MARVEL CAVE

'Marvel Cave' is a National Natural Landmark in Branson, Missouri. The popular theme park Silver Dollar City originated with it. Originally called Marble Cave, after early explorers saw what they thought was marble on the cave's ceiling. This started the Marble Cave Mining, Co., later they realized there was never any marble in the cave.

Contents

Osage Indians

Early Explorers

Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company

Marble City

The Lynches

The Herschends

Tour Experience

Rooms and Passages

Notable Formations

Osage Indians

The Osage Indians knew about the cave and called it the Devil's Den because of the strange sounds and heat the sinkhole emitted. They believed it was the gateway to hades. One story of the cave says that during the early 1500s, the Indians were on a bear hunt. They chased the bear up to the Devil's Den, and the bear fell onto a ledge. One of the young boys followed, and both the bear and the boy fell to their deaths into the sinkhole, landing in the Catheral Room. The Indians in the area later marked the trees around the Devil's Den with their danger sign and never returned to the cave.

Early Explorers

The first expedition was in 1869. Henry T. Blow of St. Louis, a lead mining magnate, explored the cave with six other miners. They found no lead before returning to St. Louis, but were convinced that the flat ceiling of one room contained marble, so they named the cave Marble Cave.
No more expeditions took place until 1882 when another group of entrepreneurs, led by Mr. T. Hodges Jones and Truman S. Powell of Barton County, entered the cave in hopes of finding lead. Jones and Powell found huge amounts of guano and the flat ceiling, which they also believed to be marble.

Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company

In 1884, Jones bought the property and, with several of his friends, formed the Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company to mine the cave. By 1889 much of the guano had been mined from the cave, the marble ceiling proved to be limestone, and no lead ore was found. The mining company, which had developed so quickly, closed all operation.

Marble City

Marble City was a small town that formed along with the Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company in 1884. The city eventually changed its name to Marmaros, the Greek word for marble. It was located on the rough hilltop near the cave and recorded a plat map at the courthouse in Galena, Missouri. Marmaros contained a hotel, general store, pottery shop, white oak furniture factory and was rumored to have a saloon. The town turned into a ghost town in 1889 after the Marble Cave Mining, Co. closed. When the Lynches bought the cave, the town was burned to the ground by the local group of vigilantes known as the Baldknobbers, although Legend says the town was destroyed by the Baldknobbers after a bar room fight.

The Lynches

In 1889 when William Henry Lynch, a Canadian miner and dairyman, purchased the cave and Marble City for $10,000. Lynch, with the aid of his family, proposed to open the cave to sightseers. The Lynches began operation of the sightseeing venture in 1894 with a grand celebration and a few visitors. The venture was not immediately profitable and was closed until Lynch raised additional capital to reopen the cave sometime after 1900. The cave has remained open since, making it one of the oldest continuously running tourist attractions in the Ozarks.
When William Lynch died in 1927, ownership of the cave passed to his daughters. Shortly there after, the name of the cave was changed to Marvel Cave. The Lynch family operated the cave for nearly fifty years.

The Herschends

A Chicago vacuum cleaner salesman, Hugo Herschend, purchased a 99-year lease on the cave.
After Hugo Herschend's death, which was five years after he began managing the cave, his wife Mary took over the day-to-day operations of the cave. With the aid of her two sons, Jack and Peter, Mary Herschend was able to make vast improvements to the cave, including a train which pulled visitors a distance of 218 feet, from the depths of the cave up to the surface.
Once the train was in operation, the Herschends felt the development of the cave was complete and immediately began to search for ways to expand their growing attraction. Anticipating additional tourists to the Ozarks, they wanted to create an attraction which would attract even more tourists to the cave.

Tour Experience

After being briefed in the Hospitality House, the tour starts by walking down towards the entrance of the cave. The tour enters and walks one flight of stairs down on the tower, and the guide starts talking about the Indian history of the cave. Next, the tour walks down the tower and the rock pile. The tour stops to get individual pictures taking. After the pictures, the tour stands near the Liberty Bell. The guide now talks about the cathedral room, formations, connecting rooms, and passages. The tour continues down the Serpentine passage, to the Egyptian Room also known as the Shoe Room; because of the foot shaped ceiling. The guide then turns the lights out, and lights a candle to show what early explorers saw. The guide continues in the candle light to talk about early explorers, the mining company. Finally, the guide blows out the candle so the tour sees the little natural light in the cave. The lights are turned back on and the tour continues ...

Rooms and Passages

★ 'The Cathedral Room' is one of the biggest entrance rooms of any cave. The roof lets some sunlight in through a sink hole. There is a pile of rubble from rocks and trees that fell through the sink hole. The Statue of Liberty would fit inside this room, with the torch sticking out of the sink hole. Also, the room is large enough for five single person hot air balloons to be flown at once inside.

★ 'The Cloud Room' is a room where formations on the ceiling look like clouds.

★ 'The Mammoth Room' is where most of the bats in the cave are located.

★ 'The Disappointment Passage' is a short passage toward the bottom of the Cathedral Room. Its name is from the disappointment explorers had after discovering its short length (approx. 100').

★ 'The Serpentine Passage' is a passage that connects the Cathedral Room to the Shoe Room.

★ 'The Shoe Room' is named for the shape of its ceiling, which looks like the shoe print of a human.

★ 'The Gulf of Doom' under the "heel" of the Shoe Room is a pit once thought to be bottomless, after an explorer dropped a rock down it and heard no sound. The real reason there was no sound was because the pit was filled with bat guano.

★ 'Tall Man's Headache' is a passage with a low ceiling, the smallest passage in the guided tour. It is about 4' 7" tall, and 7' long.

★ 'The Mystic River Passage' is a small water-filled passage that has not yet been explored to its end.

Notable Formations

★ 'The Liberty Bell' is a stalactite. It gets its name from its shape, and the crack on its side. The crack was made when it fell from the ceiling, and now it's on the cave floor. After falling, it continued to grow on the floor. It is hollow and can fit four to five adults inside. It was originally called "The Great White Throne".

★ 'Blondie's Throne' is a flow stone located near the end of the tour of the cave, the name comes from its obvious resemblance to a throne. The name "Blondie" comes from a story about a boy (Charles Smallwood) who was lost in the cave in the late 1800s or early 1900s. He was later found sleeping near this formation, and the first thing they saw in the candle light was his blonde hair. While there is a legend that some substance in the cave turned his hair blonde, it is more likely that the boy was known for his blonde hair.