Lost River - Karst Information Portal

He formed a short-lived partnership with
William Burrell, MD. They mined saltpeter
in addition to Epsom salts, because there was
still demand to make gunpowder. Saltpeter was
also used as a preservative in Louisville’s meat
packing industry.
By 1818, all the mining had probably
ceased at Wyandotte. Failing to sell the cave,
Adams opted to suspend payments to the
Jeffersonville Land Office, and once again the
cave and property became public land. People
knew about the cave and when they went there
for recreational cave exploring, they sought
lodging at nearby neighbors, especially with
Henry P. Rothrock or the Siberts. Rothrock
operated a grist and sawmill on Blue River and
needed additional timber to fuel his operation.
In 1847, he purchased a section of timberland
north of his house, which came with what was
then called Dr Adams Cave.
Visiting cavers had often pressed for too
much of Rothrock’s time and hospitality
and he turned most away. One day between
November 20 and 24, 1850, Norman Jay
Colman, a young, brash attorney, from New
Albany, with a penchant for mischief, and
Harvey Link, MD, from Greenville, showed
up at Rothrock’s house. They talked their way
into the cave and asked young Henry Andrew
Rothrock to guide them. Along the way they
met three cavers, O’Bannon, John Milton
Cummings, and Collinswood from Fredonia
who wanted to tag along and see the cave. They
explored what today is called the Old Cave.
While taking a respite in Bandits Hall, and
enduring Colman’s practical joke of a bandit
robbery on the men from Fredonia, Colman
observed bats flying out of a small hole in the
floor and reasoned more cave might lie beyond
the constriction. Securing digging tools from
Rothrock’s house, they commenced moving
rock and excavating a hole just big enough for a
man to shinny down. Colman was the only one
with enough caving experience and courage
to make the descent. In no time, the low
crawlway passage opened up into a large room.
Making his way back and reporting his find
was enough inducement for the party to see for
A Historical Narrative of Wyandotte Cave
themselves and they all entered the New Cave.
Passing through one big room after another,
exploration stopped at the largest room in the
cave near a flowstone-choked passage too small
for a man to fit through. Procuring more tools,
the Auger Hole was breached large enough for
11-year-old Henry Andrew Rothrock to push
through and confirm the existence of yet bigger
cave. The exploration party went to Crawfish
Spring in the far north end of the cave.
Colman’s newspaper report put Wyandotte
on the map as a place of exceptional beauty
and large extent. The one thing the discoverers
found was that they were not the first to see
these wonders. Myriads of footprints and torch
material established that American Indians had
been here before. Researchers later determined
that the Indians had been using the cave for
over 3,000 years (2200 B.C. to A.D. 800) and
had mined onyx, chert, and Epsom salts.
Colman’s article as well as another one even
better by Alex S. Burnet caused a parade of cavers
to make their way to Wyandotte. Needless to
say, Henry P. Rothrock was swamped with new
visitors seeking admission. With only three
other commercial caves existing in mid 1851,
he established a hotel ledger, a bill of fare for
lodging, food, and admission rates to the cave.
His small house and out buildings could not
accommodate many people and some had to
sleep on the ground under the stars. He built a
larger home with cabins in 1860, and even those
were not spacious enough to accommodate the
visitor influx. At different times two fine hotels
(1866 and 1934) were constructed up on the
hill near the cave entrance. Both succumbed to
fire in the 20th century (1933 and 1955). The
high level spring that supplied processing water
to the saltpeter and Epsom salts works now
serviced the hotel and would remain a public
water source into the 1960s.
Tourist facilities at Wyandotte were
comparable with Mammoth Cave’s, although
on a smaller scale. Each offered similar
amenities, equaling the health spas of the era
without the benefits of foul tasting water. Oh,
there was always the Sulphur Spring near the
Auger Hole to make up for any difference in
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