REMARKS: The third largest spring in Pennsylvania, having a median flow of 14,000 gallons per minute. The spring issues from a hole in a limestone cliff (Benner and Loysburg Formations, Ordovician age). From the spring, the water rushes through a short, beautiful, primitive gorge for the first several hundred yards of Honey Creek.
Beneath the hill and in back of the hole in the cliff is a large limestone wet cave. This cavern was discovered by early settlers in the region but it was not until 1926 that two boys discovered the dry cave about 400 yards upstream from the hole in the cliff and at a right angle to the wet cave. Both the dry and the wet caverns were open to the public during 1929 under the name of Alexander Caverns. An artificial opening to the dry part of the cave was driven through solid limestone to about 65 feet below the surface. A flight of 115 concrete steps was constructed. Around a turn at the foot of these stairs, a room called the Cathedral contained delicate pencils and films, giant stalactites and ribbons hanging from the ceiling, and large domes, stumps, and columns rising from the floor. It is about 300 yards from the foot of the stairs through the dry cavern Rooms named The Cathedral, Garden of the Gods, and Chamber of Statues are encountered in this part of the cave system. Where the dry cavern meets the wet cavern meets the wet cavern, a dock was constructed and visitors were taken by boat for nearly a quarter of a mile to daylight at Mammoth Spring. The wet part of the cave makes several nearly right angled turns, developed along vertical joint planes in almost horizontal beds of limestone. Delicate cave formations, stalactites, and ribbons of dripstone hang down over the water. The greater width of the wet cavern, ranging from 40 to 100 feet, and the much greater height, up to 65 feet above the water, together with the fact that this part of the cave is only accessible by water, make this section extremely attractive. The temperature in the cave is reported to be 52 degrees.
Today, Alexander Caverns is not a commercial cave. Its present owners have sealed the stairs to the cave and the water entrance to the caverns is forbidden.
REFERENCES: Flippo, H. N., Jr. [1974], Springs in Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Resources, Office of Resources Management, Water Resources Bulletin 10, 46 p.
Stone, R. W., Barnsley, E. R., Hickok, W. O., 4th, and Mohr, C. E., Pennsylvania Caves, 2nd ed., rev., Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., General Geology Report 3, 143 p.
REMARKS: A magnificent overlook; view to the northwest and southeast across the mountains. Massive outcrops of steeply dipping Tuscarora quartzite (Silurian age) form the ridge crest. The Mifflin County Federation of Men's Bible Classes erected a monument to God at this site.