Wednesday, September 11, 2013

West Liberty, OH 8/28/13

West Liberty Ohio is home to the largest Ohio cave system, the Ohio Caverns.  The Ohio Caverns were first discovered in 1897 and had a 25 year tour run as Mt. Tabor Cave Tours in .25 miles of the cave.  Sadly, visitors destroyed the caves contents, removing crystals and writing on the cave walls. 

In 1922 two brothers from Dayton Ohio purchased the property and did a major excavation and mapping of 3.5 miles of tunnels, and later opened the caves in 1925 under the name the Ohio Caverns.  The Ohio Caverns are unusual in that many different types of crystal formations are found in this one location.  Included are iron oxide formations; manganese dioxide formations; calcite formations:  stalactites, stalagmites, columns, flowstone, soda straws, and helictites; and Dual Formations.  The Ohio Caverns is the only known cave in North America to have Dual Formations, which are characterized as being a formation growing on another formation.  In the Ohio Caverns there are calcite stalactites growing on the ends of iron oxide formations.  The number and beauty of the formations here are impressive and the cave is very active with approximately 90% of its stalactite and stalagmite formations still in an active state.

We ended our afternoon with some good BBQ.  I must point out, however, that Bob has not left retirement to open a BBQ place ( other than in his dreams).  But it was a fun and tasty stop on the way back to Wilmington, Ohio where we were calling home for a few days.

Ohio Caverns-Active Stalactite (see the drip?)
 Ohio Caverns
Ohio Caverns-Dual Formations
 Ohio Caverns
Ohio Caverns
Ohio Caverns
Bob's Dream


 

 

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