Lots
of people have heard of Carlsbad Caverns and Mammoth Cave, but few
would suspect that Arizona, home to four of the great deserts in
North America, would have a wet, living cave that is still making
formations. That's because most people don't know that Arizona was
once covered in shallow seas that formed layers of limestone, or that
our desert soil, so rich in minerals, also has pockets of underground
water.
Two
people who did know these
things were Randy Tufts and Gary Tenen, amateur cavers who followed a
hunch. Kartchner Caverns,
by Neil Miller, tells the story of how these two men discovered and
preserved one of the great natural wonders of Arizona. The story is
full of twists and turns, much like the cave itself.
We
learn that caving clubs in Arizona are a secretive bunch for very
good reasons: caves, like fossils, Indian artifacts, and petroglyphs, are the targets of considerable greed and
destruction. This book documents some of that, illustrating the
ticking clock that threatened Kartchner Caverns once it was
discovered.
Yet
even Tufts and Tenen were surprised by just how long that clock ran
– 25 years slipped by while they plotted, planned, and recruited
allies, including the family that owned the land. At any point in
this story, someone could have revealed the secret and doomed the
cave. Why this never quite happened is the reason this book is just
as much a thriller as it is the biography of a cave and its
champions.
Randy
Tufts and Gary Tenen were two very different people who were united
in their love of a cave and their passion to both share and preserve
it. Their differences could have driven them apart and doomed the
cave, but instead those differences balanced their partnership and
made them an excellent team. My take on the situation after reading
this book is that there were some essential qualities that made it
possible for Kartchner Caverns to become a state park: passion,
dedication, and patience as infinite as the patience of a cave that
turns dripping water into beautiful formations, ion by ion.
The
book is lavishly illustrated with photos of the cave and the people
who loved it. It also contains a timeline and a bibliography. Deftly blending science with
Arizona history, Kartchner Caverns,
like the place itself, is something you'll want to visit again and
again.
