Lost River (Indiana)

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The Lost River is a river that rises in Vernon Township, Washington County, Indiana, and discharges into the East Fork of the White River in Lost River Township, Martin County, Indiana.^[1] The river's unusual hydrology has led to two of its features being named as National Natural Landmarks.

Contents 1 Description 2 Underground Segments 3 National Natural Landmarks 4 References 5 External Links

[edit] Description

The Lost River is about 85 miles long and its name is derived from the fact that at least a 23 miles of the river flows completely underground, but possibly hundreds of miles as the underground caverns have never been fully explored. The river disappears because of a series of sink holes that are abundant in southern Indiana. In one square mile there are as many as 1,022 sink holes. The river slips into and out of these sink holes at various points flowing into hidden underground caverns that connect with multiple other streams, rivers, and springs.^[2]

The River begins as a normal river in Washington County where it flows over a limestone bed (Karst) for several miles until the stream bed turns dry; the water is absorbed into the limestone and sinks beneath the surface to a hidden cavern.

The river then flows underground through a network of caves and channels through part of Orleans Township, Paoli Township, and part of Orangeville Township before reappearing on the surface near the village of Orangeville, Indiana. Where the river rises from surface in Orange County it produces a spring that is 165 feet deep with the very bottom connecting to the actual underground channel. This spring is the second largest in the state known as the True Rise because many inaccurately believe the that Orangeville Rise is the main channel of the river.^[3] The Orangeville rise is a likely tributary of the underground Lost River.^[4] The river then continues its westward flow above ground.

At most times and under most conditions, other than extreme flooding, the westward-flowing Lost River vanishes into a series of sinkholes in a river bed located close to Indiana State Road 337 four miles (6 km) east of Orleans, Indiana. The sinkholes into which the river flows are progressively the Stein Swallowhole, then Turner Swallowhole, and by far the largest th Tolliver Swallowhole.^[5] The river then flows underground to the National Natural Landmark Wesley Chapel Gulf, which is 8.3 acres large and forms a box canyon with 30-100 foot high bedrock walls, where river briefly appears before once again disappearing below the surface.^[6]

In southern Martin County the river resurfaces from another sink hole. Restored to the earth's surface, it then flows westward past West Baden Springs, Indiana and French Lick, Indiana were it flows into the east fork of the White River as a tributary.

[edit] Underground Segments

The submerged river and its tributaries probably flow through not one, but a multitude of different channels in the Orleans-Paoli area, most of which are unmapped or poorly understood. A significant number of sinkholes, some of them of significant dimensions in and of themselves, mark pathways of the underground river and its various channels. It is possible that the Lost River is carving a cave system for itself of dimensions similar to that of the Mammoth Cave system in nearby Kentucky.

In addition to the underground channels that the Lost River uses for most of its flow, the river also possesses and utilizes a dry surface bed. During flood times all or part of the river's network of underground channels becomes saturated with water, and part of the Lost River flows in its surface bed in the same manner as a normal river.

[edit] National Natural Landmarks

• Wesley Chapel Gulf - in eastern Orangeville Township, a sinkhole of 8.3 acres (330 m²), caused by the collapse of the rock roof over one of the underground channels of the Lost River. It is part of Hoosier National Forest.

• Orangeville Rise - in central Orangeville Township, a spring from which water wells up in one of the discharge points from the underground hydrological network that carries the flow of the Lost River, it is part of tributary to the lost river and not part of the main river.

[edit] References

"Indiana Atlas and Gazetteer" (DeLorme, 1998), page 57.

[edit] External Links

• National Speleological Society Trip notes on a tour of the Lost River by Spelunkers.