Mystic Caverns
is a commercially operated show cave located on the Newton County
and Boone County line in North-Central Arkansas. It is near Marble
Falls, AR and 8 miles south of Harrison, AR.
This region
of the Ozark Mountains is believed to have been settled in the
1830’s. Marble Falls was at that time the community of Wilcockson,
which boasted a large population in the late 1800’s.
The original
sinkhole entrance to Mystic was a dirt slope leading to a 10 foot
drop into the cave. We assume that early settlers were aware of
this entrance and that the cave was visited prior to 1850. Pine
torches were likely used for exploration at that time. The earliest
physical evidence of visitors dates back to 1919. A gentleman
by the name of Adam Kolbe carved his name and the date on a formation.
It reads:
The land
owners, Jim & Bob Gurley, installed a wooden ladder into the
sinkhole entrance and leveled the cave floors to establish trails
and opened it to the public for the first time. The tours were
conducted by the Gurleys with kerosene lanterns as a light source.
The cave
was now called "Wild Horse Cave" for a hand-carved,
wooden horse which stood near the ticket office. The ticket office
was located a few hundred feet south of the present Mystic Caverns
sign, and on the east side of the highway.
Visitors
were led across the dirt road to a crude trail which led down,
then back up the steep Mill Creek canyon, and then further up
the hill to the cave entrance. An interesting history note to
mention at this point is that Mystic could have very well been
the second cave in Arkansas to open commercially.
Onyx
Cave in Eureka Springs was the first opened to the public in 1893,
followed by Diamond Cave (Jasper), in 1925, and Cosmic Caverns
(Berryville,) in 1927. If Mystic was in fact open for tours prior
to 1925, it would indeed be the second commercially operated cave
in the state of Arkansas.
