Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

April 1930
June 1938
September 1941
Chapter 22 -- Boys' Life
"Mississippi Miles"
The sound of a rushing current as distinctly to be heard. They
went ahead, with renewed caution, careful where they set their
feet, using their elbows to brake themselves as they went slowly
down the rough stairway hewn in the rock... The noise of the
steam became louder, though it sounded somewhat muffled.
The cause for this became plain when they halted at length on
the brink of a great split that ran sheer across their path,
stretching far on either side. Deep down in this black abyss ran
the subterranean stream. The gap averaged ten feet in width.
Into it they must have inevitably plunged had they lost footing.
Miles shuddered as he realized how nearly Wild Bill had come to
ending his life.
In subsequent chapters we'll encounter numerous references to
the sounds of subterranean streams.
"Porky, the Outboarder"
"My partner's right," endorsed Mr. Jordan. "Don't you boys put
too much line out and the muskallonges won't bother you.
You've got to fish deep for babies like that. They say they come
into Cedar Lake from the Great Lakes, through an underground
river and that's why you can't find bottom here in some places."
Chapter 78, Beneath the Great Lakes, will have more to say
regarding such fish.
"Golden Peril"
"Looks pretty dark inside," Peter said, taking out a candle. "What
I don't understand is, where's the lake? Ought to be one,
according to the map. A pretty big one, too. 300 yards by 500."
"And 20 fathoms, that's 120 feet, down," Steve added. "Must be
underground, if at all."
"Under water, too," Peter pointed to a large circle on the map.
"See how it extends beyond the shore. Seems screwy to me.
Still, I've heard of underground rivers. Maybe there could be a
lake down there, fed by subterranean streams. With a rock roof
above where it spreads out under the bed of the ocean."
Cross-section reminiscent of Kirchner, Chapter 8.
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