Archeological Investigations Part 20

ALABAMA

LAUDERDALE COUNTY

SMITHSONIA.--There is a noted cave at Smithsonia, near Cheatham's Ferry, 15 miles west of Florence. It was reported as suitable for a dwelling, but at the entrance the roof is not more than 4 feet high, and a stream a foot deep reaches to the wall on either side.

KEY'S CAVE.--On the Buck Key farm, 6 miles west of Florence, is a cave which may have afforded shelter to the earliest man in the region.

There are two entrances or antechambers, separated by a solid rock part.i.tion a few yards thick. One is partially filled with huge solid blocks, some of them several hundred cubic feet in size; the other has in it and in front of it a ma.s.s of earth and loose rock whose crest is fully 20 feet above the highest part of the inside floor a few feet back from the front margin of the roof. From here an additional descent of 10 feet leads to the floor behind the first-mentioned entrance, and there is about the same descent to a nearly level floor in the cave a short distance beyond. The way is partially blocked by large rocks which, it is said, have fallen within a few years. For this reason persons in the neighborhood are afraid to venture in.

There is a rumor that the corpse of a woman, coated with stalagmite, can be seen in this cave; also several bodies (s.e.x apparently indeterminate) lying like spokes in a wheel, with heads at the center.

No one could be persuaded to go in and point out the place where they lie.

From its position, high in a bluff but easy to reach, not more than one-fourth of a mile from the Tennessee River and the same distance from a clear creek, with a strip of bottom land between it and the streams, this cave seems worthy of exploration. At least a month of work by several laborers would be required to clean away the fallen material so that excavations would be practicable.

COLYER'S CAVE.--This is about 5 miles west of Florence. It faces a ravine that leads into the creek discharging near Key's Cave. Human bones were found in it many years ago. The entrance is a round hole, through which one must creep a few yards, then by means of a pole or ladder descend 6 feet. From here the cave is nearly level, with several branches. In some places the floor is solid rock; in other parts it is covered with a thin layer of earth. The "human bones"

consisted of one skeleton, lying on a rock floor, fully a fourth of a mile from the mouth of the cave.

COFFEE CAVE.--This cave, 4 miles west of Florence, is said to be "like the Colyer cave, but smaller in every way." It was not visited.

SHOAL CREEK.--A cave is reported on Shoal Creek "3 or 4 miles above its mouth." No one could be found who knew its location more definitely or was able to give a clear description of it.

BLUEWATER CAVE.--Bluewater Creek comes in several miles above Lock No.

6 of the Mussel Shoals Ca.n.a.l. A cave is reported to be near its mouth, but the only caves anywhere in that vicinity, so far as anyone living or working there knows, are a small hole a mile below on the ca.n.a.l, into which a man can crawl, and one some 3 miles up the creek, reached by climbing down a sink hole in a field. The opening to the latter results from fallen rock.

COLBERT COUNTY

NEWSOM SPRINGS.--Numerous caves, most of them small, are reported in the county. The best known is at Newsom Springs, 8 miles south of Barton, on the Southern Railway. It is locally known as the "three-story cave." The lower "story" is a cave from which water always flows. The second "story" is directly above the first. The two have no connection, unless far back in the hill. The floor of the upper cave is mostly rock. It is now fitted up by some people in the neighborhood as a camping place, where they spend a part of each summer. The third "story" is an excavation for a cellar under a house recently erected.

MURRELL'S CAVE.--Tradition has it that this cave was one of the hiding places of a famous desperado and horse thief whose gang operated over all this country in early days. The only entry is by means of a ladder in a narrow crevice 20 feet deep. The place may have been a refuge, but never a residence. It is one-fourth of a mile from Bear Creek, not far above the mouth.

Two other holes or crevices within a few hundred yards, difficult to crawl through, reach small caves. Possibly all these are connected.

BAT CAVE.--One-fourth of a mile from Murrell's Cave is a small cavern, the roof not more than 4 feet above the floor. It has been inhabited from time immemorial by myriads of bats. Several tons of guano have been taken out for fertilizing purposes, but no evidence has been discovered that it was ever a habitation for humans.

PRIDE'S CAVE.--In the river bluff a mile from Pride Station is a cave in which a fisherman has made his home for several years. There is a rather thin deposit of earth on the floor which may have recently acc.u.mulated.

CHEATHAM'S FERRY.--Near the landing some boys, while hunting a few years ago, discovered a stone wall across the mouth of a small cave.

Tearing it away, they found within some human bones, flints, pipes, including one "with a lot of stem holes," and fragments of pottery.

All these were on top of the earth or only a few inches below it.

