Cultural History
Nickajack Cave was mined for saltpeter by James Orr beginning in 1800. At this time, the cave was on land owned by the Cherokee Indians and this operation was conducted with their permission. This mining continued through the War of 1812. The cave was again mined for saltpeter during the American Civil War, this time by the Confederate Nitre Bureau. Page 85 of the February 6, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly shows a drawing of the cave entrance and some of the saltpeter mining and refining equipment located outside the cave. Page 285 of the January 23, 1864 issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper shows a drawing of the area inside the mouth of the cave, including the leaching vats and a tower that would have supported a water tank. Robert Cravens, a Chattanooga businessman, operated Nickajack Cave and his own cave, Lookout Mountain Cave at the beginning of the Civil War. Soon after the war started, the operation at Nickajack Cave was taken over by the Confederate government. Some time in late 1863 or very early 1864, this area was occupied by Federal troops and mining ceased. Nickajack Cave was one of the largest saltpeter caves operated by the Confederate Nitre Bureau during the Civil War and, as such, was a highly strategic site, since saltpeter was the main ingredient of gunpowder. The loss of Nickajack Cave was a serious blow to the Confederacy.
Musician Johnny Cash visited the cave in 1968, intending to commit suicide inside it, but had a spiritual experience there that caused him to stop his habit of drug abuse. Country singer Gary Allan recorded a song about this experience on his 2005 album Tough All Over.
Nickajack Cave was a commercial cave, off and on, since at least 1872. At that time, a newspaper clipping dated July 2, 1872 describes tours leaving from Chattanooga on the steamer R. J. Jackson providing trips to the cave where guides would take visitors into the cave in boats. Upon exiting the cave, the visitors could catch the train from Shellmound (located directly in front of the cave entrance) back to Chattanooga. By 1927 the cave was being shown by Lawrence S. Ashley, who supposedly disappeared in the cave during exploration. His disappearance was covered by both the local Chattanooga newspapers and the New York Times. After being "lost" from August 15, 1927 through August 22, 1927, Ashley reappears, claiming that he dug his way out through a new entrance located 8 miles away. This entire episode was a hoax designed to gain publicity for the cave and increase the number of tourists visiting the cave. By the 1940s, the cave was being run by Leo Lambert, who is also known for developing nearby Chattanooga tourist attraction Ruby Falls. A cave brochure from this time period refers to the cave as "Nickajack LaCaverns". The cave closed as a commercial operation sometime in the late 1940s. In the early 1960s, before the cave was flooded, the ruins of the gatehouse were present and in concrete floors were evident in the front passages. The entrance to the cave is extremely large. There was a small lake in front of the cave fed by the stream that flowed through the cave.
To access the interior of the cave when tours were no longer being offered, visitors had to walk about one-quarter mile down a waist-deep stream that ran through the cave. There had been a cave-in at the rear of the cave that blocked off what were rumored to be miles of additional passages.
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