Lewis & Clark Caverns In A New Light

By Lynette Kemp, Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park Manager

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Visitors to Montana’s Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park will be treated to a first ever true-to-life view of the caverns’ Paradise room. This favorite among the caverns’ locations now boasts the latest in cave lighting technology. The new lighting enhances the natural reds and purples in the rock and other subtleties never seen before.

The project to relight the caverns has been underway for two years. In addition to the full lighting of the Paradise Room, radio service was installed throughout the cave to provide dependable communications between parks tour guides and instant communications should there ever be an accident in the cave.

The Caverns were originally lit by an electrical system installed in the late 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.   With only minor upgrades over the years, the electrical system did not meet modern electrical codes.

Relighting Montana’s Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park required a team of dedicated, disciplined professionals because the caverns are a geologic treasure dependent on a fragile and difficult to maintain underground environment.

Meanwhile, advances such a LED lighting created new opportunities to enhance the visitor’s experience by bringing out the true, rich colors within the caverns. New lighting could also help protect the cave environment by reducing the heat generated by traditional lighting. Elevated temperatures can encourage the growth of algae in a cave environment.

There were many unknowns for contractors trying to bid on work in such a fragile environment. Their employees had to attend a four-hour orientation and received instruction on such basics as where they could walk and where temporary workstations could be set up.

Workers had to wear gloves at all times inside the cave to avoid introducing foreign bacteria and other organisms that could change the cave environment over time. Workers also had to honor the "no food, drink or tobacco in the cave" rule. Only electrical power tools could be used. Any paint or solvent work had to be done outside of the cave and later carried in. Finally, much of the work was done over winter, with a constant 48-degree temperature in the cave.

Detailed maps of the caverns were created in 2006 by Bob Richards, Cartographer for Cave Graphics out of Dolores, Co., including natural cave features, formations and passage locations, a trail route, current light positions, electrical wire locations and railing and stair locations. More than a mile of cave passageway was mapped during this project. That includes 7,437 feet of cave with a total depth of 580 feet. The lighting design work was based on this map. Fussell Engineering of Missoula designed the electrical distribution and communications systems and new handrails.  

The lighting designer for the cave was award-winning lighting designer Frank Florentine of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D. C. Florentine brought the latest techniques in cave lighting, including programmable LED lights to the Paradise Room.

Future plans include new lighting throughout Lewis & Clark Caverns. So, next time you visit Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park don’t be surprised to see it in a new light.