The Mountain Sentinel

Wonderful Cave in California.

A correspondent of the Calaveras Chronicle furnishes the following account of a wonderful cave in that county:

Calaveras county seems to abound in natural curiosities, as there are many caves well worth visiting in this part of the country. The great prevalence of lime-stone in our ranges of hills will naturally account for these interesting formations. Lately I availed myself of the offer of a kind friend to conduct me to one of them, and was much pleased with my visit, although, I am sorry to say, that visitors seem to emulate each other in their zeal to deform and deface what should be most carefully guarded and protected. The cave to which I allude is situated about a mile from the town, on the south bank of the South Branch of Sutter Creek. The entrance is through a small opening in the hill, just sufficient to admit a man's body. The descent is easy, the many projections of the rock affording ample means for safe footing. Neither is it of very great depth, the top of the platform not being more than ten feet from the entrance, whence it slopes gently down till the centre is reached, forming a chamber of about 20 feet high, and about 50 long. The floor is composed of octagons of calcareous formation, along which, in a narrow bed, silently glides a crystal stream, rising from a spring in one of the lateral chambers. The roof is divided into compartments, the centre being a large circle, from which suspend clusters of stalactites of every variety, some crystalline, others opaque, while some again partake of a variegated hue, as if tinged by coloring matter in the rock through which they have percolated. The groining of the roof is as perfect as if moulded by the hand of art, terminating in massive pilasters, with richly adorned capitals, strongly reminding one of an ancient Gothic cathedral. From the main chamber branch two galleries, leading into small apartments, rich in groups of the most fanciful petrifaction, varying from the massive rock to the most delicate and finely pointed crystalline needle.