Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Edward Stratemeyer, the Author
Chapter 19 -- The Stratemeyer Boys Club Serials
Edward Stratemeyer probably penned 150 books himself, his first success being the 30-volume
Rover Boys begun in 1899 under the pseudonym Arthur M. Winfield. Stratemeyer affixed his
actual name, however, to the 15-volume Dave Porter series begun six years later. We'll quote a
few paragraphs about an underground river.
Dave Porter on Cave Island, or A Schoolboy's Mysterious
Mission (1913)
"Whe- where are we?" asked Merwell, and there was a
shiver in his tone.
"Down at the bottom of that hole." Dave tried to pierce the
darkness. "Looks like some underground river to me."
"The water is salt."
"Then this place must connect with the ocean."...
"Oh, what shall we do?" groaned Merwell, after they had
attempted to climb up and had failed. "We are caught like
rats in a trap!"
"Perhaps we'll have to swim for it," answered Dave." This
water is very salt, which proves it comes from the ocean.
Moreover, it is gradually going down, showing it is affected
by the tide. Let us follow the stream for a short distance and
see where it leads to."
Merwell demurred, but he did not want to remain behind alone in the semi-darkness, so he
followed Dave, and both waded and swam a distance of several hundred feet. Here the
underground river made a turn around the rocks, and both boys were delighted to see a streak
of sunlight resting on the water...
Soon the pair reached a break in the cave. On either side were walls of rocks, uneven and
covered with scanty bushes and immense trailing vines. The opening was about a hundred
feet in length, and beyond it the stream of salty water plunged into another cavern, undoubtedly
on its way to the ocean...
I hate it underground!" And Merwell shivered. "Besides, it's cold," he went on, to cover up the
tremor in his voice.
Capt. Ralph Bonehill
Edward Stratemeyer also wrote as Capt. Ralph Bonehill, but so may have contract writers
subsequently in his enterprise.
In Bonehill's The Three Young Ranchmen, or Daring
Adventures in the Great West (1901), three boys
encounter a genuine grizzly, a wolverine, discover of a
gold mine, horse thieves, and an explore an underground
river on a single Idaho ranch.
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