Though there is graffiti in the cave saying “John 1922,” it was not John Blanchard, as he died in 1914 at age seventy-four. Blanchard was also elected to two terms as Stone County treasurer. There, he built a gristmill powered by the falling spring which now bears his name. Following bitter conflict at such battles as Chickamauga, where he was wounded, Blanchard sought peace after the war ended by homesteading 160 acres in the tranquil Ozarks. Blanchard, who left his family’s plantation in Kentucky and fought for the Confederacy, enlisting in the Kentucky Volunteers in 1861. The spring (defined as a natural source of running water) that formed the cavern emerges from the mountainside in a waterfall and flows into a trout pond called Mirror Lake. Dripping water from above then deposited calcium carbonate and other minerals to form the cave features and formations, called speleothems, which continue to change as long as water continues to drip. As the water cut its way downward, seeking lower levels, it left hollow, air-filled caves. Water entered, enlarging the cavities as it flowed through and filled them. When the slightly acidic rainfall penetrated cracks and crevices in the limestone, cavities were formed. The exposed land was shaped by the elements, such as wind and rain, into mountains and rivers. When prehistoric land masses shifted, the seabed was uplifted about 300 million years ago to form the Ozark Plateau. The limestone rock from which the cave developed was formed by fossilized sediment from sea creatures at the bottom of an ancient inland sea estimated to exist about 350–500 million years ago. Three guided tours through the caves are open to the public: the Dripstone Trail (open all year), the Discovery Trail (open during the summer), and the Wild Cave (open by special reservation). Forest Service, it is considered one of the most beautiful in the country. Francis National Forest, fifteen miles northwest of Mountain View (Stone County). Blanchard Springs Caverns (BSC) is a magnificent limestone cave system starting more than 200 feet underground in the Sylamore Ranger District of the Ozark–St.
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