account of the stories with which
people have been frightened, can only be visited by permission and with
a guard stationed at the entrance.

Reynard's Cave is four miles west of Galena on the farm of Dr. Fox, but
is so nearly filled up with dripstone that only crawling room remains.
The doctor's place is a fine locality for the collection of fossils.

At a distance of twelve miles from Galena there is said to be a fine
natural bridge, well worth a visit and sufficiently near Mill Cave for
both to be seen on the same trip.

In Bread Tray Mountain there is supposed to be a cave through which a
torrent rushes at times, that being the only way in which to explain the
strange thundering, roaring noise always heard after a storm, and never
at other times.

Besides being a wonderful cave region, and rich in the great abundance
and variety of native fruits and fine timber, Stone County has a vast
amount of mineral wealth, the heaviest deposits being zinc, lead and
iron, with some indications of silver, gold and copper, which have been
found but not in paying quantity. Already since the summer of 1896
several exceptionally pure bodies of zinc have been discovered, the
white ore of one recently opened deposit giving highly gratifying
indications as to extent. Prospecting may be said to have only commenced
in this very far from over-crowded region.

CHAPTER VI.

OREGON COUNTY CAVES.

GREER SPRING.

Oregon County is also at the extreme southern limit of the State of
Missouri and was visited, not because its caves are supposed to be
either finer or more numerous than those of all the other Ozark
counties, but on account of remarkable attractions associated with them
that are not known to be equaled, or even subject to rivalry, by any
similar works of nature in any portion of the world.

The most convenient railway point is Thayer; the station hotel affords
comfortable accommodations for headquarters, and the last days of
September proved a charming time. The foliage was in full summer glory,
refreshed by a gentle and copious rain, and the insinuating tick had
already retired from active business until the following season.

The carriage having been ordered on condition of its being a clear day,
we left Thayer at eight o'clock on a perfect morning to visit Greer
Spring, and were soon in the depth of the beautiful Ozark forest, from
which we did not once emerge until Alton, the county seat, was reached,
the dista