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Marengo Cave yields over 90,000 coins to help The Nature ConservancyIt had been over eight years since the “Penny Ceiling” of Marengo Cave National Landmark's Dripstone Trail tour route had been cleaned. The coins formed an almost solid cover on the ceiling so that it was very difficult to get any new money thrown up to stick to the silty mud. A tradition started nearly a century ago would come to an end, if some of the money was not cleaned off soon.In February, park management decided reluctantly to take on the task. Finally, after two months of work the job is finished, at least for now. The money cleaned from the Marengo Cave "Penny Ceiling" and wishing well has been cleaned, sorted and counted. A total of nearly 91,000 coins were collected from the ceiling and pool. The total face value of the United States coins that were collected totaled $3,855.56. This money, made up of 90,370 coins, is now on its way to the Federal Reserve for redemption. Because of corrosion, electrolysis of dissimilar metals and dirt and grit that could not be removed during washing in a cement mixer, the money can not be returned to circulation. The total included 5,750 quarters, 12,218 dimes, 11,806 nickels and 60,596 pennies. The total weight of this money was nearly 500 pounds. In addition several hundred additional coins from foreign countries and money too corroded to be redeemed was also taken off the ceiling. Most of the foreign money was from our northern neighbors in Canada. The other major foreign contributors were Germany, Britain, France, Japan and Korea. Hundreds of hours of staff time were needed to collect, clean, sort and count the money. Financial institution counting and sorting machines can not be used on the money because of the dirt and grit. It can not be cleaned well enough to prevent jamming sensitive bank counting equipment. Everyone at Marengo Cave is glad to have this job behind them. According to company president, Gary Roberson, "there wasn't any aspect of this job that was really fun". The collecting is dirty and tedious, the money doesn’t clean up well, the sorting was really boring and the counting was tedious too. Everyone agreed that they weren't looking to the next time it needs cleaned. National Landmark management is pleased, however, to be able to make a sizable donation to The Nature Conservancy (TNC). TNC is actively involved in protecting the southern Indiana cave country and the Blue River. Through the Conservancy’s Blue River Project, they are educating area residents and spending a lot of time and resources to preserve the caves and river, which form nature’s plumbing system in this area. |