The following letter appeared in the January 1948 issue of AMAZING STORIES faction (fact/fiction) magazine:

CAVE CONFIRMED

Sirs: Since I have been an interested reader of Amazing Stories since my high school days (1929) when A-S was a bigger magazine, I feel like one of the family when I read the letters in the discussion pages. The temptation has arisen many times to write a letter to you concerning some hotly discussed matter, but something has always prevented me from getting at it.

However, the October Issue pushed me too far, and here goes. The mysterious cave Mr. E. Stanton Brown spoke of in his letter is not exactly news to me.

In 1938 a party of six of my friends and myself spent seven months in that area of Texas, and upper Mexico. We were testing an electronic instrument that we had developed and needed lots of space and some mineral deposits for the various tests.

So, we got rather well acquainted with the Big Bend country, and the Figure 2 Ranch, north of there. We arrived there in January and camped in the Sierra Blancas, storing a lot of our equipment at the town of Van Horn.

By March we had gotten deep into the rugged country and as I recall, it was about the middle of March we stumbled onto this cave (or a twin) that Mr. Brown speaks of in his letter.

Everyone was so dumfounded by it that we spent the better part of the rest of the month in making a thorough investigation.

We penetrated the shaft to a distance of 870 feet and at about 650 feet found some very finely executed writing on the right wall at eye level, in what resembles cuneiform.

At 800 feet one (member) of the party fell over a cloth lying in the dust, and upon closer examination, it was found to be part of a blue shirt, of fairly recent manufacture; indicating that someone else had been this far in recent times.

This and an empty pint whisky bottle dated 1897 was all we located to indicate recent occupation.

Of course, in a country where desperadoes such as Black Jack, Billy the Kid, etc., hid out where they could and the more solitary the better, such a find was not too surprising.

At about 780 feet the floor dips more sharply downward and at near 900 feet progress is very hazardous due to moisture and increased slant downward.

We carried rocks from the opening and rolled them from the point where we could no longer walk, but they simply faded out with a rumble after a few seconds.

We tried rolling flaming yucca stumps to see if, perhaps, we might determine more about the bore further on, but this proved to be futile, since the stumps burned poorly at best, probably due to bad air.

It was very stuffy and hot after the first 300 feet from the opening.

We held a powwow to try and figure out how we could go further down, but the only thing would have been lots of lariat ropes, or a long steel cable, and neither was available nearer than some 5O 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 the 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 almost 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.

In the wildest part of the canyon (is where) 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 the center of the arch were 3 deep grooves caused we hazarded, by rope passing over the arch.

We spent several hours in investigating the surrounding terrain to see if there might be any other entrance to the cave but found none. It sloped sharply from the opening down to about 200 feet, and then the bore disappeared, curving upward.

We succeeded in getting down to the first level, by tying all our ropes together, and subsequently investigated a lot of it.

Threading through the soil were long stringers of quartz, but oddly enough at the same time there were chunks of rock as big as a piano that were solid masses of seashells. Quite a lot of pottery both broken and whole, was found.

The most interesting thing was, however, that the further we went the colder it got.

Also, there was a sound of either rushing wind or water, which got louder the lower we went.

We came upon two human skeletons not over 5OO feet from the entrance, but they must have been very old, as the bones crumbled at a touch. Everything was covered with a deep dust after passing the bend and no indication of any living thing having passed there was ever noted.

It was very dark and depressing, and the chill was very penetrating. When you consider that the outside temperature was near 100 degrees, you can imagine how we were dressed.

We had three flashlights, one a five cell, and after a while it was all that was left that would give a decent light.

Down at what we estimated as 1200 feet from the opening we came smack up against a smooth stone wall. That was it. The end. None of us would admit it was natural, it was too smooth and perfect, and look as we would we could not find a single flaw or crack in it. It was of a marble-like texture and some eight or nine feet high in the center and around eleven wide.

By placing our ears to the (smooth) rock surface, the roaring on the other side became much louder, and the rock was quite cold to the touch.

There is natural marble near there, in Marble Canyon, where marble was once taken out in large quantities, and so the rock was native rock, I’m sure. Since the remaining light was all we had except matches.

We voted to get back to the opening as soon as possible, and after a hard struggle upgrade, we got back to daylight and held a conference. We decided to bed down and talk it over further the next day, as it was getting late. However, the next day we were inclined to look foolishly at each other and claim it was all our imagination thinking there was anything strange on the other side of the barrier, and it was just another one of those many caves in the country.

Carlsbad is just 65 miles north of there, and the whole country is no doubt honeycombed underneath.

We finished our experiments and left, late in July but I have never been able to forget the caves, and the odd sounds on the other side of that barrier. Or for that matter, the barrier itself, for it was, too perfect to be natural, I believe.

Or maybe I’ve just read too many Amazing Stories and am inclined to wild ideas. As the Mexicans say, Quien sabe?

Someday I’m going to write you a ding-how Scientifiction on something-or-other and then place it and my rejection notice among my souvenirs.

Maybe then I can go on reading AMAZING STORIES in peace, without wanting to dash off a dinger. K. A. Gookin Carmel Radio & Sound Service Box 1865, Carmel, Calif.

Editor's Note: We, too, wish we knew what was on the other side of that marble wall! As for the locality, we’ve heard a great many sensational stories of what the army is finding in Carlsbad Caverns. You know, tourists are no longer allowed to visit that cave, according to a newspaper story recently published, which caused something of a sensation. (Note by Branton: Of course, Carlsbad cave is NOW open to the public)