History
In the past, the cave served a variety of uses. Cherokee natives mined the soil to make saltpeter for gunpowder. Saltpeter mining continued on occasion across the War of 1812, and the American Civil War. Sauta Cave was one of the largest saltpeter mines operated during the Civil War. Remains of the mining exists in the form of a wooden railroad and large iron kettles; the mining tunnels are now referred to as "The Catacombs".
In 1819, the year Alabama was admitted to the Union, Jackson County, Alabama, became a county with the county seat at Sauta. Court was held in Sauta Cave.
A building near the entrance to the cave was used as a fishing store and night club from 1919 to 1956, with a dance area near one of the entrances to take advantage of the cool wind exiting the cave. In 1962, a local National Guard unit prepared the cave for use as a fallout shelter.
In 1978, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service acquired the property to protect the endangered Indiana and gray bats. The site was originally named the Blowing Wind Cave National Wildlife Refuge. Access to the cave was restricted to scientific research on the bats. In 1999, it was renamed to its current name of Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge.
Read more about this topic: Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)