Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 22 -- Boys' Life
Boy Scouts in Mexico, or On Guard with Uncle Sam (1911)
Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone, or The Plot Against Uncle Sam (1911)
Boy Scouts in the Philippines, or The Key to the Treaty Box (1911)
Boy Scouts in a Motor Boat: or, Adventures on the Columbia River (1912)
Boy Scouts in an Airship (1912)
Boy Scouts on Motor Cycles (1912)
Boy Scouts Beyond the Arctic Circle (1913)
Boy Scouts in California (1913)
Boy Scout Electricians, or The Hidden Dynamo (1913)
Boy Scouts on Old Superior, or The Tale of the Pictured Rocks (1913)
Boy Scouts on the Open Plains (1914)
Boy Scouts in Southern Waters (1915)
Boy Scouts on the Open Plains (1914)
Boy Scouts in the North Sea (1915)
Some of the Scouts' underground river adventures.
From Boy Scouts in Mexico (1911)
"Water in wells comes from elevations before it gravitates to the bottom of the holes from which
we pump it," Shaw declared, in defense of his suggestion. "There may be a reservoir here
somewhere."
From Boy Scouts in a Motor Boat (1912)
Jimmie was not at all averse to a swim, for he did not know how cold the water of the
underground stream was. So he tossed his light across, seized the end of the rope Jack had
used on his return trip, and leaped in.
Then his weakness made itself manifest, for he did not seem to have the power to force his way
across in the face of the current. He hung on bravely, but made no progress. Jack threw off
his coat and, taking hold of the rope on his side, dropped in and drifted down to the struggling
lad.
From Boy Scout Electricians (1913),
"Ned thinks there is an underground stream," Frank suggested, "and I move that we go find it
while he is away."
Almost before the words were out of his mouth, the boy switched on his flashlight and
disappeared in the opening. Frank and Harry were at his heels in a moment, and the three
went crawling down an incline of about thirty degrees on their hands and knees.
Fifty feet or more from the opening they came to a chamber much larger than the cave in which
they had stored the motor car. The flashlights showed a swift current lashing against broken
boulders. A few paces below, the stream disappeared entirely, falling over a precipice with a
sound which, in that confined space, reminded one of thunder.
"Say!" Jimmie shouted, speaking in Frank's ear in order that his words might be understood
above the roar of the water, "they've set the stream at work down there and they've forgotten
their oil can. Don't you hear the machinery creaking?"
From the depths of the stream somewhere below its plunge into unknown regions came the
sharp, insistent creaking of an improperly cared for shaft. It sounded to the boys like the nervetorturing
screeches heard from the primitive horse cars in New York.
Frank sat down flat upon the ledge and turned his flashlight toward the point where the stream
disappeared.
"We've got it!" he cried; "we've got it! If anybody should ask you, there's the hidden dynamo
right down there, under that current!"
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