More To Explore Underground

Project Brings Accesses To Cavern Room, Lagoon

Donald Locander shows students from St. Raphael Catholic School in Springdale how they would have needed to crawl to see this portion of the cave before it was opened up during an expansion project. Workers used dynamite to open a 94-foot tunnel to a part of the cave that contains formations and a lagoon.
Donald Locander shows students from St. Raphael Catholic School in Springdale how they would have needed to crawl to see this portion of the cave before it was opened up during an expansion project. Workers used dynamite to open a 94-foot tunnel to a part of the cave that contains formations and a lagoon.

ROGERS — Visitors to War Eagle Cavern now see part of the cave only belly-crawling, mud-covered spelunkers have explored.

A project to tunnel through layers of rock and provide access to a cavern room is complete. Now, curious adult customers and excited groups of school students can lay eyes on a crystal-clear lagoon in a garage-sized room at the end of the tour. There’s 100 additional feet of cave for visitors to see.

Workers spent the winter tunneling through limestone to reach the room and lagoon, said Dennis Boyer, owner of War Eagle Cavern. Several sticks of dynamite later, a 94-foot tunnel — 10 feet high and 12 feet wide — was finished in time for this year’s visitor season.

By The Numbers

New Tunnel

• 30: Number of charges of dynamite required to complete the tunnel.

• 8 to 10: Number of sticks of dynamite per charge. Also the number of tons of rock loosened per charge.

• 300: Total tons of rock removed from the cave.

• 10: Height of the tunnel in feet.

• 12: Width of the tunnel in feet.

• 3: Number of months it took a crew of seven to build the tunnel.

• 1: Number of movies filmed in War Eagle Cavern. “Frank and Jesse” was shot partly in War Eagle Cavern in 1994. Actors included Rob Lowe and Randy Travis.

• 58: The average Fahrenheit temperature inside the cave.

• 60: Number of minutes visitors spend on the cave tour.

• 4: Known miles of passages that make up the cave.

• 479-789-2909: Phone number for War Eagle Cavern information. Or visit www.wareaglecavern.com.

Source: Staff Report

The completed tunnel looks natural, as if it has been part of War Eagle Cavern for millions of years.

“It turned out better than anything we thought it would be,” said Donald Locander, a cave guide who worked on the tunnel.

A concrete walkway and energy-efficient lighting completed the project.

Boyer said the venture is a $100,000 investment in the business he and his wife, Vicki, purchased in 1997. The cavern is near the intersection of Arkansas 12 and Rambo Road, close to Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area.

Two experts who make their living in commercial cave improvement were among the crew of seven who worked three months on the tunnel. They assured Boyer blasting inside the cave was safe. The crew hauled 300 tons of rock out of the cave with a small front-end loader.

One surprise was the different minerals revealed when slabs of limestone tumbled down.

“Some of it appears to be lead or zinc,” Locander said.

They also found pyrite, or “fool’s gold.”

“We actually hit a vein of quartz crystal,” he said.

Cave tours used to end where the tunnel now begins. Reaching the room and water feature previously required belly-crawling 100 feet through a mucky passage that was only 12 to 24 inches high. Now, visitors can walk to this area in their Sunday best and marvel at water so clear it’s hard to gauge the depth.

Students from St. Raphael Catholic School in Springdale were among the recent school groups to tour the cave and the expansion. Locander, their guide, asked students to guess how deep the lagoon is. A foot, not much more, some youngsters chirped. It’s actually 4 feet deep, Locander told the wide-eyed children.

Ralph Brown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, tagged along with the students on their tour. He’s on a cave safari, touring several commercial caves in the Southeast. Brown said he’d never have known the expansion was man-made if the guide hadn’t mentioned it.

Visitors gaze upon cave formations and an underground stream on the one-hour guided tour. Exploring the entire cave could take days. Locander said there are four miles of passages in War Eagle Cavern. An avid spelunker, Locander said he and his caving buddies have found an additional 1,000 feet of passage not on the map of War Eagle Cavern on display in the gift shop.

Wild cave tours are offered at certain times of year to parts of the grotto beyond the tour section. The going isn’t difficult, Locander said, but cavers should wear knee pads, bring more than one source of light and expect to get dirty. The guided wild cave tour is for ages 11 and older.

War Eagle Cavern was a favorite of residents before it was converted to a commercial cave in the 1970s. Before that it was called Bat Cave for the impressive number of bats seen in its mysterious interior. Dances took place in a room just beyond the cave entrance. Musicians liked playing there for the acoustics, Locander said.

The shuffling shoes of cave tourists have replaced dancing feet inside the cave with no belly-crawling required to probe deeper inside.

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