This pit terminates
also the range of the Deserted Chambers, and was considered the Ultima
Thule of all explorers, until within the last few years, when Mr.
Stephenson of Georgetown, Ky. and the intrepid guide, Stephen,
conceived the idea of reaching the opposite side by throwing a ladder
across the frightful chasm. This they accomplished, and on this
ladder, extending across a chasm of twenty feet wide and near two
hundred deep, did these daring explorers cross to the opposite side,
and thus open the way to all those splendid discoveries, which have
added so much to the value and renown of the Mammoth Cave. The
Bottomless Pit is somewhat in the shape of a horse-shoe, having a
tongue of land twenty seven feet long, running out into the middle of
it. From the end of this point of land, a substantial bridge has been
thrown across to the cave on the opposite side.
[Illustration: BOTTOMLESS PIT.
On Stone by T. Campbell
Bauer & Teschemacher's Lith.]
While standing on the bridge, the guide lets down a lighted paper into
the deep abyss; it descends twisting and turning, lower and lower, and
is soon lost in total darkness, leaving us to conjecture, as to what
may be below. Crossing the bridge to the opposite cave, we find
ourselves in the midst of rocks of the most gigantic size lying along
the edge of the pit and on our left hand.
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