-51-
further
on, but the only thing would have been lots of lariat ropes, or a long steel
cable, and neither was available nearer than some 50 miles.
If Mr. Finley had taken the time to go
hunting up in the Figure 2 Ranch territory he might have run across another,
and to me more interesting, cave than the big bend one. About 62 miles from the
town of Van Horn
you go through the salt-flat country, where the Salt Wars of the old west
occurred. Westward, some 8 or 9 miles from the road is Apache Canyon
country, and as rugged as anywhere on the face of the globe. In an off-shoot of
Apache Canyon
to the south, is an impassable gash called Hell Canyon.
The walls of this canyon rise precipitously for at least 1000 feet and top out
on Apache Peak on one side and an old Indian
ceremonial ground on the other side. More desolate country would be hard to
imagine. Coyotes and mountain lions are plentiful, and panthers no novelty. I
have seen as many as 34 deer in a herd down below on a grassy ledge sloping
down toward the canyon floor. Of course, further up toward the box end of the
canyon it was much too rugged for deer, but a few mountain sheep are seen. (It was) in the wildest part of the canyon
that the other cave was found, In fact we almost fell into it. The high grass
about the opening hid the dished out entrance.
We were at an elevation of approximately
7000 feet and going was tough, especially with a pack, and we had stopped to
rest when one of the party remarked that it "sounded hollow" when any
of us talked. Of course, we all yapped away at the same time trying to see if
this was so, and sure enough it was. Further investigation located the hole
some six feet to the left of where we had stopped. It was roughly oval in
shape, some 30 by 18 feet; and bridged in the center the short way by a natural
rock arch heavy enough to support an elephant. In