8. Caves Of Fiborn Quarry.

  Fiborn Quarry sits at the heart of an area of subtle but unusual character. A narrow band of nearly pure limestone, within a larger mass of less pure rock of the Niagara Escarpment, outcrops here. Situated between wetland areas to the south and the Hendrie River to the north is a place where time, mankind, and nature have left a unique imprint.

1930's aerial photo of Fiborn Quarry, misspelled on original.

  In a region where caves are otherwise unexpected because of a general absence of nearly pure limestone and the recent passing of glaciers with their scouring effect, several significant limestone caves developed by the action of underground drainage of mildly acidic waters passing through fractures in the Fiborn Limestone. While the Fiborn Limestone occurs at varying width through nearly the entire length of the Niagara Escarpment running along the southern portion of the Upper Peninsula from Drummond Island to the Garden Peninsula, it is here, around Fiborn Quarry, that ideal conditions exist of thirty or more feet of Fiborn Limestone sitting near the surface, penetrated by the concentrated wetlands waters draining into the Hendrie River.

Cave at Fiborn Quarry, around 1930.

The caves are small in comparison with much older caves formed in more massive bands of limestone that exist in other regions of the world, such as those in Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, yet have grown to a comparatively large size in a short amount of time, probably forming mostly within the last 7,000 to 10,000 years. Today, the steady process which formed the caves continues to dissolve and erode the limestone.

A.C. Lane's 1901 map of land which would eventually be quarried. Blue markings represent cave openings.               The trail is believed to date to the mid-1890's.

  The quarried land once contained at least two substantial caves and many other features related to the process of water moving through limestone. From District Surveyor H. Brevoort in 1845 to present day residents of this area, people that visited the site often examined the caves. Now, although most features of the quarry site have been excavated, they can be visited in previous forms through the records of visitors. While any Native history of the quarry site remains unknown, the likelihood that the woodlands cultures visited or used the site also is worth considering.

9. A Series Of Letters.     7. The Big Bang.