Various excavators or relic hunters have failed to find anything more.

The cavity is quite small and difficult to reach, and is undoubtedly a burial place for modern Indians.

On both sides of the river here are immense sh.e.l.l heaps. The sh.e.l.l is mingled with earth near the top, but below 2 or 3 feet the ma.s.s is of clean sh.e.l.l to a depth, as exposed by the river, of at least 10 feet.

The bottom of the deposit is not visible, being concealed by mud piled against it in high water. The old ferryman says it is 20 feet deep.

Although the sh.e.l.l piles are built up higher than the bottom lands to the rear or on either side, they are submerged several feet in great freshets. It is impossible to explain this fact otherwise than by the a.s.sumption that the bed of the river has been elevated in recent times, although there are no other indications apparent that such is the case.

SHEFFIELDS.--In the river bluff 2 miles above the Sheffield end of the railway bridge is a crevice or joint which has been widened to 10 feet at the outlet by water percolating from the top of the bluff. When discovered, a rock wall was piled across it near the entrance. Behind this human bones were found with "pieces of pottery and other things."

They were close to the surface. Subsequent explorations have revealed nothing below them. It is plainly a burial cave for Indians. The river now reaches at flood tide to within 10 feet of the floor. The earth covering the bones may have washed over them, as there is some evidence farther back in the crevice that surface material is still carried in from the rear, in very small amounts, during rainy seasons.

ROCK SHELTERS.--Several very large rock houses exist on the southern slope of the hill or "mountain" lying a mile to 2 miles south of Pride, 7 miles west of Tusc.u.mbia. Water drips from the roofs, keeping the floors wet all the year and collecting in pools to which stock resorts when the little creeks or brooks in the ravines become dry.

It is useless to search in this part of Alabama for caves presenting indications that they may have been habitable, or the reverse, in ages past. The native rock is a cherty or flinty limestone, crumbling easily, and readily susceptible to changes from atmospheric influences, and especially so to the action of water. New subterranean channels are continually developing, with consequent changes in the interior of any cavern near them.

JACKSON COUNTY

ISBOLL CAVES.--It was reported that habitable caves with s.p.a.cious rooms occur on the Isboll farms, near Limrock. They have entrances and front chambers of ample size to move about in, though not more than 15 feet wide. There are broader expansions back some distance beyond daylight. In both caves rocks up to 15 or 20 tons in weight strew the floor, until only narrow pa.s.sageways exist between them. In addition, water flows from them in rainy seasons, being frequently 2 feet or more in depth.

BLOWING CAVE.--This takes its name from an outward current of cold air which is so strong as to distinctly modify the temperature of the atmosphere at least 100 yards from the entrance. The opening and the front chamber are nearly 40 feet across, but the distance from the roof to the muddy floor strewn with large rocks is not more than 5 feet at any point. A creek flows across the cave 200 or 300 yards from the mouth, and there is evidence in the way of drift and mud to prove the statement by the owner that after very heavy rains the overflow comes out the front of the cave in such amount as to fill it to the ceiling, and with a velocity that will roll stones larger than a man can lift.

CULVER'S CAVE.--This is somewhere on the side of a mountain about 4 miles from the station of Limrock. Owing to destruction of forests and subsequent growth of brush, the guide was unable to locate it. He described it as a room in which a man could walk about and reached by going in through an opening like a sink hole, which, however, is only about 5 feet deep. The locality, a rugged, barren hillside, near the head of a cove, is not one in which it is probable a cave would be used for any purpose.

HARRISON'S CAVE.--This is 2 miles west of Limrock. It has a large, high opening, an easy approach, and is quite accessible, being at the foot of a mountain with level bottom land in front. A stream flows directly across it some 30 feet from the entrance, emerging at the foot of one wall and disappearing under the other. The earth bank on each side of the stream is about 5 feet high, indicating at least that depth of deposit on the rock floor; as the latter is not visible the amount may be much greater. This earth is soft and wet. In rainy weather water from the interior flows along the floor into the little stream. Sometimes this can not dispose of the surplus, and the overflow rises until it makes its exit through the mouth of the cave.

When this happens all the earth within is covered from 2 to 5 feet deep.

SALTPETER CAVE.--This lies 4 miles south of the railway, between Limrock and Larkinsville. It is described as being dry, with a large, high entrance, and "plenty of room inside right at the front." But it was thoroughly worked during the war by saltpeter miners who took out all the dirt they could easily reach, going back "200 or 300 yards."

For this reason it was not visited.

