be read 100 feet from the front if the broad
fence across it were removed. This fence was made to close the cave
against changes of temperature and also against marauders, it having
been used until lately as a storage room for fruit, potatoes, etc.

During the Civil War it was worked for saltpeter. All the earth, down
to the rock floor, was removed, even in crevices only wide enough for
a man to squeeze through. An incline was built so that horses could be
brought into the cave, and no earth now remains within reach of
daylight. The rock floor is almost as clean as if swept.

Their exhaustive digging extended for about 200 yards from the
entrance. The "face" of the earth is here about 15 feet high; for some
reason, which could not be learned, the miners continued their work
from here by means of a tunnel 4 or 5 feet high and wide, leaving a
floor of earth, and a covering of the same nearly 6 feet thick. This
tunnel was not followed.

Near the entrance a crevice barely wide enough for a man to walk in
and in some places only 4 feet high turns off toward the left and
holds practically the same size for about 100 yards. Here it becomes
larger and higher. Earth has been carried out of this and its narrow
branches wherever there is room to use a shovel. In a large chamber
200 yards from the front, at the end of the crevice, much digging was
done; the "face" left is 13 or 14 feet high.

As far as the diggers went, there is nothing left to explore. Beyond
that it is not probable any remains can be found, as it is totally
dark long before any remaining earth is reached.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

Several caves were reported in the vicinity of Sewanee and Monteagle.
They are objects of curiosity to students and summer residents who
frequently visit and make tours through them. They have thus acquired
a fame much beyond what is justified by their real interest. They seem
to be wet, or with contracted entrances and front chambers, or
difficult of access, and, so far as could be judged by the
descriptions given, none of them is worth examining.

MARION COUNTY

ACCOUNT'S CAVES.--There are two of these, both with high and large
openings, on the right bank of the Tennessee, 2 miles above Shellmound
or Nickajack. One is in the face of the bluff, the entrance 50 feet
above the river bottom land. Huge rocks lie in front and over nearly
all the floor. Surface water flows in at the entrance and after
winding its crooked way among the