6—The Daily Collegian Thursday, April 23,1981 Penn's Cave tests imagination By PAMELA MACLEOD Daily Collegian Staff Writer There’s only one place in Central Pennsylvania where tourists can see the Statue of Liberty, the Straits of Gibraltar and the Loch Ness mqnster all in.one .45- Sftiinute adventure. ' " V Of course they aren’t the ' imagination the stalactites andjstalagiriit'es: of John's Cave are good imitations. The cave, located 18 miles from State College in Centre Hall, is' America’s only all-water cavern. It attracts as many as 1,000 tourists a day, said W.P. Campbell, who has owned the cave and the surrounding 900 acres of land since 1962. Before buying the area himself, Campbell was a part owner with his mother for thirty years. Campbell said his father bought the enterprise in 1908 and opened it to the public “The cave became popular when automobiles came in use,” he said. The unusual adventure begins with a walk down a long flight of stairs into the cave’s wide mouth. Tourists settle into a flat-bottom motor boat for the trip. A trained guide operates each boat, controls the spotlight at the helm and proceeds to give a synopsis of the cave’s 30-million-year history. The cave was discovered in 1795 by the Rev. James Martin, said tour guide Burt E. Stover of Centre Hall, who has been working at the cave for about two years. The first large formations that come into view in the cave are in a large area that resembles a cathedral. In addition to the Statue of Liberty, guides point out a bunch of Chiquita bananas, the pope, the dome of the Capital and a little girl. Stover said stalactites, formations which hang from the ceiling, and stalagmites, which form from the ground up, are created when water leaks through cracks in the rock. He said the minerals stay behind when water drips off the rock. Where the cracks have sealed themselves with limestone, Stover added, there are no formations. The formations and the flat rock are colored or streaked red, orange, gray, white and yellow, with some brown pnd violet. He said areaswhere the color black is visible js not natural it was made by carbon from torches ‘used to cayp before’.clectricity•. was available/ ! ’’ , “The brown, orange and yellow are iron oxide,” Stover said, “and the violet is magnesium.” Some of the stone, which weighs several tons, is fool’s gold, but most of it is limestone over a foundation of dolomite, Stover said. Many of the formations are hollow, including one stalactite called the Chimes, which strike a musical note when hit with a wooden or metal stick, Stover said. Campbell said the temperature in the cave, which is located 75 feet under the ground, remains 52 degrees throughout the year." He said water depth averages three to five feet at most points. The cave was formed when water became a whirl pool and carved the rock. Other formations include a nativity scene, a lace curtain, the garden of the gods, three wise men, a snow drift, a buddha and even a petrified Nittany Lion statue. The cave has a high natural arch and a number of pillars, formed when a stalactite and stalagmite join together, Stover said. The water is is stocked with trout, but Stover said if the fish don’t concentrate at either end of the cave they live without light and and then go blind. He said the fish eventually are born with no eyes. A tunnel at the end of the cave, built in 1927, is the only artificial section of the cavern, Stover said.lt leads to Lake Nitanee, which is inhabited by trout and large swans. Bonnie Corbo of Somers Point, N.J. visited the cave yesterday with her family and said she really enjoyed the boat trip through the cave and the surrounding forested area. “We’re on our way to the Grand Canyon of Pennsyl vania in Wellsboro,” she said. “We just saw Penn’s Cave on the map and thought because you ride through it in a ,boat it would be different. A campground, a seven-acre picnic area, a restau rant, preserve, a trailer park and an airpark .are other tourist favorites. The airpark features two, four and six passenger Piper airplanes to give visitors a different perspective on Pennsylvania Amish country and mountain terrain. Campbell said 50 to 60 percent of the visitors to the