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. Natural history At least three endemic species were exterminated when the cave was inundated in 1967 – the crustacean Caecidotea nickajackensis, the pseudoscorpion Microcreagris nickajackensis and the ground beetle Pseudanophthalmus nickajackensis. Today, Nickajack Cave is a Wildlife Refuge, operated by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The cave is home to a bat colony that is estimated to number over 100,000 bats. The cave is a maternity roost where pregnant female gray bats come each spring to give birth and raise their young. There is an observation deck adjacent to the mouth, where visitors can watch the bats leave at dusk to go feed. References Citations Additional sources Thomas C. Barr, Jr., "Caves of Tennessee", Published by the Tennessee