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Crystal Cave History |
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History There is some uncertainty to Crystal Cave’s discovery but it is thought to have been discovered by William Vanasse in 1881. William, 16, was walking through the woods one day not very far away from his home when he came across a small hole in the ground. Curious as he was, he grabbed a stick and accidentally dropped the stick into the opening discovering that it disappeared into the ground. He later began exploring the actual cave itself with his younger brother descending into the deep vertical entrance, which is now the main room of the second level. The basement of the gift shop used to be a restaurant built in 1942. Being a very popular place, the restaurant used to serve about a 1000 people in any given weekend. The restaurant contained a glass enclosure that separated the air in the cave from the corrosive air above. It later closed in the 1970s. The third level, mainly consisting of the “Ball Room,” was discovered in 1941. Everything past the Ball Room, including the Refrigerator Room, was discovered in 1957. The two-thirds of the cave, not open to the public, was discovered in 1991 and is still being explored. Today, an outside organization is mapping the caves with the use of modern mapping techniques. With many owners and explorers after the initial discovery, Blaze and Jean Cunningham are the present owners of Crystal Cave. They have owned and operated the cave for over 20 years, being avid cave dwellers.
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