Here's more about the event from a library press release:
Located near Cody, Wyoming, Shoshone Caverns was once designated a national monument and visited by "Buffalo Bill" Cody. But National Park Service officials, who managed the monument, advocated stripping its status as the agency found itself stretched too thin to manage such small sites, according to Roberts. In 1951, Shoshone Caverns was transferred to the city of Cody at the same time the federal government was dealing with adding the Jackson Hole National Monument to Grand Teton National Park, a factor that played into the politics surrounding the caverns. Roberts toured Shoshone Caverns as a high school student living in Cody, Wyoming. With the site under private management, Roberts had no idea that it had once been a national monument. I was really surprised that something that spectacular was in Wyoming," said Roberts. Eventually the site was returned to the federal government, which now manages it under the BLM. Today, the caverns have limited public access with locked gates at both the road to the cave and the cave entrance.
Running in tandem with the talk, the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibition, "Caves: A Fragile Wilderness," reveals the unique and mysterious environment of caves from Alaska to Malaysia. On view through April 28 in the library's Exhibit Gallery, the exhibition features color photos taken by 23 National Speleological Society members.For information on this exhibit and related programs, contact the library's Adult Humanities Program Coordinator, 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@will.state.wy.us.
