Just my $.02 about Cascade caverns.
Decrepitude is probably an accurate description of what happened to the cave over the last 15-20 years. Part of the problem with Cascade Caverns is that the land is owned by one family / LP, and the cave operations was leased for 99 years (sometime around 1932), and the lease has changed "ownership" several times, and or passed from one family generation to another as some rather untimely deaths have occurred. (and that's another story). The early lease holders spent quite some time and money fixing up the cave, installing lighting, building the flood control dam that keeps the cave from flooding at every medium rain, and building the gift shop etc. In 1977 the lease was purchased by Mr. Bridges who built the swimming pool, anti gravity house, a theater, and the RV campground. He was also a professional sign maker and before long Cascade Caverns signs we found all over the state and beyond. After Mr. Bridges sold the lease in 1986 the cave has seen a semi steady state of decline. Each new lease owner pledges to fix up the cave, but soon discovers what a money pit it is. Needed repairs are everywhere, and upgrades are very expensive, and generally out of the question. Plus lease "owners" are reluctant to spend great sums of money that will at the end of the 99 year lease revert back to the land owners. For years the local San Antonio cavers helped Mr. Bridges, and every other lease owner since then with general repairs, re-wiring, flood cleanup, and many other projects. Throughout the 70's and even into the 90's many cavers helped out on work projects at the cave. It was also a popular vertical training site for cavers for 20+ years and the site of at least one TSA spring event. Caver involvement at the property has fallen off for the past 6-8 years for assorted reasons, but with this new "ownership" perhaps the time is right for renewed caver involvement. I understand the new owner would welcome caver involvement again, but so far we don't seem to have any local San Antonio cavers willing to take on this project. In addition to the commercial cave there are also several other interesting caves and sinks on the property. Kurt From: Fritz Holt [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 10:39 AM To: '[email protected]'; [email protected] Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Cascade Caverns article : Jerry, If this article is accurate, I was totally unaware that Cascade Caverns had "sunk into decrepitude". I don't think that I have ever been there but I always thought that Cascade Caverns was one of Texas' major commercial caves. Can you elaborate or give me your opinion? Or anyone else who is more familiar with the cave. Fritz ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 8:13 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Texascavers] Cascade Caverns article : Amazing phenomena and folklore below ground level By: Robin Tierney <http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bios/44308977.html> February 14, 2010 Imagine inheriting a cave -- one you had never visited? Seven months ago, Richmond architect Scott Kyle learned that his late uncle bequeathed him Cascade Caverns in Boerne, Texas. Opened in 1932 after teenagers found a hole in a cow pasture, the crowd-pleasing curiosity had sunk into decrepitude in recent decades. Once Kyle visited, he took leave to revive the attraction. Work's still in progress, but visitors have plenty of wondrous sights to see, starting aboveground with the abandoned ticket hut made of rock, meadows of native plants and flowers and the original winding stone path flanked by perforated limestone. "That's fossilized sea life," explained Kyle. "We're right up face to face with geological features from the Pleistocene epoch formed over 110 million years -- and still changing with time and floods and tremors." Descending 100 stone steps to the reclaimed entrance, you enter a dark underground creek-side passage. Draped with ever-forming formations, this "live cave" is an agreeable 68 degrees year-round. Water hollowed the caverns; now dewdrops fall. "Getting dripped on is good luck," said Kyle. New light-emitting diodes shine just enough to highlight filigreed walls and movie-set-perfect phenomena. Lights off, visitors would experience fear-inducing total darkness. Threading the fault line, Kyle presented a crash course in cave formations. Stalactites extend downward; stalagmites rise; sometimes they meet to form columns. Travertine dams collect minerals spilling down walls. Hollow, delicate "soda straws" form mini rain forests. A slender waterfall splashes down 100 feet. Fossils range from mussels to mastodons. Mineral formations evoke imaginary figures. Don't touch; Kyle warned, "when skin oils clog pores, rocks die." Native Indians took refuge here, cooking with the natural chimney. So did a German immigrant, in the 1840s, after trying to kill his wife's lover. The cave's original entrepreneur pulled a truck up to a catwalk and lowered tourists down in a big bucket. The dainty Pipistrellus bats in crevices? Kyle described their gentle ways. Why do the tiny white salamanders lack pigment and eyes? Cave dwellers don't need them. "This side trip became the most delightful thing we did in the San Antonio area," said Fred Beverage. The Pinetop, Ariz., teacher's family marveled at pond animals and, after ducking through tight passages, the Cathedral Room. Church services filled this 60-foot-deep chamber during World War II -- complete with an organ. Of the eerie beauty triggering communal goose bumps, Kyle said, "A cave definitely has that Americana 1950s mystique." The architect's work continues -- as does nature's. Reach Robin Tierney at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/Amazing-phenomena-and-fo lklore-below-ground-level-84147782.html