cave are from within the state, and the busy season is from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The cave even has its own legend, which Campbell said was told by an aged Seneca Indian in 1892. The story says a young Frenchman, Malachi Boyer, was exploring the wilderness when he caught sight of an Indian princess and fell in love with her. Malachi and Princess Nita-nee ran away together because the Indians would not permit them to get married. But, Nita-nee’s father commanded his sons to track them down, return Nita-nee and put the French man to death. As legend has it, the sons threw Malachi into the cavern, where he died after trying to find his way out for a week. On still summer nights, the legend says, an eerie echo rings through the cave which sounds like “Nita-nee Nita-nee.” Campbell said the University helps attract people, often parents who are bringing their children to school or are picking them up at the end of the school year. “There’s no other cave quite like it in North Ameri ca,” Campbell said. “People get tired from walking through caves, they only like to spend an hour or an hour and a half doing this sort of thing.” Photos by Janls Burger Penn’s Cave tour guide Burt E. Stover of Centre Hall explains how stalactites and stalagmites are formed when water drips off the cave rock and leaves mineral deposits behind. The cave, discovered in 1795, is America’s only all-water cavern. It features forma tions with names like the Lobster’s Claw, the Shark’s Fin and the Three Wise Men. Coburn talks on exams; \ * • The Hetzel Union Board is sponsoring speech by Ellen Coburn of the Stanley *H. Kaplan Educational Center at 8 to night in the HUB main lounge. Coburn will speak on “All You Ever Wanted to Know about Graduate School, Law School and Medical School Entrance Exams but Were Afraid,to Ask! ’’ • The Liberal Arts Student Council • Penn State Students For Life will Steering Committee at 7:30 tonight and a will hold a coffee hour from 10 a.m. to 4 meet at 7 tonight in 323 HUB. general meeting at 8 tonight, both in 322 p.m. today in 134 Sparks. , HUB. • The Penn State Entomology Club • The American Society of Mechani will sponsor a seminar on “Community cal Engineers will nominate 1981-82 stu- Ecology of Ectoparasites” at 7 tonight in dent officers at 7:30 tonight in 103 204 Patterson. . Mechanical Engineering. • The Penn State Fencing Club will hold lessons from 7 to 9 tonight in 33 * • The Newman Student Association • There will be a Health Planners and White Building will hold a coffeehouse from 7 to 10 Administrators workshop meeting at 7 tonight in the Eisenhower Chapel lounge, tonight in Human Development Living Center, • The Central Pennsylvania Society of the Archaeological Institute of Ameri- * * SUMMER AND FALL TERM RESERVATIONS FOR ★ ★ ★ j STUDENT ORGANIZATION j ★ ★ I TABLES AT REGISTRATION it| WILL BE ACCEPTED APRIL 28,1981 ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS * REGISTRATION FEE: $5/Table R . 200 REGISTER at 202 HUB ★ ijjts ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ :v.£ Kcc Student council to hold coffee hour Collegian notes LOOK US OVER, YOU’LL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE. THE CLASS RING EXPERTS. ca will sponsor a slide lecture on "The Quiche Maya” at 8 tonight in 101 Kern. • Chi Epsilon, the Civil Engineering Society, will present a graduate student seminar on “Mining as a Graduate School Option” from 4 to 5 this afternoon - in the Sackett conference room. • The Student Assistance Center is sponsoring a Student Counselor Picnic at 5 this afternoon at Spring Creek Park. Counselors who need a ride to the park should meet at the Walnut Center park ing lot at 5. ' • Today is the last day to register for the HUB Craft Centre’s second session craft classes. Registration is from noon • Block and Bridle Club will hold a to sin 312 HUB. 