The Lockport Cave can refer to one of two caverns beneath the city of Lockport, New York. One of the caves formed naturally in the underlying dolomite and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...

s, whereas the other is a hydraulic

raceway RaceTrac, Inc. is an American corporation that operates a chain of gasoline service stations across the Southern United States. The firm is Georgia's third largest private company, with sales of $9.1 billion in 2013. History The company was fou ...

(

water tunnel Water tunnel may refer to: * Water tunnel (physical infrastructure), a tunnel used to transport water, typically underground * Qanat water management system * Water tunnel (hydrodynamic), an experimental facility used for testing the hydrodynamic ...

) constructed in the nineteenth century. Historical and recent accounts of attempted exploration of the natural cave system exist, although the cave has been sealed since 1886. The true size of the cave remains a mystery, although it is speculated to have an area of several square miles. The Lockport Cave Company was formed in 1883 to explore and remove mud from the cave, however little progress was made because of inadequate funding and frequent flooding. The man-made hydraulic raceway, often called "The Lockport Caves" by locals, was constructed between 1858 and 1900. The raceway supplied water to local industries for decades, and now contains a tourist attraction, the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride. The canal received national attention in 2023 when a tour boat capsized, killing one person and injuring several; this incident has led officials to explore regulation of this kind of attraction.

References

External links

*
Lockport Cave website
Caves of New York (state) Landforms of Niagara County, New York {{NiagaraCountyNY-geo-stub