OFfICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SPELEAN …Spelean THE JOURNAL OF . History . OFfICIAL PUBLICATION . OF . THE AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION -1 ~~ VOLUME 18, No. 2 . April-June,

THE JOURNAL OF

Spelean History OFfICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION

-1 ~~

April-June 1984VOLUME 18 No 2

- - - THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY - - shy

Volume 18 No 2

THE ASSOCIATION

The American Spelean History Association is chartered as a non-profit corporation for the study dissemination and intershypretation of spelean history and related purposes All persons who are interested in those goals are cordially invited to become members Annual membership is $500 family membership is $600 and library subscriptions are $400 ASHA is the official history section of the National Speleological Society

FRONT COVER Photographs of three men associated with the discovery and early exploration of Wind Cave South Dakota Tom Bingham (left) John Dennis (upper right) and Edmund Petty (lower right) Bingham and his half~brother Dennis were supposedly present when the entrance was located in 1881 Petty partici shypated in an exploring trip to the cave in 1881

Officers

President Joel M Sneed 4300 Maner St Smyrna Georgia 30080

1st Vice President Larry o Blair 192 Sequoia Dr NE Marietta Georgia 30060

2nd Vice President Gary K Soule 224 S 7th Ave Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin 54235

Secretary-Treasurer Jack H Speece 711 East Atlantic Avenue Altoona Pennsylvania 16602

April-June 1984

THE JOURNAL

The Association publishes the Journal of Spelean History on a quarterly basis Pertinent articles or reprints are welshycomed Manuscripts should be typed and double-spaced Submissions of rough drafts for preliminary editing is enshycouraged Illustrations require special handling and arrangements should be made with the editor in advance Photos and illustrations will be returned upon reshyquest

BACK LSSUES

All copies of back issues of the Journal are presently available Early issues are photocopied Send requests to Jack H Speece (address given below with officers) Indexes are also available for volumes 1 2 3 4 and 5 All issues of volumes 1-72 are available

on microfiche from Kraus Reprint Comshypany Route 100 Millwood New York 10546

Official Quarterly Publication of AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION

History Section National Speleological Society

Journal Staff

Editor Marion O Smith P O Box 8276 UT Station Knoxville Tennessee 37996

Printer Mike Whidby 924 Corning Road Knoxville Tennessee 37923

HISTORY OF WIND CAVE SOUTH DAKOTA

Gary Schilberg

Introduction

The Black Hills of South Dakota have a rich and varied history evoking memshyories of George Armstrong Custer Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane and about a half-dozen individuals named Deadwood Dick of cowboys and Indians ranchers and miners outlaws and lawmen and sporting women Less well known to historians or moviegoers alike are the stories of the limeshystone caverns of the Hills particularly Wind Cave the first and foremost and for many years the largest

The Breathing Hole and the Buffalo

It seems probable that various Indians from tribes which had earlier inhabited this region would have known of this or other blowing holes in the limestone flanking the center of this uplifted dome It seems certain that the Dakotah (Sioux) Indians who occupied the area for almost a century before the arrival of the white man knew of one particular breathing hole which inhaled and exshyhaled and moaned with changes in the weather The land nearby known today as Bison Flats offered sheltered pasture for the revered beasts which passed into and out of the Hills through the Buffalo Gap in the steep hogback to the east

It is equally certain that Indians never penetrated very far into these caves since to them underground regions were either abodes of tormented evil spirits or such holy places that mortals would not dare to profane them by their presence (no Indian artifacts inscriptions or other remains have ever been found in a Black Hills cave) However such an unusual phenomenon as air circulating through seemingly solid ground surely was powerful medicine (i e spiritual mystery) to the Sioux for whom both everyday life and religious prayer were based on directed winds It was only natural that such unnatural places would becomewakan (holy mysterious)

A few legends of the Lakota (western divisions of the Sioux) concern Wind Cave but since these were not recorded until this century it is difficult or impossible to establish relative authenticity since they may have been affected by elements of other legends or by established factual discoveries This is of little conshysequence since each legend is consistent with and exemplifies Sioux religion and tradition