DEKALB COUNTY

FORT PAYNE CAVE.--A mile south of Fort Payne is a cave in Lookout Mountain, which, a "boom" company some years ago converted into a summer resort. The detritus in front of the entrance was leveled off, steps constructed to the top, and a heavy stone wall built across the mouth, leaving an entrance a little less than 7 feet in width which was closed by gates. Inside the barrier the floor, now made tolerably level, extends about 30 feet toward the rear, to the natural rock wall, and is 50 feet from side to side, with a roof from 6 to 15 feet high. In the wall at the rear are two small openings through which explorers can pa.s.s to large chambers farther within. To the right of the front chamber is a branch cave which is high and wide at the beginning but soon becomes impa.s.sable from the acc.u.mulated rocks and earth rising to the roof. The left side of the front chamber is continued in another branch going directly back into the mountain. The roof and floor have an equal slope downward to a point some rods from the beginning, the clear s.p.a.ce between them being not more than 4 feet. Beyond here the roof is high and there are some large expansions. A creek flows from the rear of the cave to a point estimated as 200 yards from the doorway, where it sinks into the earth. The noise of its fall is distinct throughout the front part of the cavern. There is considerable drip, and though dry stalact.i.tes and stalagmites occur in some places, over most of the front chamber their formation is still in progress. Outside of the doorway the solid rock walls show on each side, nowhere less than 25 feet apart. At a depth of 30 feet water flows from the rock and earth between these side walls, but there is no sign of solid bottom, so the depth of the cave is probably more than 30 feet below the present floor.

Under existing conditions the cave would form an excellent shelter, being accessible, roomy, and with an abundant supply of fresh water.

The drip from the ceiling could be avoided. But it does not follow that such was the case in the remote past. It is apparent that at one time the creek had its outlet through the mouth and down the gorge in front, the right branch of the cave being then open. From some cause, probably the formation of a sink hole above, water from the surface or near the surface found a way through this branch, carrying mud and rocks sufficient to fill the front chamber to its present floor, diverting the flow of the stream, and finally filling the cave through which it came. While the creek was flowing, occupation would be impossible, or at least inconvenient. When the mud began to settle in, the front portion would be shut off. This condition would hold until the stream found its new outlet and the branch cave had become entirely filled; and when these processes were completed the floor of the cave would be practically at its present level. Under the circ.u.mstances exploration would probably, almost certainly, be fruitless. The company which owns the cave would also wish it restored to something like its present state.

ELLIS CAVE.--On the estate of Dr. Ellis, 19 miles north of Fort Payne and 3 miles from Sulphur Springs, are two caves known locally as Big-mouth and Little-mouth. The smaller is closed by a locked gate.

The larger has a rather imposing appearance from the outside. From a ledge of rock, in place, in front of it, one looks down a steep slope in which rocks up to 40 or 50 tons weight are imbedded. At a vertical depth of 30 feet is a level s.p.a.ce not more than 8 or 10 square yards in area. From this a narrow crevice goes to the right. Within a few yards it reaches a hole which can be descended only by means of a rope or ladder. Persons have, however, gone several hundred yards in it.

On the left of the level s.p.a.ce and bounded on each side by solid rock walls is a pit 10 feet deep, caused by inflowing storm waters which have created this depression in seeking a small outlet, also toward the left. The height from the bottom of this sink to the roof of the cave is nearly 50 feet.

Crossing this pit on a foot log, which rests on loose rock and earth at its farther end, a crevice varying from 6 to 10 feet wide goes inward for 50 feet. Earth covers the loose rock at the level of the foot log almost at once, and this earth has a steep ascent toward the rear. The crevice widens beyond the distance mentioned, though irregularly, being in some places 25 feet from side to side. So far as progress is concerned, the cave terminates 150 feet from the doorway in a blank wall. It may be that if the earth were out of the way further progress would be possible.

Considerable digging has been done for saltpeter, but except near the front it has been only superficial.

The top of the earth at the extreme rear of the cave is almost or quite as high as the roof at the front, which means that, if the bottom should be level, the thickness of this acc.u.mulated deposit is not less than 35 feet. As the dip is toward the rear and quite sharp, about 10 or 12 degrees, the earth here may well be much thicker than indicated.

Excavation would be tedious and costly, as it would be impossible to dispose of the dirt except by blasting a deep trench through the rock in front to make room for wheeling it out.

KILLIAN CAVES.--There are two of these, both on the west slope of Lookout Mountain. One is near Brandon, 6 miles south of Fort Payne.

The entrance is a large sink hole on the side of the mountain, descent into which is difficult owing to the steepness and large rocks. At the bottom the water which flows in over the muddy floor 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 acc.u.mulation. 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