This Cave Has An Underground LAKE | Cosmic Cavern | Northwest Arkansas ALIVE (Season 06, Episode 12)

[Music] we're at cosmic caverns in Bearville Arkansas we're gonna go 90 feet underground and check out in underground lake let's go today I'm here with Pam she's gonna be our tour guide prior to this you were a schoolteacher no I was a schoolteacher in Dallas for close to 25 years and when we decided to retire we decided this would be a beautiful part of the country to retire to and so we moved up here and I found this job in you know they say that if you find the perfect job that it's not work I think I have so what are we doing today first off I'm gonna take you right outside of the opening and we're gonna go on go over some of the rules of the cave and then we will go on down into the cavern if you'll follow me please sounds great [Music] on this here tour there will be no smoking no drinking there course language no chewing or spitting gum work tobacco products these are good solid made in the USA stairs and built to last 92 years old they were not designed by an engineer they're a little steep hang onto the rail one step at a time you should go down and come back up do you have any questions or anything I need to know before we move on I think we can handle it [Music] [Applause] [Music] our cave was originally discovered in 1845 by a man named John Moore he and his sons were out in this area doing some prospecting they were looking for a specific type of or called Galina Galina when it's processed becomes led they did not find any Galena or gold or silver or anything else but they did discover the cave-in when they got back to civilization they reported their find this was named Moore's cavern in their honor and that's what it was called for about forty years in the early 1890s a geologist came through came into the cave whipped around said you don't have any precious metals you also don't have any precious gems no diamonds emeralds rubies you do have something worth a lot of money if you're willing to put forth the effort to get it out and that's this done cave on its cave onyx is mostly made out of calcium like our teeth and bones this rock weighs 5 pounds saw it go for about 40 cents this rock weighs 25 pounds we know because we weighed it it built for about $2 which doesn't sound like a lot of money but remember we're talking about 125 years ago back then it was very common for a grown man to be paid a salary of the dollar a day so that one rock right there was worth 2 day's wages definitely worth it to mine it out down a few flights of stairs now you can definitely feel the change in temperature how far below ground are we we're about 90 feet beneath the ground right now there's a farmyard above us you wouldn't know it to look but it is this looks like a great place to park a Batmobile but since we do not have that or there any rare earths or anything of value that was found in these caves either naturally or perhaps Confederate gold oh that would be a nice nice little treat no we have our cave onyx which has been mined for years what was the cave onyx used for cave onyx was used for everything from candy dishes candlestick holders jewelry doorknobs you name it they made it [Music] [Applause] [Music] Wow this is amazing where are we at now we have a undergrown lake here yes we do this is the South Lake we have two lakes down here this boat was brought down through the opening you just came through back in 1993 when Randy discovered the North Lake he brought this boat down so he could get from one end of the lake to the other end of the lake without having to swim through 46 degree cave water so it could continue his explorations was a good first been oh maybe not right now okay [Music] so this is North Lake and this is where we'd normally stop the tour is there a expanded tour oh yes there is that's called the wild tour it's in the evening it's by reservation only you go down these stairs across that 80-foot catwalk and you step out into the back of the cavern but there are no ramps no rails and no walkways it's just about the condition that Randy found it in you have to be at least 16 you have to be in really good physical condition because it is an extreme sport its spelunking and it's basically mountain climbing under the ground a little more adventurous a little bit more dangerous a lot more wild but we have wonderful tour guides that will take you back there and take good care of you [Music]

Channel: Northwest Arkansas Alive

Views: 1,622

Rating: 4.818182 out of 5

Keywords: NWA Alive, bentonville, fayetteville, crystal bridges, walton family, walton family foundation, nwa, northwest arkansas, bike, arkansas, trail, nw arkansas

Id: _zlGvEyHjLM

Length: 6min 5sec (365 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 24 2019