First District. Professor Grabau, 

 in discussing this cave in a recent bulletin of the Museum, repro- 

 duces the section given by Mather with some alterations resulting 

 from an exploration by W. H. Knoepfel made a few years after 

 the date mentioned, and also gives a ground plan showing the mean- 

 dering of the stream and the abandoned or dry channels. The 

 cavern is said to be remarkable for the beauty and number of 

 its stalactites but nothing has been added to our knowledge of it 

 since the date of Knoepfel's publication and access to the place is 

 possible only through a vertical natural shaft of 150 feet. 



Clark's or Gebhard's cave and Becker's cave are smaller caverns 

 in the limestones of Schoharie. 



An extensive cavern in these Helderberg limestones opens at 

 Clarksville, 12 miles southwest of Albany but its course and its 

 characteristics are unknown as there is no record of any attempt at 

 its exploration. 



The Bethlehem caverns which lie east of Clarksville have long 

 been known but are unexplored. 



Sutphen's and Werner's caves are other subterranean ways lying 

 near the Helderberg escarpment in the town of Knox, Albany 

 county; Berlin, Rensselaer county is known to have similar caves. 