Beginning in 1938 National Park Service guidebooks have cited one legend which held that the Cave of the Winds was a sacred spot because wind was associshyated with the breath of life and the vital principle and the four winds (north south west east) were major deities of the plains tribes Since all flesh was considered to be made of earth the buffalo was widely believed to have origshyinated underground Chief Joseph White Bull (pte San Hunka) was quoted as saying that Wakan Tanka the Great Mystery sent the buffalo from the cave onto the Sioux hunting grounds this was one reason why the Sioux fought so hard for the Hills in the l870 t s White Bull added that some of his people still hoped that when they had regained favor of their gods the buffalo would once more issue from that cave and fill the plains 1

Another legend was said to have been handed down and told by Wounded Horse a full olood to a school superintendent on the Pine Ridge Reservation In this

JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY 35

account the prairie camps were starving and a party of hunters stole through the buffalo gateway into the Black Hills Their scouts found a herd with a big white bull standing watch over it Thinking that killing the bull would cause the herd to return to the prairie and knowing that albino buffalo were so exshytremely rare that a white robe would give the tribe something to be proud of a council was held and two hunters were designated for the final chase and the kill

A buffalo dance was held the hunters were equipped with the best bows and twelve arrows each and a party rode off in pursuit of the herd The other braves isolated the white bull and drove him toward the two hunters who after a long chase cornered him in a snow-filled gully The hunters closed in and bristled his oack with shafts Blood reddened the snow as he turned and charged his tormentors H The Indians retreated and the buffalo paused on a hilltop his head drooped in exhaustion They again approached and found the bull hiding in a gulch licking his wounds Creeping up on foot they saw a black hole beyond the rock behind which the bull had taken shelter As they were putting their last arrows onto bowstrings the bull arose glared at them and tottered a few steps disappearing into the black tunnel

With no desire to corner a wounded buffalo in the dark the two stood peering into the hole when suddenly a blast of cold air came out of it half freezing them with fear After piling rocks over the cave and returning to their band they told the others of thes~ strange happenings Although a party returned to the cave entrance and kept vigil the white ouffalo never came out They closed up the hole leaving only a little opening to permit the buffalo to breath They had felt the wind come out they had felt the wind return and blow into the cave so they named it white buffalo cave home of the Wind God Then came the white man who named the sanctuary of the winds Wind Cave 2

The most elaborate Wind Cave Indian legend recorded thus far was related by James La~ointe in an intriguing collection of Lakota legends concerning the Hills area laPointe writes of ancient medicine men journeying from far-away lands to worship at washun Niya the breathing hole The cave was regarded as the source of the buffalo and other game animals which had been bred and fed by mysterious beings inhabiting the underground world

The soft sighing sometimes melancholy sounds which could be heard at the breathing hole were said to be the whispering songs of these underground ones Tribal singers of holy songs and makers of melodic cedar flutes made their pilshygrimages there to imitate the humming overtones of the hole which sounded like the wind through the pines and felt like an autumn breeze even on the hottest days of summer

Taopi Gli (the son of a Lakota chief) and a kola (friend) left their main hunting party one day for a nearoy wooded ravine In late midday they found a middot small herd of deer stalked them under cover of trees and shrubbery and made their kill They bled and quartered the carcasses and hung the choice cuts in pine boughs to cool and cure As they rested and waited the alert eyes of Taopi Gli briefly glimps~d a movement in the lengthening shadows of the canyon and he noiselessly worked his wa~ down the steep incline for a closer view

As the evening shadows became longer and more ominous the kola who had reshymained to watch over the curing meat became concerned and descended the hill

36Vol 18 No2

through thickets and over boulders to search for his longtime companion As he approached the bottom of the hill his searching eyes beheld a most romantic scene in the twilight Taopi Gli appeared to be lost in intimate conversation with a most bewitchingly beautiful young maiden wearing a fine creamy~white buckskin dress and crowned by a colorful intricate headband richly adorned with white-tailed eagle feathers As the kola stood there transfixed in amazement the lovely young maid glanced furtively about and with the instict of a creature of the woods retreated to the darker shadows of the canyon Taopi Gli followed seemingly in a trance and both disappeared

