Longhorn Caverns was a cool speakeasy
By Tom Linton
Contributor
Published June 4, 2008
Editor’s note: This is an occasional series of columns about Tom Linton’s travels to
the state parks of Texas with his dog, Brigid.
The Rural Electrification Administration was formed by the federal government in
1935. Prior to that, the use of electricity for cooling around Burnet was as rare as a
liquor store on the courthouse square. But before the Depression days came along,
spending money was in fair abundance in the area. These were the days of
Prohibition! These conditions provided a business opportunity for the owner of the
land on which (and under which) was located what was to become the present day
Longhorn Caverns State Park.
This is an unusual state park — it is a concession operation. Bids are solicited from
would-be concessionaires who wish to operate the park for a part of the revenue
derived from visitors to the caverns — after a portion is paid to the state. The state
pays for repairs or replacement of major elements in the park (i.e. electrical
systems, sewer systems, etc). Smaller expenses such as those for maintenance and
upkeep are the responsibility of the concessionaire or operator.
When coming up from the coast to visit Longhorn Caverns, the last town we passed
through was Burnet. This town got its start as a station for a company of Texas
Rangers. The station was later the site for a federal fort, Fort Croghan. Both of these
installations were established to provide protection to frontier settlers from Indian
raids — Indians who used Longhorn Caverns as a meeting site.
And on our tour through the caverns, the guide said that Sam Bass, a Texas folk
hero (and bank robber), used the caverns as a hide-out on occasion. This occupancy
generally occurred after Bass had plied his trade, and “the law” got a little too close
for comfort.
Before the Rural Electrification Administration was created, no air-conditioned
entertainment venues existed. So dancing with your honey on a Saturday night in a
three-piece suit and tie could cause you to work up quite a sweat.
Then along comes Mr. Entrepreneur.
Not only can you stay cool while dancing in my naturally air-conditioned cave
restaurant, but there is gambling and booze as well! Hallelujah, I have found the
Promised Land!
A wooden dance floor was constructed in the cave. A stone and cement bar was built
off to the side of the dance floor. There was a dining area where the food prepared in
a kitchen above ground was served. There was a shaft from the kitchen area down to
the dining area. The food was transported down to the customers by means of an
elevator device. Thus no lingering odors of food down below!
Further into the recesses of the cave, there were gaming devices. At these, unlike
there being no lingering food odors, most of the money the patrons brought in
probably did linger there.
Well it was a resounding success (apparently unmolested by the law), until the
Depression hit in the ’30s and the money played out. So the caverns were sold to the
state for a park, and that is what they have been ever since.
Those who remember Galveston in the “old days” can sympathize as a kindred
mourner for that which has forever passed. But just as Galveston has turned to a
more acceptable form of tourist entertainment, so have those operating the
Longhorn Caverns.
On our tour of the caverns, we strolled over a fairly smooth cement pathway as the
guide pointed out the many fantastic sights. There is a chamber in which the walls
seem to be made of diamonds. And that is what the Civilian Conservation Corps
workers thought when they first uncovered it.
By the light of a kerosene lantern, that would be an easy mistake to make — but a
mistake it was. That cavern is still known as The Diamond Room. There was among
the many embedded in the wall, one single crystal the size of a soccer ball. The
guide put his flashlight on the side of it, and the flashlight beam passed through,
because of the crystals clarity, as through a pane of glass.
I took 75 pictures, because that is so easy to do with a digital camera and the sights
in the cavern are so spectacular. The only one that was too difficult to capture in the
confines of a picture was the “Queen’s Guardian.” This naturally formed “statue”
(that looks like a dog) was unearthed by Civilian Conservation Corps workers as they
were removing the 50,000 cubic yards of earth and rubble that had been washed
into the cavern over time. The material was dug up by hand with pick and shovel and
transported out of the cavern by a wheelbarrow — the route lighted only by kerosene
lanterns.
When the “Queen’s Guardian” was unearthed, it was loaded into a wheelbarrow and
transported up to be cemented in at the place where it still stands today.
Mark Twain used a phrase to describe what I thought to be the ultimate in dark
conditions — “Dark as the inside of a cow.”
I have one now that beats that condition hands down — dark as inside Longhorn
Caverns. We were deep inside the cavern and the guide said, “I will demonstrate
total darkness for you.” He turned out the lights and he delivered what he promised.
I only mention this to prepare you for the offer that he mentioned of optional tours in
the cavern. One is called the Wild Cave Tour. In this little fun-filled frolic, you have
the “opportunity” at one spot to slither along on your belly like a snake for 40 or 50
feet, then climb up, or maybe it was down, but it made little difference. I quit him
back at the slithering point in the trip.
The other optional tour has to do with endangered species that inhabit the caverns.
That they were ever found is almost beyond my comprehension. There may be more,
but the two the guide mentioned were a sightless fish and a sightless crayfish.
Getting to their location makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck just
thinking about it.
Apparently, there are a series of water-filled chambers (underground lakes) beyond
where the “civilized” caverns tour ends. To see the fish and crayfish, one must pass
through these bodies of water. The guide said he had gone in there many years
before and described the trip as follows: “You swim on your back, move yourself
along by kicking your feet and pushing off with your hands against the roof of the
chamber. There is in some cases only a few inches of space above you where there
are air spaces so you can breathe.” He said it took them about seven hours to go in
and come out. This is done, I assume, for a considerable amount of the time total
darkness.
I have no interest in undertaking Wild Cave Tours or endangered species viewing to
be able to give a first-hand account of these “experiences.” I do, however,
recommend going to see those unbelievable beautiful creations of nature along the
“civilized” tour route there below the earth. But the images of these wonders, I
found, it seems can only be carried out in one’s memory; they just overwhelm
cameras.
Tom Linton is president of the Friends of Galveston Island State Park.