Known today as Indian Echo Caverns, this large cave whose entrance opens onto the Swatara Creek 10 miles east of Harrisburg was originally deeded to a Hugh Hays in 1754 from the proprietors of the Pennsylvania colony.The cave was known then as the Swatara Grotto and most likely had been attracting visitors for a half century or more. One in particular had been known of for as long as Europeans had been active in the region. Some of them however are large enough to constitute well know landmarks. Most of the caves are small in size when compared to other karst regions in United States, but none the less would’ve been notable features of the local landscape. The Pennsylvania Dutch Country is home to hundreds of caves, thousands of springs and tens of thousands of sinkholes.
These edenic lowlands not only gave rise to world class soil but also to a very distinctive type of landscape known as karst.Ĭaused by limestone’s chemical vulnerability to solutionally aggressive rain water, karst landscapes are typified by the presence of sinkholes, sinking streams, large springs and caves. Another characteristic of the limestone was it’s tendency to form the low lying, rolling topography in between ridges of more resistant shale and sandstone. This prime acreage they found mainly in the valleys and more often than not the bedrock beneath their farms was limestone whose chemical composition was ideal for the creation of mineral rich ultra-fertile topsoil. They surveyed the landscape and noted where the oak trees grew the biggest and the underbrush the thickest. They looked for well watered land with an abundance of springs and streams upon which to forge a new life, in a new world after a long and often deadly Atlantic crossing.
As Germans flooded into the region in the early 18th century, fleeing wars and seeking land, they quickly settled on what would become some of the most productive farm land in the world. There is a distinct connection between the agricultural potency of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country and the three commercial caves located within it - limestone.
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