The kola thought of the stories of devious spirit-women who disguised themshyselves and led young men astray Entranced as well as frightened by the rapshyturous though ominous sight he stood there--he knew not how long--unable to move or to shout waktayo (beware) It was dark before he could run into the ravine to investigate the spot where he had last seen the lovers Here he heard strange hissing noises and saw the tracks of Taopi Gli and the little moccasin prints of the maid near a small hole in the canyon floor This opening blew a cool steady breeze intensifying an already frightful experience

The kola shouted up and down the canyon but the only response was the faint but frightening echo of his own voice Remorsefully but excitedly he ran back to his encampment not knowing whether or not the beautiful maid was a wicked women of old a double woman a winyan hupapika

The rest of the village thought that Taopi Gli had fallen prey to the duplicshyity of such a woman and prepared to mourn his loss but the council elders deshycreed that an exploration of this mysterious hole must be made before formal mourning could begin Many wondered whether Taopi Gli and the strange woman had been sucked into the breathing hole

All their rawhide ropes were spliced and carried to Washun Niya Young men eagerly volunteered to descend into the hole carrying torches and spears amid the cheering of the people gathered there Repeatedly they gazed into the abyss finding only grotesque formations and the eerie shadows cast by their flaming torches

Thus the formal mourning began The mourners grief was further deepened by the baffling circumstances of the young braves desappearance The despondent chief sought hanblecheya (revelation in a prolonged fast) to receive some messhysage of the actual fate of his son on nearby Hechinskayapi Paba Spoonhorn or Goat Mountain (known to the white man as Sheep Mountain and renamed Mt Coolidge in 1927) After four days and nights on the mountain the chief was presumed to have died from the fast but when some braves were assigned the duty of climbing the mountain and bringing back the remains they found to their astonishment that the elder was very much alive

After recuperating this chieftain gathered his people and recounted his vishysion quest which on the fourth day culminated in a series of dreams in which his son was alive and a member of the maka mahe oyate (peoples of the undershyground regions) Tn these visions he observed a reenactment of the romantic abduction of his son by the fair maid of the under-the-ground world

As the husband of the maid Taopi Gli was now a ruling high priest with presshytige and power but forevermore must remain in the below-ground lands This

37JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY

strange alliance was a good omen the chieftain said because the people living within Mother Earth bred the game animals on which the Indian depended By this union of providence the tribes would never again suffer from famine for the Washun Niya would be the connecting link between the two worlds

For ages thereafter the Lakota knew no famine since a steady stream of bufshyfalo and other game continued to emerge from the mouth of the cave How could such large animals pass through such a small opening in the rock The legend explains that they came out like a string of tiny ants but that upon their exit they inhaled the invigorating air of the outside and expanded to their full sizes 3

The land surrounding Wind Cave sacred to the red man is now similarly held in a special trust by his white successors as an inviolable National Park for the enjoyment of all people As White Bull predicted the buffalo roam again on the surrounding grasslands if not having physically issued from the cave cershytainly as a direct result of its existence the Park was created in 1903 specshyifically to protect the cave but a decade later buffalo (provided by the New York Zoological Society) were stocked on its range to help preserve the species just three decades after the last of the native Hills population Vas shot-shyironically on Bison Flats just Eouth of the present Park headquarters Beginshyning at almost the very same time a s middotrhen 1Vhite Bull related the legend and ever since their populations have grown to exceed the capacity of the Parks grazing land and yearly auctions are new held to maintain the optimum herd size These sales help establish other herds far and wide and the legends of the bison born of Wind Cave (or Wind Cave National Park) have indeed become a reality

The Hat Trick and the First Explorers

Credit for the discovery of Wind Cave was claimed by (or on behalf or) several individuals especially during the nineteenth century The most famous--or inshyfamous--of these was a limping outlaw widely known in the Black Hills as Lame Johnny

Well-born as Cornelius Donahue in Philadelphia he was educated at the prestishygious Girard College and then tooy up ranching in Texas When Commanches ran off 700 head of his cattle he enlisted the aid of a band of Tongaway (Tonkawa) lndians in stealing sixty Commanche horses Con Donahue found that revenge was sweet and acquired Ifa taste for adventure according to a personal interview he gave to the beloved Hills humorist and storyteller Ellis Taylor Doc Peirce Johnny told of heading to the Black Hills in the boom year of 1876 using the alias of Yohn Rurley to protect the reputation of his family After local Indishyans stole his horse John angry again returned to the pastime of stealing lndian onies for a ~oVhile before tiring of the adventure and becoming a respected hbokkeeper and topographer at the Homestake gold mine in Lead When a Texan appeared and told everyone at that office that their talented refined scribe was Lame Johnny a horse thief Donahue quit his job and disappeared 4

