Source: Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, TN), April 17, 1884

------

In 1884, two men, Charles Gower and Chris Schmitzen, embarked on a daring adventure into a cave beneath Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Their goal: simply to satisfy their curiosity. With only a glass lantern and a bottle of oil for light, they ventured over three miles into the darkness. Everything was going according to plan until they reached a narrow crevice. While leaning over to examine it, Schmitzen accidentally dropped the lantern. It plummeted about 50 feet and smashed into the water below, leaving them in total darkness in a cave they had never visited before. 

They knew that any attempt to return back the way they came would mean facing pits of unknown depths that lay along the path. There were also byways that could easily lead them even further into the heart of the cave. They knew that staying put meant certain death while attempting to navigate in the darkness would be extremely hazardous. It was then that the bottle of oil came to mind and a plan was put in motion. They twisted a handkerchief into a makeshift wick and inserted it into the bottle. Their minds were filled with anxiety knowing that life and death now hung on what would happen next. They struck the match and lit the wick, letting out a shout as the blaze flashed up. They knew there was no time to spare. They had to get out before the oil was consumed. 

They started on their way, but in their haste took a wrong path, wandering around for some time before eventually arriving right back where they started. The oil was nearly gone at this point and the bottle was getting hot. They started off again but hadn’t made it far before the bottle exploded. They were filled with despair having two matches left with nothing to burn. Adding to their misery was the feeling of thirst. They only knew of one place to find water and that was where their lantern had been lost. They lay down on their faces and crawled back to that spot. They then tore the lining from their coats to make a rope. After cutting holes in the brim of Charles Gower’s hat, they lowered it down and drew up water to quench their thirst. During one of the attempts however, the rope broke and the hat was gone. They were unable to use Schmitzen’s hat as it was not able to hold water. 

They knew they had to continue to try and find the way out, and knew which direction to go, but were fearful of accidently taking one of the byways leading into an unexplored part of the cave. Hope had still not been lost that they would be rescued. They started on their journey through the darkness once more, crawling and feeling their way along. They came up with the idea to throw rocks as they moved forward to determine if they were nearing a pit. If they heard the sound of the rock falling to a great depth, they knew a pit was up ahead. Many times, they would find a splinter from a torch which assured them that they were heading in the right direction. 

At some point, Schmitzen fell several feet but was caught by a projecting rock shelf which prevented him from falling even further. The fall hurt him considerably which made it difficult to convince him to proceed. According to Charles Gower, the men possibly slept as much as half of the time they were in the cave which very much refreshed them. They had taken nothing to eat with them, but as strange as it may seem, they did not suffer from hunger much. They stated that it was probably their anxiety that stifled their hunger as their singular focus when awake was to get out of the cave. 

Finally, they heard voices and attempted to make themselves heard. The party that had entered the cave came to their rescue and led them to freedom. It was then they discovered that they had been in the cave for over 15 days.