Today we made a trip over to the Longhorn Caverns. Stella and I have been here but it was several years ago. Both of the boys wanted to come to the caverns.
Here is our guide Leona, giving us an introduction and history of the caverns. The caverns were used by the Mohawk and Tonkawa Indians for shelter and tribe meetings in some of the larger rooms. The caverns were also used by Confederate soldiers to make and store dynamite. The explosives were made with some minerals and bat guano found in the cave. In the 1920's, during the prohibition era, the cave was used as a speakeasy. It had a more modern use when Lyndon Johnson was President, when it was used as a bomb shelter for him. The limestone found in the cavern is a good insulator from radiation, which would protect the President. She said that there were a lot of supplies left behind when Johnson left office.
This is a part of the natural entrance to the caverns. The State of Texas owns about a mile and a half of the cavern, which continues on for about six and a half miles.
This is a natural sculpture called the Queen's Watchdog. It was originally found in the Queen's Chamber.
More natural formations.
The milky looking walls and ceiling are limestone and were formed thousands of years ago when an underground river existed here.
Interesting rock formations
This is one of several halls found in the caverns. The entire tour was a little more than a mile and took about 90 minutes to complete. It was nice and cool in the top of the cave but very humid in the bottom. We all enjoyed the tour but we were pretty tired at the end.
So long.
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