stratum, the top is practically horizontal, but the floor constantly
rises from the front with a slight and fairly uniform grade. The front
chamber is straight and well lighted for 300 feet, where it turns
abruptly westward; from this point the floor is solid rock which the
water keeps comparatively free from any loose matter except heavy
blocks from the walls or top.

Beginning at the entrance is a deposit whose farthest extension
reaches 100 feet into the cavern. It is composed to a small extent of
sand and clay carried by the stream, and of earth blown or washed in
from the outside; but, as investigation proved, it is mainly ashes
from prehistoric fires. The surface of this deposit, especially toward
the inner end, is very uneven, being higher near the walls than
through the central portion. This is due to two causes: In very wet
seasons water has carried away much of it, and a large amount has been
hauled out by the owner to scatter over his fields as a fertilizer. He
reports that in the course of this work he found quantities of pottery
fragments, broken bones, flints, and "two or three" human skeletons,
with fragments of others. This is the basis for the assertion,
frequently heard, that "many" or "very many" burials had been made
here. The only human remains which he saved are the complete skull of
an adult, remarkably preserved and apparently that of a white woman; a
rather large lower jaw, of a man; a few long bones; and parts of
skulls and jaws of three or four children.

From comments made and questions asked by visitors while the
investigation was in progress, it seems that bones and teeth of deer
and other animals are mistaken for those of people. No human bones
were uncovered in this work, except as noted below.

There is a firm belief in the community that somewhere in this cave is
concealed $100,000 in gold, seven "pony loads" in all, which was put
here by an old squaw, sole survivor of a massacre by which her tribe
was exterminated. Much of the irregularity of surface noted in the
deposits is due to the efforts of persons trying to find this money.

Before starting the work it was necessary to deepen the little stream,
which had cut its way through the accumulation much nearer to the
western than to the eastern wall of the cavern, in order to allow the
water to run out of the lower end of the deposit. Thorough drainage of
the whole mass was impossible, as water continually seeped in from the
gravel