Madeline's view-point on the Lewis and Clark Caverns

Hello everyone! Just to remind you all, today, July 1 is the end of our first month on the road. On to the Caverns..... They are located 19 minutes west of Three Forks,MT and 15 miles east of Whitehall, MT along the Montana highway 2. Now, I have a feeling that you are thinking: 'Oh, Lewis and Clark discovered the caverns as they were traveling across the future United States.' That idea is totally wrong. It was not discovered by Lewis and Clark, or any of their companions. Rather, it was partially discovered by two farmers by the names of Tom Williams and Bert Pannell. They had been hunting, one day, when they saw what looked like smoke coming off of the mountains. It was truly cave breath, but not knowing that, they hiked up to the source of the 'smoke.' They discovered a hole where the cave breath issued from, but they were to weary that day to go inside to investigate. They returned home, but they vowed that one day they would return. Well, six years after they found it, in 1892, Tom returned. He had brought with him his friend Dan Morrison. Together, they went down into the hole and a deep opening they called "Discovery Hole.". They discovered about half of the caverns that we know today, and decided to open it up to the public. Those who wished to tour it were given a candle and some matches and were lowered down via rope into the caves. Dan Morrison later built for tourists a very rickety spiral 'staircase' that took them down about 90 feet to the bottom of the cave. One tourist wrote that the steps swayed with every second or third step taken. Later, the railroad company who had built a railroad near the caverns, decided that the land that the caverns were on belonged to them. It fell into the hands of the railroad company, and later the government. At that time, the president Theodore Roosevelt named the caverns after the explorers Lewis and Clark, lest the nation forget them. After a while, the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps.) took over its management. It was during that time that a safer mode of accessing the caverns was built: a concrete and stone stairway which is still used today. We had to walk up to the entrance to the caverns. It was fairly hot outside, and I happened to be wearing a sweater. Not the best attire for walking in the heat. After we got up the walkway, we had never been more glad to enter into a temperature of fifty degrees! There are three kinds of animals which live in the first part of the caves: Townsend big ear bats, pack rats and pigeons. We had the chance to see and somewhat walk with the bats. The first room we entered was called the Souvenier room. Know why? Well, it is called that because in that room, the touristis of Dan Morrison were allowed to take a Souvenier of a stalagtite. Now, there is hardly any growth of stalagmites or tites in that cave. Touching the formations is not a good idea. We slid down a three or four foot slide, labeled the Beaver slide, to reach the next room- The Cathedral room. This room is the second largest room in the whole caverns. There can be found three main formations in that room: 1. Drip stones - stalagtites, stalagmites and columns. 2. Flow stones - make a water fall- like formation. 3. Seep stone - forms a popcorn - like surface. Also, in the Cathedral Room, there can be found a formation called Romeo and Juliet. There they can be seen, standing in between Lover's Leap and Las Vegas, trying to decide wether they should jump off the drop, or live in Vegas. They choose life over suicide, and get married, carrying on with their lives. Things go pretty well with them. Every year, on their anniversary, they go back to the same spot where they first committed to life. There they vow again those vows of love made long ago. Did I say that all was well in their life? Well, I exaggerated. Juliet was in a wheelchair; Romeo had grown a beard. Every single year, on the brink of Lover's Leap and Las Vegas, Romeo fights against himself thinking "Should I push her, should I not? Should I push her, should I not?". Juliet always has the question at the back of her mind "Is this the year he will push me off the drop?". With that suspicion inside her head, she always tucks a piece of Romeo's beard into her chair, so that if she falls, he will go with her. Can you guess what happens next? (They go off Lover's Leap together.) That is a story they told in the caves. To get to the next set of rooms, we had to go through popcorn alley, which displayed wonderful specimens of Seep Stone, and Ghost Tunnel. Ghost tunnel is named so because, during the time of the CCC, a man named Northfleet was working on the stairs with a long drop on one side of him. He wanted to look down for a moment, and, leaning too close, he fell down that drop, plunging downwards for seventy feet. He broke all of his bones. He did not die right away, but died about a week after his fall. The end of the Ghost Tunnel brings you to the bottom of the spiral staircase made by Dan Morrison. Also, there is a formation of a stalagtite which they call the Elephant's trunk, so named beause it looks like the trunk of an elephant. It was made of a stone called Churt, which is a hard stone that was used by Native Americans to make arrowheads. Going a little farther, you enter the Halfway room. By this time, one has already encountered some pretty low ceilings. Poor dad! He was stooping for about half the journey throughout the caves! The halfway room was the halfway point in the tour. We had gone through half of the caverns. There, there could be found a formation known as the turtle, and also a formation known as the Princess. There was a wall knocked out by some curious worker, and he discovered what is called the Palace. Across from it, there is a hole knows as the dog house, for another man was looking to be as good as the man who found the Palace. So he knocked out a wall and found......nothing! Pride comes before the fall! The longest room is called the Garden of the gods. It has many stalagtites, mites and columns in it that make it look much like a garden. Also in it, there is a crystal pool which makes the Garden of the gods even more special. Going along a passage which took us to the next room, there was forever to greet us, a calcified bat. It had flown too deep into the caverns and had died because of a lack of food. Well, he greeted us into the Brown waterfall room. It is made of almost all calcite. This is the room where the tour of Dan Morrison ended. This room is the lowest point in the whole caverns. It is 326 feet below the entrance. At last, we come to the last, and largest room. The Paradise Room. It is the most active room in the whole caverns, meaning, it has the most growth of formations. It is so because there is a humidity percentage of 98 inside. It is directly underneath the Cathedral room. Inside, the largest Column of the caves can be found. It is called Atlas, because it seems to hold up all the cavern, and it weighs tons. The tallest stalagmite can also be found in the Paradise room. It does not touch the top, but has stopped growing six inches from the top roof. It will not grow any taller, however, for it's source of water above it has dried up. Also in this cavern, you can find a formation which looks like the foot of Bigfoot. It is quite large. Freddy the Friendly frog stands near the exit to say good bye. The exit tunnel is 538 feet long. It took 18 months to excavate. And at the very end of the tunnel, there was a live bat waiting. The "creatures" loved us! We had to walk a little ways back to the parking lot, and the heat was quite different compared to the temperatures inside the cave. But we hardly cared, for the caves were foremost in our thoughts. All of us agreed that out of all the caverns we had been to, Carlsbad included, Lewis and Clark Caverns were the best. There was a wonderful tour, and the caverns were exquisite. If you are ever planing to go to Yellowstone, or anywhere near there, I would recommend planing to take a trip up to the Lewis and Clark Caverns. God bless you all!!!!!!!!!