OTUS THE HEAD CAT State to turn Capitol catacombs into retail hub

— Dear Otus,

I read that Gov. Beebe finally released $8.5 million in state funds to build a tunnel connecting the Capitol with the Big Mac offices on the Capitol grounds.

That's great news. What about the caves beneath the Capitol? Will the public be able to tour them?

- Arawn Tuatha, Herpel

Dear Arawn,

It was wholly a pleasure to receive your e-mail and an additional pleasure to join you in rejoicing that the governor has finally come around to this important investment in our state's future.

It was a spurious argument from myopic and niggardly quarters that denigrated the need to keep legislators dry during inclement weather.

The collective odor emanating from a pride of wet legislators is foul and rank and highly unpleasant, but that was not the main reason for the need of a tunnel.

If Arkansas is ever to be considered anything but the poor red-headed stepchild in the family of states, we need to keep up with the Joneses. Thirty-eight otherstates can boast of tunnel complexes beneath their capitol grounds.

And that's not to mention underground facilities that can be found in such progressive cities as Montreal, Toronto, Houston, Texas, Portland, Ore., and Seattle. These modern underground concourses are replete with restaurants, shopping malls, amusement facilities and public transit.

Closer to home, Oklahoma City has an underground tunnel system and aboveground skywalks that connect all downtown buildings in a 20-block area.

These tunnels protect citizens from the weather and pigeon droppings. They are clean and dry and easily swept of the panhandling human detritus that eschew the city's many fine shelters in preference to cardboard boxes in back alleys.

We in Arkansas havesomething unique and we can thank the bulldog persistence of prescient House Speaker Robbie Wills for finding a way to get Gov. Beebe aboard the tunnel project.

Affable and hygienic Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said, "Once the governor was shown the tourism potential of the Capitol underground and how a tunnel would pay for itself in five years, he was the first in line to buy a ticket."

Instead of constructing new tunnels, Wills' proposal is to connect and refurbish the long-closed tunnels that were constructed on the site when it was the grounds of the state penitentiary.

The imposing prison, known as "The Walls" for its 65-foot-high brick enclosure, was completed on the site in 1840 and enlarged over the years. It was, in its day, far from downtown.

Over the next 50 years, a series of underground tunnels was constructed to connect the prison with nearby railroad tracks and storage facilities beneath what is now the Multi-Agency Complex (Big MAC) to the west.

Of primary interest, however, are the extensive caverns that honeycomb the Capitol grounds.

The eight miles of caves, which stretch as far south as West 16th Street and west to Lee Avenue at North Pine Street, were mined for bat guano during the Civil War (the saltpeter in guano was used to make gunpowder). They were first described in the 1804 journals of Jefferson-appointed explorers William Dunbar and George Hunter.

They noted that the small natural entrance, which is now buried beneath the Capitol steps, was "narrow and principally of calcareous stony matter with some feculum."

Noted British botanist Thomas Nuttall visited the caverns in 1819 and described the large "cathedral room" as "commodious but subject touncomfortable vicissitudes."

Over time, state prisoners eliminated the vicissitudes and carved an artificial entrance that enters the caverns beneath what is now the offices of Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox. The Capitol building replaced the prison and was completed in 1915.

The caverns will be opened for public tours and an estimated 850,000 annualvisitors are expected to take the "Spelunker Special" (box lunches provided with entertainment by Secretary of State Charlie Daniels and his Family Band) at $10 a head. The tunnel will pay for itself in no time.

Until next time, Kalakareminds you it's all worth it to keep our lawmakers dry.

Disclaimer: Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat's award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. E-mail:

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HomeStyle, Pages 40 on 09/26/2009

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