The Geography 360 class from the
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire took a one day field studies trip
to Crystal Cave. The class was broken up into five groups, each
groups explaining different aspects of the cave they thought were
important.
Crystal Cave was discovered in 1881
by two teenage brothers in the town of Spring Valley, Wisconsin.
Spring Valley is located in the middle western part of the state, about
50 miles west of Eau Claire. One of the brothers was hiking
through the woods near his house one day and stumbled across an entrance
to the cave. The next day the two brothers went back to the cave
entrance and one lowered the other into the cave. The two brothers
only explored the first two caverns of what has come to be known as
Crystal Cave. In 1941, exploration of the lower caverns began and
eventually lead to Crystal Cave reaching a depth of 70 feet below the
earth's surface.
