Lost River - Karst Information Portal

een known as the
Wet Clifty Cave and
was so named prior
to the development
of Cave River Valley
Park. The entrance
to the cave is at the
head of Clifty Creek
and a few hundred
feet south of the Dry
Clifty Cave, now
called Endless Cave.
The entrance to
River Cave is quite
pretty with a dam built
across it. This dam is
a reconstruction of
a similar one used to
power a mill which
once stood at the
present site of the cabin. The mill, which was
owned by a Mr Robertson, operated until the
late 1890s. The actual entrance passage is 4 to
6 feet high above the water and about 10 feet
wide. Inside it increases rapidly to 14 feet high
and at this point a dry side passage may be
entered by climbing a mud bank on the right.
Washington County Caves
Cory Grabczak at the River Cave entrance. Photo by Ty Spatta.
Sean Lewis on huge breakdown in River Cave. Photo by Brian Killingbeck.
This passage contains the only formations in
the cave. Returning to the boat, one continues
upstream for another 350 to 400 feet to where
the boat must stop for lack of water. Here the
passage is about 12 feet high. A series of chert
lenses hang from the roof of the cave on stalks
of limestone. Beyond this point the stream runs
over a chert and gravel
floor. There used to
be electric lights to
this point and a few
wires and sockets still
remain. Near this
point a small waterfall
sometimes cascades
down into the middle
of the passage from a
hole in the ceiling.
The only large
room in the cave is the
result of a secondary
collapse, producing
one especially large
chunk of breakdown.
A short, dry crawl
leads off to the left
at this point. After
a short distance, a
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