The Cave of the Mounds is a National Natural Landmark about 20 miles west of Madison. It was discovered in 1939 when a local farmer leased the area to a
contractor who wanted limestone for road construction. They drilled a lot of holes and put in about a ton of black powder. When the dust settled they found a huge hole in the ground and the start of a major cave system.
Realising what they had found, they covered the entrance, built walkways and an entrance and opened it to the public. Since then they have had many thousands of visitors.
We had to wait a short while for the next tour. So we wandered round the gift shop,
which contained many stones and fossils but most from other places in the world.
Then it was underground and on with the tour which was well lit and well
presented.
| Just so you can remember,
stalactites hang down from the ceiling (like the T) and stalagmites rise up (forming
mounds). There is quite a lot of flowstone here which is common in this
type of wet cave. The temperature here is a constant 50ºF
which felt a bit cool to us. We did also need our coats because it had been
raining a lot in recent days and the water was dripping freely from the
ceiling. |
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