Robber Baron Cave -- San Antonio TX
N 29° 30.532 W 098° 27.417
14R E 552632 N 3264488
A small, very environmentally sensitive cave in a quiet neighborhood in Northwest San Antonio. The waymark coordinates are at the entrance to the parking lot to the cave.
Waymark Code: WMK89Q
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/27/2014
Views: 14
Robber Baron Cave is a maze cave hollowed out of the Austin Chalk that underlies much of Texas. It is the longest known cave in San Antonio, and home to two endangered species, the Robber Baron Cave Mesh Weaver, and the Robber Baron Cave Harvestman.
Robber Baron cave was an exhibit cave on the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, when it was closed. In the 1990s the family that owned the cave donated it to the Texas Cave Management Association, which protects it and conserves it for the future.
The entrance is a natural sinkhole, and has been reinforced with concrete and an iron gate to keep out vandals and preserve the environment that supports the endangered species within.
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"Robber Baron Cave is an extensive maze cave with numerous interconnecting passages. The cave is in a highly urbanized area and has been regularly visited for the last century including a period when it was operated commercially. As a result the cave has been heavily impacted including many areas of vandalism and graffiti.
Robber Baron Cave is one of the most significant of the over 500 Bexar County (San Antonio), TX caves. It is the longest known cave in the county with 5340 feet (1627.5 m) of mapped passages. This cave has many interesting features including a large sinkhole entrance, a geologically complex two-dimensional maze of passages, a rich history, and several unique species, which live only underground.
Robber Baron Cave probably has an origin related to the Edwards Aquifer, even though the cave is in the Austin Chalk limestone. Biological studies have discovered several blind invertebrate species found nowhere else on Earth. In December 2001, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) listed two of these species as endangered. The cave is also the only one in the county that has been open to the public as a tourist attraction, when from 1923 to 1933 an estimated 300,000 people toured the cave. As San Antonio grew, the cave became part of a densely urbanized area and subject to problems of vandalism, graffiti, and unauthorized visitation.
Acquired by TCMA in 1995, Robber Baron is now protected as a karst resource, to not only preserve its unique biology, geology and history, but also to provide a place where people can learn about and experience the underground environment."