Lost River - Karst Information Portal

Crawford Upland morphology, and the nowwet
bed of Lost River. At State Road 56 turn
right (west) and travel about 1.0 mile to the
State Road 56 intersection with State Road 145.
Turn left (south) at the triangle intersection at
Prospect and travel south to West Baden and
French Lick.
Stop 10: Travel to Campground from
French Lick via Patoka Reservoir,
Eckerty, and Marengo
This stop is also a driving tour as we drive
back to the Campground. We will take the
Orangeville Road and State Road 145 to the
historic gambling towns of West Baden and
French Lick then travel south via State Road 145
past Patoka Reservoir to Eckerty Junction, and
then east on State Road 64 to Marengo, and then
south on State Road 135 to the campground just
south of Marengo. The scenic route to the NSS
Campground is about 47 miles long, and takes
about one hour. (See Figure 37.)
We will be passing numerous sandstone
and other outcrops of the Stephensport Group
strata south along State Road 145 past Patoka
Reservoir, then the lowermost Pennsylvanianage
sandstones and shales of the Mansfield
Formation beginning just north of Eckerty
and then east on State Road 64 from Eckerty
Junction for 5 or 6 miles before passing back
through the Chester Series into the Blue River
Group limestone exposed near Marengo. The
creek and river bottoms contain alluvium
derived from the Crawford Upland.
French Lick and West Baden Springs
French Lick does not describe a favorite
caver delight, but rather harkens back to the
early French colonization of southern Indiana
and the nearby salt licks and mineral springs.
The springs are the mineral-laden discharge
from the porous sandstones of the Upland.
These mineral springs, located in a valley of the
Crawford Upland, became a village which grew
into an early resort area as the springs became
famous for their restorative powers. Folks
would come from across the nation to “take
the cure” with the local favorite, “Pluto Water.”
Lost River Field Trip
Eventually two major hotels with large casinos
would be built in the early1900s: the French
Lick Springs Hotel with it’s classic southern
style veranda and the West Baden Springs Hotel
which is known as the “Eighth Wonder of the
World” as it is the largest free-standing arched
roof enclosing a huge interior mutli-story
dining area surrounded by sleeping rooms, all
of which opened onto the vast void. The early
casinos, while then illegal, drew the rich and
famous, including many Chicago gangsters like
Al Capone and Dave Haun in a more leisurely
time when travel by train to a resort area was a
desirable vacation. Golf and use of the springs
was also hugely popular. Over time the glamour
faded, and Prohibition and enforcement of
gaming laws led to the sad slide and decay of
the facilities. A local billionaire named Bill
Cook began to restore the West Baden Hotel
several years ago after a 1980s law change led
to gaming throughout Indiana on riverboats.
The recent relocation of the boat reserved for
Patoka Reservoir to a newly excavated “lake”
between the hotels has brought legal gaming
back to the area. Both historic hotels have
been refurbished and are now an opportunity
for a return of the glory years for “The Valley.”
Basketball legend Larry Bird grew up here
and collected garbage before going on to star
at Indiana State University and some eastern
team. If some locals have their way, there will
be huge numbers of Indianapolis-area folks
coming down to gamble. They could demand a
four-lane highway be built across the sinkhole
plain of the Lost River basin to avoid Paoli and
local two-lane roads, potentially reigniting old
conservation efforts.
Patoka Reservoir
The 8,800-acre Patoka Reservoir was
completed in 1979 and is owned by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. The reservoir has
impounded the Patoka River which heads in
southwest Orange County, and then flows
west by having down cut as an antecedent
stream through the Crawford Upland. It is
another regional base control of the karst
and is separate from Blue River and Lost
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