News & Events
Mid-America
News
Show
Calendar
State Event Calendars
Regular Features
The
Antique Detective
Antique
Detective Q&A
Common Sense Antiques
Refurnished
Thoughts
Traveling with Ken
Good Eye
Books
for Collectors
Directories
& Classifieds
The
Finder: Unique Shops
Lodgings Directory
Museum Directory
Aviation Museums
Wineries in the Heartland
Classifieds
Web
Links
Archived Features
Antiquing
in Colorado
Dealer Profile Archive
Editor's
Notebook
Heirloom
Recipes
Helpful Hints
for Collectors
Is This An Antique?
Past
Cover Features
Reflecting
History
Discover Mid-America — October 2007
Drive-through Cave
Suits Aging Spelunker
Fantastic Caverns claims the title of America’s only drive-through cave. Located north of Springfield, Missouri, it’s one of only four caverns in the world accessible by tram, the others being on the Caribbean island of Barbados, in France, and in Slovenia.
|
|
Instead of hiking through narrow passageways and negotiating numerous steps on cave trails, the “spelunkers” on board the Fantastic Caverns Jeep tram roll smoothly over a road constructed deep in the heart of Missouri’s underground that is a constant temperature of 60 degrees. The tram attracts many who would not otherwise experience caving – the elderly, small children, and physically handicapped.
But just because the Jeep tour caters to the tenderfoot doesn’t mean the curious caver is short-changed. Tram riders are treated to massive displays of cave formations – stalactites, hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites, rising up from the cave floor, along with tiny soda straws, cave pearls, and other wonders that have taken thousands of years to develop.
The caverns were discovered in 1862, when John Knox, a farmer in rural Greene County [ Ken - in Missouri?], saw his dog chase something into a hole in the ground and realized he had something interesting under his property. But the Civil War was at its height and he feared having his property confiscated, so he kept his find a secret for five years. In 1867, he placed an ad in the local paper for volunteer spelunkers. A dozen young women from Springfield answered the ad, and ventured into the depths of the caverns with ropes and ladders, using torches and candle-lanterns for light. They explored only a small portion of the caverns, but what they found was an extraordinary underground world, with a large variety of beautiful formations.
There was no evidence of earlier exploration, either animal or human. But others would later occupy the caverns, including the Ku Klux Klan, who held secret meetings in the Great Room during the 1920s. Others evaded Prohibition laws to patronize a “speakeasy,” and a company mined saltpeter to manufacture gunpowder for a brief time.
|
|
For me, cave exploring was a totally different experience when I was a student at the University of Missouri in the 1950s. In those days, we used carbide lamps mounted on helmets, and climbed down into sinkholes on the outskirts of Columbia, where we crawled through lateral passageways over thick layers of bat guano searching for ancient fossils embedded in the cave walls.
On weekends, I volunteered to help build concrete sidewalks at Onondaga Cave near Leasburg on the Meramec River [ Ken - in missouri?]. As a bonus, I got the opportunity to explore nearby Cathedral Cave with a small group of friends that included the teenage daughter of Lyman Riley, a co-owner of the cave.
Once open to the public, by the 1950s Cathedral had closed. To this day, it is open only to small groups of hard-core spelunkers who tour it with lanterns. The cave was formed by water flowing through multiple layers of dolomite, something like the floors of a large building. Crawling along a passageway in the darkness, the beam from your helmet-mounted carbide lamp pointing straight ahead, it wasn’t unusual to discover that the floor in front of you had collapsed, leaving you at the edge of a precipice.
Since then I’ve visited many caves, and I’ve never lost my love of spelunking. But, I’ve got to admit, Fantastic Caverns and its ride-through tram is the best way to enjoy the underground experience.
Family-owned Fantastic Caverns is located about three miles west of Hwy. 13. The Cavern Road winds through a scenic pin oak woods over a narrow track that ends at a well-kept, grassy park and a modern visitors’ center. When the tour is announced, visitors walk down a sloping ramp to board a waiting tram, which runs hourly.
Before we entered the caverns, our guide, Richard, stopped the tram and showed us a Rube Goldberg-like contraption, puffing smoke by the side of the tram trail. It was a small steam engine that powered a generator.
“In 1906, it ran an electric system that lighted the caverns,” Richard said. “People used to come here as much to see the electric lights as to see the caverns. But now, the only thing it’s used for is this …”
He reached for a rope which activated a whistle.
As the tram entered the caverns, Richard said that as many as 100 visitors a day took the tram tour. The first Jeep tram began in 1968, but the caverns have been open to visitors since the early 1900s.
The mile-long tour included the Auditorium Room, site of country music shows from the late 1950s till the mid-1960s. Richard also pointed out the cave formations: stalactites, stalagmites, columns, soda straws, flowstones, cave pearls, and draperies, and showed us a large sinkhole that was the end of the original exploration by the 12 women in 1867. He also stopped to demonstrate the total darkness of the caverns, and another stop to show visitors a short film narrated by a geologist showing the origin and development of the caverns.
Later, Richard stopped the tram as his passengers viewed a rushing stream.
“Every cavern has a drainage system,” Richard said. “And, here’s a good look at ours. A wet-weather spring runs through here called Indian Spring. In June we had about four inches of rain. By the end of the day the water rose and formed a whirlpool as it tried to flow down the sinkhole. In 1993, when the Midwest had a large flood, the caverns took on so much water that the tours were halted for two weeks.”
I asked Richard if any parts of the caverns not on the tram tour were open for exploring.
|
|
“Sometimes the employees get to explore the lower levels,” Richard said.
Blind, tiny and white cave-fish, cave salamanders and crayfish live in the depths of the caverns.
“I’m looking forward to exploring down there and seeing the animals,” Richard said.
Kirk Hansen, Public Information Director for Fantastic Caverns, said that more than 140,000 people visit the caverns each year.
“We’re serious about protecting the fragile ecology of the caverns,” Hansen said. “The water quality is monitored closely for pollutants, and the tram is propane powered, which is cleaner-burning.”
The tram also leaves a lighter footprint on the delicate cave formations than thousands of walking feet in other caves.
Fantastic Caverns is open daily year-round, except for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with tours beginning at 8 a.m. each day. Adult admission is $19, $11 for children 6-12. Children 5 and under are free with paid adult admission. Group tours are available.
Visit www.fantasticcaverns.com.
Ken Weyand can be reached at kweyand1@kc.rr.com
> Traveling with Ken Archive — past columns
©2000-07 Discovery Publications, Inc.