Re the recent discussion of Austin Caverns:
NSS Bulletin 10, The Caves of Texas (1948), has material on Austin
Caverns. NSS members can get a PDF file of that bulletin from the NSS
web site (Member Portal->Member Central (log on with NSS # and ZIP
code)->NSS Bulletin). The scan is low-res and has noticeable JPEG
artifacts. It has been protected against printing, extracting
contents, etc., but anybody who lets that stop him has never Googled
"remove PDF password." Because of the quality of the scan, Acrobat had
some trouble "reading" (OCR) the text, but below is the main article
on Austin Caverns, from p. 44. For a reason known but to some
fussbudget, that issue of the bulletin is not available on KIP.-- Mixon
The cave is within 1,000 Ylards of Lake Austin
, in an area iQf massive .!imestone ledges. Most
of the commercial history of this cavern ~ystem
has been 10st. lot was operated for a short period
in 1932 but soon was closed and the entrances
blasted. The lold entrance has reopened itself
in the past few years and now permits admittance
into the first four chambers of the old
cavern.
This is the first Texas cave of which we have
printed record. On February 5, 1840, The
Telegraph and Texas Register, of Austin, published
the following account :
An extensive cave has been discovered near
the City rOf Austin. The entrance of this cave
is situated in an elevated plain, upon a hill about
three mile,s distance from the city, ·in a westerly
direction and across the Colorado.
This entrance forms an apepture about eight
feet long and four lor five wide, rendered irregular
by; ·projecting angular fragments of rocks ;
and sinks sudd'enly, like a well, to the depth of
a few feet. From the bottom of this aperture
two passages extend into the rocks nearly at
a right angle from each other. The smaller
of these, which is about six feet wide and three
or four high, extends towards the north in a
horizontal direction ; and alt the distance of
about 100 feet from the entr.ance becomes so
narrow that a man of ordinary size can with
difficulty penetrate farther. Here numerous small
passages extend obliquely upwards iiHo the rock.
The other and main passage of the cave is
about twice as large as the former, extends in
an easterly direction obliquely downwards about
100 feet, where it opens into a chamber about
-twenty feet wide, tl1irtYI feet long and five or
six high.
Many narrow passages extend beyond this,
and probably communicate with iQther 5ubter-
ranean chambers that have not yet been explored.
The walls of this cavern are limestone.
Small stalacti·tes have formed upon them and
in many places unite with stalagmites from the
floors, forming small, irregular columns. These
are generally opaque and of a dull, dingy white
color. The floor of the cavern is generally covered
with a deep bed of dirt, in whcih are encliQsed
man y bones of bears and other animals.
It probably contains large quantities of nitre.
The ,walls of this cave exhibit in every part
the action of a current of water and evince its
origin. There are probably in the neighboring
hills many similar caverns, which have been
worn in the 110cks byl subterranean torrents.
The original cavern system was reported ,
doubt.less with great exaggerat'ion, as being about
seven miles long. At least ,it mU'st have been
much larger .than tl1e areas now accessible. A
large number of unexplored cracks and fissures
in the nearby limestone give rise ~o the hope that
a new entrance may 'be discovered to the section
of the old system which ha.s been cut off by the
blast.
These chambers, which still can be entered,
appear olo have been greatly altered, perhaps by
the blasting. The lar'gest is about 50 feet by
30 feet by 6 feet high. Stalagmites throughout
this room have been curiously sheered off in
such a way as to show clearly that they once
were taIler than the present height of the room.
This apparent phenomenon may have resulted
from a sudden lowering of the ceiling.
Although the formations are badly weathered,
there are some interes,ting dii9plays of
fresh white calcite crystals and flint outcroppings.
The prepond'erant color throughout results
from il1on. There are a ,few smaIl travertine
and flowstone deposits. No fauna was observed
although ,there were numerous strands
of spider webs in evidence.
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Research is known to the state of California to cause cancer in
laboratory animals.
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