~eports Cor rumors) soon circulated that Lame Johnny had become a stage and mail coach robber and a thief of white men s horses as well as Indian ponies The more serious accusations were not proven nor admitted to when his arrest was ordered by agent V T McGillycuddy of the Red Cloud (now Pine Ridge) agency it was for horse--stealtng on that Indian reservation southeast of the Hills It should b~ noted that most pioneer settlers considered the theft of Indians horses to be a fair and understandable response rather than a hanging offense S

Vol 18 No 2 38

When the stage transporting a shackled Lame Johnny to Rapid City for trial passed Dry Creek just east of the present Wind Cave National Park it was halted by a vigilance committee and Johnny was hanged by the neck from a nearby tree Recent thought has considered that there may have been a conspiracy or cover-up among the lawmen escorting him whose later accounts leave many unanswered quesshytions One of the vigilantes stage messenger and deputy marshal Boone May had a reputation for bringing rather few of his prisoners to trial many of them having been shot while escaping6

Lame Johnny was given credit for the discovery of Wind Cave in an early advershytising leaflet which placed the find in 1877 (though it is likely that this was simply an attempt to capitalize on the notorious outlaws name) and in Ole Time Trails by Doc Peirce While never verified it is altogether possible that he would have come across the breathing hole that became known as Wind Cave in his search for a suitable Robbers Roost--there are several such reputed hideouts of his in the southern Black Hills and elsewhere some involving caves or cavelike shelters--but since the entrance to Wind Cave was far too small to conceal horses in it seems certain that if he saw it he simply passed it by Area storyteller and late South Dakota Poet Laureate Badger Clark concluded that Lame Johnnys general cussedness therefore tends to cast a damp shadow of doubt on his veracshyity so we are safe in awarding the honor of the discovery to the later and more respectable claimants 7 The irony of this statement becomes evident later

The traditional account of the discovery of the cave by Jesse (Jess) and Tom Bingham is the one most widely accepted by area old timers and modern researchers though for many years the retellers of this classic tale have named Tom as the original (or sole) discoverer rather than his brother In all probability it was Jesse Bingham hunting with Tom and their half-brother John Dennis in the spring of 1881 who first noticed the hole blowing outward at the time He had wounded a deer and was pursuing it up a ravine when he was surprised by a loud whistling noise he also saw the grass waving violently on an otherwise calm and windless day His horse refused to approach the sound so he dismounted to investigate Tom joined him and they traced the noise to a hole in the bedrock exposure about eight by ten inches or slightly larger As Jesse cleared away brush and debris and peered into the hole he faced a wind which blew with such force that it lifted his hat from his head They called their half-brother over and amused themselves for a while by placing the hat over the hole and watching its immediate launch into upper space After speculating as to what could cause such a wind they marked the hole and rode off in pursuit of the deer 8

Sometime later Jesse brought some (doubtlessly skeptical) friends to the hole and with an air of confident showmanship proceeded to show them the hat trick but to his and their amazement the wind direction had reversed (following a rise in barometric pressure) and the hat was sucked into the ground never to be seen aga1n9

Whether Jesse and Tom entered the cave or explored it to any extent is a matter of speculation Neighboring rancher Robert McAdam (who a decade later did nruch exploration with the McDonalds the cave~s primary early developers) recalled in a 1957 interview that the Binghams and friends dug a larger entrance next to the natural opening and around 1887 Jesse Bingham Charlie Roe and others built an eight-oy-ten foot building over it using logs borrowed from John Raver who was planning to build a cabin nearby Other sources said that this small house was ouilt by the McDonalds lO


