Secret Caverns Billboard: Discovery Cow

Cobleskill, New York

The skeletal cow is a recurring figure in Secret Caverns tableaus. He most certainly represents one of the two cows that discovered Secret Caverns -- but which one?

As we all know, two cows -- named "Lucky" and "Floyd Cowlins" -- were Secret's original explorers. Their unplanned tumble into the 85 foot deep entrance pit led to the discovery of the cave in 1928.

Billboard art researchers note that both cows have made appearances. Floyd Cowlins is usually depicted wearing a helmet and lamp, a homage to his human namesake. Lucky, on the other hand, often sports a halo. But occasionally they switch headgear, so who knows?

One guide theorizes that "they survived the fall and formed their own lost civilization of dairy cattle under Schoharie county."

Note: In Post-Millennium Secret Caverns mythology, the two cows are Floyd Cowlins and Emily Davis Moobly.