Longhorn Cavern State Park - Burnet, Texas
Posted by: 
txoilgas
N 30° 41.076 W 098° 21.056
14R E 562167 N 3394828
Our earliest records indicate that the Comanche Indians were the first to use the cavern. They came in about 400 years or so before anyone else did.
Waymark Code: WM5PFH
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/30/2009
Views: 21
Longhorn Cavern, a Registered Natural Landmark since 1971, is the focal point of 639-acre Longhorn Cavern State Park. Formed by tremendous underground water flows, the cave has attracted man and animal alike since prehistoric times. Around the turn of the century, an entrepreneur even built a dance hall deep in the belly of the cave! When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began work at Longhorn Cavern in the 1930s, many of the cavern's chambers were filled with dozens of feet of silt and debris. To protect the cavern and its ecosystem, the CCC blocked off the four natural entrances to the cave, leaving one (gated) entrance--it is through this entrance that visitors pass to begin their subterranean tour. Once home to over two million Mexican freetail bats, Longhorn Cavern now has a small population of solitary eastern pipistrelle bats.
The cave has been used as a shelter since prehistoric times. Among legends about the cave is one that the outlaw Sam Bass hid a $2 million cache of stolen money inside. Confederates made gunpowder in the cave during the Civil War. Legend also says Texas Rangers rescued a kidnapped girl from Indians in the cave.
The cave was first formed when the ground levels of water began to drop. As this downward movement occurred, the water began to dissolve the limestone. This downward drainage continued until great underground stream beds were cut out of solid rock. It is this unusual combination of dissolving and cutting by water that makes Longhorn Cavern one of the most unique caves of the world.