Longhorn Cavern
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
Nature, awe-inspiring for its beauty and power, keeps some of its most impressive work hidden from sight.
Nine miles southwest of Burnet, in the Texas Hill Country, the magnificent subterranean world of Longhorn Cavern provides a stunning still-life of stalactites and stalagmites, calcite channels, sparkling crystals and rock “draperies” frozen in motion.
The cavern, now a State Park, began life millions of years ago as a thick layer of limestone, worn away by water – first as seepage, and then as a roaring underground river.
A constant temperature of sixty-eight degrees and a layer of flint for tools, made the space attractive as shelter for the Comanche people who inhabited the area hundreds of years ago. One of the cave’s chambers is fittingly named “Indian Council Room.”
The Confederate Army discovered the cavern in the 1860s, and used it to manufacture gunpowder in secret during the Civil War. And, fascinating still, is the rumor legendary outlaw, Sam Bass, used it as an underground hideout.
Discover the geology and the history of Longhorn Cavern State Park. Find more information at passporttotexas.org.
Tomorrow: Your chance to take part in a Wild Cave Tour.
That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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