See quotations.
1816. The only entrance into the [Mammoth] Cave is from the bottom of what the inhabitants call a “sink,” which is a deep cavity in the earth, at the bottom of which there is generally a large current of water.—Letter to Mass. Spy, July 17.
1817. In many parts of this [Missouri] country, there are great numbers of what the inhabitants call “sink holes.”… They are circular, but diminish toward the bottom, and resemble an inverted hollow cone: some of the large ones are so deep, that tall trees, growing at the bottom, cannot be seen until we approach the brink of the cavity.—John Bradbury, ‘Travels,’ p. 248. (Italics in the original.)
1823. The country about St. Louis … like the horizontal limestone country generally, abounds in sink holes sometimes of great depth.—E. James, ‘Rocky Mountain Expedition,’ i. 57–8 (Phila.).
1833. Confidently expecting an attack in the night, we tied our horses and mules in a sink hole between us and the river.—‘Narrative of James O. Pattie,’ p. 35 (Cincinnati).
1837. The balance of this country consists of pine barrens, intersected with ponds and sink holes.—John L. Williams, ‘The Territory of Florida,’ p. 130 (N.Y.).
1838. The horses were ordered behind a sink hole, and the detachment charged … amid a galling fire from the Indians.—The Jeffersonian, Albany, June 16, p. 144.
1838. There are many of these circular lakes or “sinkholes,” as they are termed in Western dialect, which, as they possess no inlet, seem supplied by subterraneous springs, or from the clouds.—E. Flagg, ‘The Far West,’ i. 192 (N.Y.).
1839. Those remarkable conical cavities which are generally known by the name of “sink-holes” in the western country, are thickly scattered over the surface; and so perfect in shape are many of them, that it is difficult to persuade the ruder residents that they are not the work of art, nor fashioned out as drinking-bowls for the extinct monsters whose fossil remains are so abundant in this region.—C. F. Hoffman, ‘Wild Scenes,’ ii. 233–4 (Lond.).
1846. [They] are impressed with the belief, that we have reached the “Sink” of St. Mary’s river; that is, the place where the waters of the river cease to flow, and disappear in the dry and thirsting sands of the desert.—Edwin Bryant, ‘What I saw in California,’ p. 210 (N.Y.). (Italics in the original.)
1860. While they [the Indians] were scalping this child, Peggy M‘Clure, a girl of twelve years old, perceived a sink-hole immediately at her feet, and dropped silently into it.—J. F. H. Claiborne, ‘Life of Gen. Sam. Dale,’ p. 20 (N.Y.).
1878. Salt lakes, alkaline “sinks” and mud flats alone relieve the dreary monotony; the phenomena are hot winds, blinding dust, the mirage, and the shadow of death.—J. H. Beadle, ‘Western Wilds,’ p. 105.
