Lost River - Karst Information Portal

Wyandotte Cave was first explored by
American pioneers in the year 1798,
about the same time as Mammoth Cave
(George, 1991), with discovery of the upper
level and westernmost passage. In 1818 the
cave was known as Epsom Salts Cave after the
mineral that was mined from it. It was also
called Indiana Saltpeter Cave, although some
confusion exists whether that name was actually
for the nearby cave that at present is called
Saltpeter Cave. Additional discoveries were
made in 1850 that opened into a lower level that
became known as the “New Cave.” The upper
level then became known as the “Old Cave.”
Subsequent exploration led to the naming of
the “South Branch” and the “Northern Arm” in
1850–1851. Another major discovery in 1858
opened the upper level subsequently named the
“Unexplored Regions.” In the 1960s Richard
L. Powell updated the name to the “Langsdale
Passage” because this area was first mapped by
George I. Langsdale. Many later discoveries
have increased the known length of the cave,
beginning with “The Discovery of 1941.” The
1960s survey by the Indiana Geological Survey,
assisted by the Bloomington Indiana Grotto,
finally resulted in a viable and accurate survey
of known passages and minor new discoveries.
In 1981, cave employees discovered Kings
Gauntlet, adding about 1,500 feet to the 5.36
miles that had been mapped in the 1960s
by Powell and others. In the mid-1980s,
the Wyandotte Ridge Exploration Group
discovered 3 more miles of passages in Easter
Pit. Discovery of a flash bulb in a small hole led
explorers to excavate and break into Avenue
Three of Wyandotte Cave.
The ridge that contains Wyandotte Cave
is located in the eastern part of the Crawford
Upland just north of Blue River. The upper
part of the ridge is capped with about 200 feet
of alternating units of sandstone, shale, and
limestone of the West Baden Group. The base of
186
The Geology of Wyandotte Cave
By Sam Frushour, NSS 6184
this group is at an altitude of about 620 feet near
the entrance of Wyandotte Cave. The lower part
of the ridge and adjacent valleys are underlain
by carbonate strata of the Blue River Group.
These strata contain the more or less horizontal
Mississippian age stratigraphy in the
Wyandotte Cave region. Courtesy of
Indiana Geological Survey.