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Vol 18 No2 40

Apparently in the fall of the same year as the caves discovery Charlie Crary of Custer told fellow prospector-miner Frank Hebert about a hole in the ground where the wind came out screeching bull bull found by Jesse Bingham about fifteen or twenty miles south of Custer Crary had explored it somewhat stringing out a ball of string to mark his route Since Hebert had been planning to take a plum-picking party into the area he sought Jesse Bingham in order to get directions to the curiosity The discoverer told Hebert as near as he could where to find it but as is still so often the case with cave-hunting it took the party all the next day to locate it and only then when one of them heard the wind The next morning Hebert Jessie Girelle and his wife the Cole Girls and Mayme Sprague went back to investigate

Hebert lit his lantern barely squeezed through the small hole climbed down six or seven feet and faced a terrible wind for about fifty more feet When the main hole turned sharply downwards he found a good foothold waited and called back for the others to come only Mayme Sprague answered but she thought the others were coming He found Crarys twine and followed it past places that were scalloped and looked like post office boxes They continued downward yelshyling occasionally but heard no response

After some while he saw an opening to the right and left the string to explore it Thirty or forty feet farther he found a hole about five or six feet down to where there was another opening Here he thought he heard water as both he and Sprague were feeling thirsty Hebert decided to go look for it thinking he was pretty well on the bed rock of that cave He jumped down and continued past some of the finest kinds of stalagmites and stalactites but found no water so he went back to the pit It was a bit further to the top than he had thought and he had to make three or four tries to jump up grab a hold and wiggle upwards as the girl pulled on his collar He had some success until a cold chisel in his hlp pocket got caught in the walL After several minutes of struggling he realshyized he had to get down and try again after removing the chisel Years later he distinctly remembered his frustration

I had time to realize how foolish a thing it was to do but was detershymined to get out of there Mayme said III will try to get back and tell the others to come and help you out I said You wont be able to find the string and if you do you wont know which way to go You will go prowling around and get lost for itts a sure thing you cant find your way I will try it again and if I cant make it will direc t you how to get the string and be sure to follow it right back I was satisfied that she could not have found it I made my best jump and held on The girl caught me by the back of the neck and pulled Finally I wiggled out In doing so I cut my hands and arms badly and tore the elbows out of my clothes

Returning to the string they followed it back and were helped up out of the entrance hole by the others who had gone as far as where the main passage turned down where they became scared and went back In three or four later trips Hebert could not relocate the places he had found ll

The next trip of which there is any extant record was in 1884 when John Wells Edmund JTed Petty Kennett Harris and a young man named Walter entered the cave Apparently they tried or intended to enlarge the entrance hole by chipping rock arounthe small opening Perhaps this was the trip which led to later claims of the cavets discovery by (or on behalf of) Wells or Petty12


Kennett Harris was a dapper young Englishman who settled in early-day Hot Springs where he edited a newspaper and co-published a small magazine He later moved to Chicago and became one of the best-known Western fiction writers of the 1920s with many stories appearing in The Saturday Evening Post In summer 1884 following the trip led by Wells and Petty he volunteered to guide a party composed of Mrs A S Stewart her sons Harry and Charles and daughter Blanche Elizabeth Berrier and Ed Colwell Despite starting at 300 AM to allow plenty of time to find the place they wandered around--none of them remembered just where--until 700 PM before they found the cave As Badger Clark later observed A certain poet once wrote that he loved tthe little roads to God knows where I and Harris oeing a literary man may have had similar tastes13

At the cave Harris Colwell and the girls as the custom then was tied the end of a ball of string to a tree and started exploring leaving Mrs Stewart and the boys outside

Here Harris again distinguished himself by losing track of the clue and keeping his charges in the gloomy caverns so long that when they came out Mrs Stewart was in tears and Charley naughtily impatient was threatening to cut the string which connected the explorers with the upper air and leave them to their fate

Fortunately they were able to make it back home in good time arriving at four oclock in the morning to find Dr Alexander S Stewart pacing the floor imaginshying that his entire family had been wiped out by renegade Indians With his usual subtle humor Badger Clark concluded that Perhaps twenty-five hours for a trip to the Cave and oack stands as a record and it was generally agreed among his friends that as a guide Ken Harris was an able writer 14

