Show caves include Cave of the Mounds near Blue Mounds, Eagle Cave near Blue River and Crystal Cave, discovered in 1881 in Pierce County. The cave is considered the state’s largest commercial cave and opened for tours in 1942, according to its website. The other two semi-developed caves are the Ledge View Nature Center Caves near Chilton and Cherney Maribel Caves County Park in Manitowoc County.

Soule, who has traveled the world studying caves and who has toured virtually every one of the nearly 200 show caves in the U.S., said Kickapoo Indian Caverns may not be as spectacular in terms of formations when compared to Cave of the Mounds but it is a bigger cave room.

In addition, tours could be expanded into other chambers of the cave system that have not been previously open to the public. Other attractions like a zip line or campground could also make the property more commercially viable. Extensive work on the access road would be required and a restoration of the museum and gift shop would also likely be needed, he said.

“Kickapoo Indian Caverns has tremendous potential for development,” Soule, 64, said. “It’s a scenic part of Wisconsin and I think as tourism develops in the area the potential there is really quite significant.”