LARGEST IN WORLD

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 April 1938, Page 8

LARGEST IN WORLD

CAVE THREE MILES LONG. Discovery of a magnificent limestone cavern, with one vaulted chamber more than three miles long, is reported fromh Carlsbad (New Mexico), remarks the “New York Times." The great cave, said R. P. Burnet, curator of the Carlsbad Museum, rivals in beauty the famed Carlsbad Cavei n'nearby and may be the largest in the world.

Carlsbad Cavern and another near Mexico City now vie for the title of the world’s biggest “hole in the ground." Neither has been explored thoroughly. Mr Burnet led a small party of explorers through the tiny hidden entrance, deep in the Gadalupe Mountain, twelve miles south of Carlsbad Cavern. They found themselves in an immense underground room 700 feet wide and with a ceiling so high it could not be seen, even by the aid of powerful flashlights. The party pushed on for six hours, covering an estimated three miles. Only when the chamber made a sharp curve did 1 they turn back, fearing that they might become lost in the labyrinth.

Huge, snow-white stalagmites, larger even than the 100-foot monoliths of Carsbad Cavern, dotted the floor. Ancient Indian pottery and the bones of deer gave evidence that the cave once had been used for human occupancy.

Mr Burnet said the limestone formations were unusual both in their grotesque figuration and their snowwhite hue, caused by lack of mineral colouring in the stone. Speculation was aroused over the possibility the new cavern might be an extension of Carlsbad Cave, the full extent of which never has been penetrated.

Tom Tucker, a. sheep rancher, stumbled into the cave’s entrance, 700 feet up the steep side of a mountain and concealed' b.v a jutting rock.