Gallop to Horse Cave

[Cheryl Jones]

Gallop to Horse Cave
Hidden River is a cool treat for hot summer days

By Susan Reigler
sreigler@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Unless you are prepared for it in advance, a drive along Horse Cave's Main Street can be unsettling. That's because just over the sidewalk, on the other side of an iron fence, is a very big hole in the ground. And this is no urban construction site. It's a cave.

The town is built right over Hidden River Cave, which for decades was a source of drinking water and electric power for Horse Cave.

Less fortunately, for many years, the cave also served as the town's giant septic tank, and the ecology of the underground habitat was nearly destroyed.

But after nearly two decades of cleanup and restoration, blind fish, blind crayfish, bats and other cave-dwelling fauna have returned to Hidden River Cave, which is also open to visitors as the centerpiece of the American Cave Museum.
Read on!
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[Komebeaux]

The first time I visited Hidden River Cave was around 1989. I was 12 years old and had just began caving that summer. You could only walk down into the cave about 20 or 30 feet before the smell would overwhelm you. The river in the cave was murky and almost black. After I came out, I had this coppery taste in my mouth. That visit was all it took for me to join ACCA. I was thrilled to learn some years later that their efforts in getting the sewage treatment plant built were a success and the cave was restored.

Great success story.