Now that you had a chance to explore the hiking trails outside the caverns along with some of the gorgeous antique vehicles scattered about in the part one post, it's time to see the real attraction here, the caves! So climb aboard the wagon and let's get this show on the road.
While we may be taking this tour in a wagon towed behind a Jeep, the first known visitor inside came in on four legs and through a much smaller hole. The caves were discovered way back in 1862 by a farmer from the Ozarks, more specifically, by the man's canine companion who disappeared through a small hole in the rock pictured here.
It took nearly five years for the man to have the caverns explored. He placed an ad in the local newspaper looking for volunteer explorers and in response 12 women from the town of Springfield were ready for an adventure. All they had as a light source were candles so they created a simple and somewhat effective solution to their lighting problem. While it wasn't a giant search light like you can find today, it got the job done. They simply cut a hole into a tin can and stuck a candle in it. The metal inside of the can would reflect the candle light giving the light a bit more projection to help guide the way. After exploring a decent distance into the cave, the women encountered a sinkhole that was impassable at the time so they turned tail and headed back out the way they came. Before exiting the cave system, they all wrote their names on a wall inside which can still be seen today.
The caverns were home to many concerts over the years from the 1950s thru the 1970s. It was also the home of a speakeasy during the time of the Prohibition in the U.S. There was a large dance floor, casino-style gaming tables, a stage for performers and of course a bar. In the picture below you can see the stage that was used, it's still standing today.
The large item to the right on the stage was actually once used as a vat that contained what was a valuable substance at the time, not to mention stinky. In fact, it was this resource that made the man who discovered it wait for a few years before having the caves explored. I'm not sure which actually may be more surprising to you, the actual resource itself or the reason why it was so coveted at the time. The valuable resource that could be found in abundance here in the caves was bat guano, if you're not familiar with the term guano it means poop. Yes, bat poop was a very valuable resource back in those times.
During the time that these caverns were discovered, there was this little conflict taking place throughout America known as the Civil War. The reason why the man did not have it explored until several years later is because he did not want neither Confederate or Union governments learning about it's existence then exploiting the location as a possible source of saltpeter and raping the resources in turn.
Niter is the mineral form of potassium nitrate, KNO3, also known as saltpeter. Because of its ready solubility in water, niter is most often found in arid environments and often in conjunction with other soluble minerals like halides, iodates, borates, gypsum, and rarer carbonates and sulphates.
Wikipedia
The reason why the bat guano was so valuable in those times was because saltpeter could be extracted from the poo. When mixed with a few other ingredients, saltpeter can be turned into gunpowder. As you can imagine, during the Civil War gunpowder was a very valuable commodity.
Besides the beautiful formations of stalactites, stalagmites and others that are the main draw of the caverns, there are a few small animals that can be found inside the cave system. This small group includes a species of crayfish, a species of fish, bats and small salamanders. All of these animals are also blind. They have evolved in this manner because deep within the caves there is no light so they were forced to adapt. Here you can see a small salamander that was spotted right before the exit of the caverns. Besides the salamander we also saw a few small bats that our tour guide kindly pointed out for us.
Ok, enough of my babbling. I'll stop now and just let you enjoy some pictures from our tour of Fantastic Caverns!
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photos captured with Canon 80D 18-135mm - all rights reserved
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