Here is something interesting...
I went on a tour of Marvel Cave that was being lead by Jack Herschend and his son Bruce. It was very interesting. Jack talked about moving to the Ozarks from Chicago. It was quite an adventure for him and his brother Pete. His mother Mary Herschend wasn't so excited. She had a hard time transitioning and it was Miriam and Genevieve Lynch that helped her ease into the mountain lifestyle. Mary was the first to have indoor plumbing in Stone County, this was in the 1950s, that wasn't long ago. The cabin that is in the cave was originally in the Mammoth Room, Jack moved it to the Harold Bell Wright Passage when they took the tour out of the Mammoth Room. (Here is a possibility: the Lantern Tour this next season may start going back there soon) Jack also told us stories of building the walkways and the cable train. Engineers told Jack that the train couldn't be done. The tracks would have to make too tight of a turn and the train wouldn't make it. Jack and the family chanced it, with successful results. If it didn't work he said that there wouldn't be a Silver Dollar City, they literally put every penny they could find in the project. He spoke about riding the train up the hill for the first time and how it wasn't a triumph. They tied two different sizes of cable together and it didn't work out. The train went rushing backwards crashing into the cave tunnel. Jack survived with several broken bones and a stay in the hospital. (If you have ever been on the trains the seats use to go from the top of the cars to the bottom rather than side by side) He laid down in the middle of the seats and held on tight. There are more stories to tell that I will share with you later.
Oh, and Bruce Herschend told me a funny story about Thunderation. When they were planning the ride they asked him to survey and check out the possibilities of making the ride do a helix into the cathedral room. This is for reel and very funny. Can you imagine a rock, even a small one falling while the coaster flew through? Obviously it never happened.