Illinois Caverns is a state natural area in the New Design Precinct of Monroe County, Illinois

Monroe County, Illinois

Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 32,957, which is an increase of 19.3% from 27,619 in 2000. Its county seat is Waterloo...

. It features Illinois Caverns which is alternatively known as Mammoth Cave of Illinois (also Burksville Cave, Egyptian Cave, Eckert Cave). Illinois Caverns is the second-largest cave in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 and has more than 9.6 km of passages. The cave has a constant temperature of 58 °F (14.4 °C), and portions flood during wet weather. Passages can be twenty feet (6 m) high and just as wide. It is located off Illinois Route 3

Illinois Route 3

Illinois Route 3 is a major north–south arterial state highway in southwestern Illinois. It has its southern terminus at Cairo Junction at the intersection of Interstate 57 and U.S. Route 51, and its northern terminus in Grafton at Illinois Route 100...

, south of Waterloo

Waterloo, Illinois

Waterloo is a city in Monroe County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,614 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Monroe County.-Geography:Waterloo is located at ....

, near the unincorporated community of Burksville

Burksville, Illinois

Burksville, Illinois is small unincorporated community in the historic New Design Precinct of Monroe County, Illinois, United States. Originally developed by John P. Brown, Burksville was named in 1857 after John G. Burkhardt, a resident of St. Louis, who opened a store there in 1851 It lies along...

.

History

What is now known as Illinois Caverns hosted its first paying customers in March 1901, operated by a Mr. White of East Saint Louis. It is the only cave in Illinois to have been commercially operated, attracting many visitors from St. Louis during the 1904 World's Fair. However the cave was never considered a commercial success (it closed in 1907), and had remained almost completely unimproved, excepting the extant concrete entrance stairs and a single ladder. When the cave and environs were sold to the State of Illinois in 1985, care of the site was entrusted to Armin Krueger, until his death.

Geology

The cave was, and in fact still is being formed in the Mississippian limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 (CaCO₃) and dolomite

Dolomite

Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....

 (CaMg(CO₃)₂) (or karst

KARST

Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

 common to the region) by water dissolution, and includes cave formations such as stalactite

Stalactite

A stalactite , "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem that hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves. It is a type of dripstone...

s, stalagmite

Stalagmite

A stalagmite is a type of speleothem that rises from the floor of a limestone cave due to the dripping of mineralized solutions and the deposition of calcium carbonate. This stalagmite formation occurs only under certain pH conditions within the underground cavern. The corresponding formation on...

s, rimstone dams

Speleothem

A speleothem , commonly known as a cave formation, is a secondary mineral deposit formed in a cave. Speleothems are typically formed in limestone or dolostone solutional caves.-Origin and composition:...

, flowstone

Flowstone

Flowstones are composed of sheetlike deposits of calcite formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave. They are typically found in "solution", or limestone caves, where they are the most common speleothem. However, they may form in any type of cave where water enters that...

, and soda straw

Soda straw

A soda straw is a speleothem in the form of a hollow mineral tube. They grow in places where water leaches slowly through cracks in rock, such as on the roofs of caves...

s.
The cavern is a branchwork type cave, which generally consists of a central cavern and stream with smaller passages and tributaries branching off. Numerous circular, crater-like depressions

Sinkhole

A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...

 are evident in the area surrounding the entrance, easily visible from the air or space. These are typical of both the area and karst topography in general

Cave Fauna

Fauna in the cave includes bat

Bat

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...

s, salamander

Salamander

Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...

s, frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

s, crickets

Cricket (insect)

Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...

, amphipods, and isopods. Illinois Caverns is home to the federal endangered species Gammarus acherondytes

Gammarus acherondytes

Gammarus acherondytes is a species of crustacean in family Gammaridae. It is endemic to the Illinois Sinkhole Plain of Monroe and St. Clair counties in southwestern Illinois, including Illinois Caverns State Natural Area. Historically it was known from six caves, but in a survey in 1995 the species...

(a.k.a. Illinois Cave Amphipod). This species of amphipod is found nowhere else in the world except a few neighboring caves located in the southwestern Illinois karst.

Visitation

Persons desiring to enter the cave need a permit; see official web site below for more information. A minimum of four people per party is needed for entrance into the cave. Each person needs to have a hardhat, boots, sturdy clothing, and three sources of light. At times some portions of the cave may be off-limits, these areas should be clearly marked.

To reach Illinois Caverns from the north, take Route 3 south past Waterloo about two miles, make a right on Kaskaskia Road. In Burksville, make a left onto KK Road heading east, then a right on G Road, the entrance is on the right, about two and a quarter miles south of KK Road.

From Red Bud, take Route 3 north for about five miles and make a left onto II Road. Bearing left at Sportsmans Road, proceeding through Tipton and bearing right at the Y intersection with R Road, to remain on II Road for about five miles, until it crosses G Road. Make a right and the entrance will be on the left, less than a mile north of II Road.

Map

http://lh4.ggpht.com/nbluedorn/SMK4C87ut2I/AAAAAAAAI6Y/zA6lU67bCSA/s400/adventure_map_illinois_caverns_2004.png
Follow link to a map of Illinois Caverns.

External links

• Illinois Caverns - State Natural Area