'HE OFFICIAL PENN STATE CLASS ... RING " moyer jewelers ONE HUNDRED EAST COLLEGE AVENUE OPPOSITE THE MAIN CAMPUS GATE Valley beautiful, ©on’t litter. i J.L« .1 njU 1 . i. . L JfA. >i .J J . L I . I .L. . J.. i >/.4 uk.l Ull v I.JllLu J . •>.. >U.u I meeting at 7:30 tonight at the beef barns. Rides will leave the Creamery at 7:15. • The College of Science Student Council will hold a meeting at 7:30 to- night in 106 Boucke, • There will be a meeting of Horizons • The Arthritis Support-group for Knowledge will meet at 7 tonight in the ground floor conference room of Centre Community Hospital. • There will be a meeting of USG Department of Women’s Services at 7 tonight in 307 Boucke. INFLATION FIGHTER ! COUPON ■ 30% OFF I at i WOOD & WICKER^ INFLATION FIGHTER B COUPON B 30% OFF WOOD & WICKER | —---H INFLATION FIGHTER | COUPON | 30% OFF WOOD & WICKER |j INFLATION FIGHTER ! COUPON J 30% | OFF ■ ai | | WOOD & WICKER | Hillel hosts local Passover services For some students and towns people, the eight-day festival of the Jewish Passover started last weekend with Seder services offered by the Hillel Foundation, 224 Locust Lane. The Seder ceremony occurs during the first two evenings of the festival celebrating the Israelites’ exodus from ancient Egypt. At the Seder, which is generally a time for family gathering, the story of the Jews from PassoVer to the present time is told. A special meal is prepared and eaten with special utensils, all of which are symbolic of Passover. In addition, the University is ac commodating Jewish students by pro viding specially prepared meals that meet the dietary restrictions of Pas sover. East Residence Association Presents An ♦♦ALL DAY CONCERT** Saturday April 25th Johnston Quad jjg Featuring: Menagerie 11-lpm Nightwave l-3pm Recording stars.... Charlie Brown and The Coasters 3-Bpm U 036 The Buffalo Chipk'ickers 8-10 pm ★ ★ ★ PENN Acctg. 101 Bi. Sc. 3 Chem. 12 Chem. 14 Cmp.Sc. 101 Classes meet Monday through Thursday, for 75 minutes each, between 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., except Chem. 14 and Ph. Ed. 5, which are offered by appointment. Adm.J. 394 Adm.J. 395 Adm.J. 396 Adm.J. 495 B.Law 243 Classes meet two evenings per week, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., except Adm.J. courses, which are offered on an independent study basis. Timetables and registration instructions for the above courses are available in 110 Shields Building, or you may contact Mrs. Joyce Rigby, Penn State/Delaware County Campus, 25 Yearsly Mill Road, Media, PA 19063, telephone (215) 565-3300. Spend a CREDIT-able SUMMER at the Delaware County Campus, Media, PA Catch up, make up, or get ahead through an 8-week Summer Term in air-conditioned classrooms. DAYTIME UNDERGRADUATE CREDIT COURSES Econ. 14 Math. 162 E.E. 813 Mgmt. 800 Fin. 807 Ph. Ed. 5 (Camping) Human. 2 Q.B.A. 801 Math. 35 Soc. 1 Registration for all classes: June 8 and 9 All classes run from June 15 through August 6 Final examinations August 7 Matzah is available for any student who asks for it in the dining halls, however applications were necessary to receive the special meals. Mitch Riese (12th-architecture) said he spent last Passover in Ger many, and this year used the services offered by Hillel. “It’s a part of my heritage,” he said. “(It’s) a history that every Jew is a part of, and a history that no Jew should forget. It helps for a better future and a continued freedom.” Of Seder services, Amy Cohen (3rd music) said, “I thought it was, a nice gesture for Hillel to hold the the serv ices. It was well organized and it had a warm, friendly atmosphere.” Lisa 1 Schertz (6th-nutrition) said, When’s the last time you wrote to mom? EVENING CREDIT COURSES Chem. 34 Engl. 435 Hist. 20 L.S. 100 Math. 6 The Daily Collegian Thursday, April 23, 1981—' “It was a good substitute for those students who couldn’t get home. Of course, anybody would prefer to be with their family, but it’s most impor tant to remember.” Passover, which begins and ends with two full Jewish holidays, is also called Pesach. It takes its name from the Biblical story of the night before the exodus, in which the Angel of Death was sent from heaven to kill the first born son of every family in Egypt. According to Encyclopedia Brittai nica, the Jews, then held in slavery by the Pharoah, were warned by God to annoint the doors of their homos with lambs’ blood so that their families would be “passed over.” Mktg. 122 Psy. 2 Soc. 13 Sp. Com. 200 —by David Barnes
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers