The visitor center at Jewel Cave National Monument is split into two parts: a small building that has a theater and film about the monument, and a slightly larger main building with the visitor center, gift shop, and modern entrance/elevator to the caverns. I watched the film and it is definitely worth seeing to help novice geologists like me to understand the different formations and history.
The main visitor center starts with a rocky scene describing the Ponderosa Pine forests, how fire shapes the forests and under-story, and details of the local animal life.
The largest section of course covers history and geology of the Jewel Cave. The caves were discovered in the year 1900 by two brothers investigating a small hole in the limestone cliffs where they felt a breeze blowing out. After using some dynamite to open up an entrance they found the immense crystal walls, and several years later in 1908 it was proclaimed a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. Many of the walls are styled to look like pervasive dogtooth spar and nailhead spar calcite formations.
The most interesting part (to me, at least) is the map of the cave structures covering a huge section of wall. Keep in mind the scale of this drawing: the estimated length of the entire cave system by air volume is somewhere between 4,000-7,000 miles for round numbers. The discovered areas mapped here are only 3-5% of the total cave, and already the drawing looks complex and chaotic. Can you imagine what a full map would look like? Someday as more areas are explored, who knows what they will uncover.
Still have a bit of time left before the next tour starts up. Time for some lunch and maybe a short hike.
Lat = 43.7302589 , Long = -103.8292999 -- Show at Google Maps