Nickajack Cave saltpeter works
Niter works, Shellmound, Tennessee.
- Side
- Confederate
- Kind
- Niter works
- Where
- Shellmound, Tennessee
- Years
- 1861-1863
- Today
- Park
NICKAJACK CAVE SALTPETER WORKS
The Confederate government took over Robert Cravens's saltpeter operation here early in the war, and it became one of the largest saltpeter caves worked by the Nitre Bureau. Mining stopped when Federal troops occupied the area in late 1863 or early 1864.
Then
The Confederate government took over Robert Cravens's saltpeter operation at the cave early in the war. It was one of the largest saltpeter caves worked by the Nitre Bureau.
Federal troops occupied the area in late 1863 or early 1864, and mining stopped.
Now
Park
The cave was partly flooded by Nickajack Lake in 1967 and is a wildlife refuge for gray bats run by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
The nearest railroad in service today is a line owned by CSX, about 0.3 miles away.
Nearby
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- 15 miStevenson junction and Fort HarkerUnion · Rail junction, Stevenson, Alabama
- 16 miLookout Mountain Cave saltpeter worksConfederate · Niter works, Chattanooga, Tennessee
- 18 miUnion opens the Cracker Line into ChattanoogaOctober 28, 1863, Brown's Ferry, Chattanooga, Tennessee
- 21 miChattanoogaUnion · Depot, Chattanooga, Tennessee
- 21 miChattanooga rail junctionConfederate · Rail junction, Chattanooga, Tennessee