Jrobably the earliest newspaper item on the cave was in the September 13 l884~ Custer Chronicle which noted that Joe Pilcher and several others of the Climax Imine] force visited the cave of the Wlnds Sunday and returned loaded with orilliant specimens of water formation We mistook one for an icicle and attempted to eat it A Chronicle comment from May 22 1886 observed that itA wind cave near Hot Springs in Fall River county has been explored for 700 feet and the end is not yet A current of air is continually passing through it with sufficient force to blow ones hat off--hence its name Congress ought to meet therelS

In a 19S2 interview C T C Lollich recalled that he Charlie Estes a Mr swiehart and a liveryman all from Buffalo Gap visited the cave in the spring of 1886 Equipped with lanterns candles twine and a lunch they arrived in the evening spent the night exploring and exited the cave after sunrise Lolshylich said the entrance hole was a very tight squeeze which indicates that the adjacent excavation had not yet been dug Much mud and some trash had washed into the hole from the ravine including the Dones and droppings of small animals 16

On July 17 1886 the Custer Chronicle reported a major excursion

A very large party consisting of Odo Reder and family C H Walker and family Miss Parker and others comprising thirty or forty persons tn all supplied with tents camping utensils and everything essential to comfort left this place for the Cave of the Wind on Tuesday where

Vol 18 No 2 42

they remained for a day or two exploring the labyrinthine mazes of that attractive wonder and enjoying the refreshing winds that make that place especially enjoyable when the mercury is seeking the upper levels 17

C T Martin Arthur Collings William Noble and others made several trips to the cave in 1886 and 1887 In a 1953 interview Mr Martin noted that the original opening a bit larger than an ordinary wash boiler was in the very bottom of the gulch where every drop of water coming down the draw went down and into the cave While three or four of us were down in the Cave one day a heavy thunder storm struck the area Torrents of water came through the opening just at the time we were on the way out We got a scare of course but were not endangered Maybe some wet feet 18

An early (1888) booklet describing the attractions of Hot Springs as a health resort mentions that not far distant is the Cave of the winds from whose mouth a rush of wind issues continually This cave has been explored for a distance of two miles and may when fully explored exceed the Mammoth Cave in extent and interest 19

Unrelated events occurred in 1888-89 which were to alter the story of Wind Caves discovery for nearly a century A number of cattle from Chadron Neraska which were being summer- pastured near Horsehead disappeared Smith Adams folshylowing their trail caught up with the herd being driven toward Deadwood by Jesse Bingham Adams had Jesse a rr ested but Bingham had influential friends and the Governor of Dakota Terri t ory refused to allow his extradition In 1889 when South Dakota had achieved s tateho od and ther e was a new governor the shershyiff of Dawes County (Nebras ka) came from Chadron to apprehend Bingham on his ranch near Wind Cave For a s s istance he called upon Custer County Deputy Shershyiff Anderson who was no t very enthusiastic about the i dea--apparently t he catshytle pr ocurer st i ll had the same powerful f r iends J esse submitted quietly to arres t but asked permiss ion t o take hi s horse around a nearby hill and t ether it Ac compan i ed by Anderson he began to do so but suddenly jumped i nto his saddle and Hescaped through a salvo of poorly aimed shots It i s said that Charles Roe (the f irst town mar shal of Hot Springs) helped Jesse take his family and s tock to Deerlodge Montana where the long arm of the law pulled him back to Chadron in 1890 He jumped his $1500 bail which was said to have been paid by a weal thy Black Hills ca t t leman and returned t o his homestead he was next heard from in Canada where he remained unti l his death 20

Following Jesse Bingham s compelled exit f r om t he scene various guides and authors credited other discoverers including John Wells in 1881 or 1884 and Edmund (sometimes Edward) Petty in 1881 Ba sed on int erviews with Charles Roe Bob McAdam and J M Straight John Bohi reported tha t Even the Binghams came to give credit for the actual discovery to Tom Bingham r ather than t o his notoshyr ious bro ther but most of the oldt i mers in the a r ea hav e continued to affirm that it was J esse who was most clear ly the discoverer though Tom and John Dennis were probably with him at the time 2 l

Although Wells waE still sometimes cited as the discoverer up until the 1920s ~or most of this century Tom Binghamts name was repeated and accepted This later testimony of Bob McAdam best describes the point in question and then Tom of course Bingham he comes in and claimed the Wind Cave afterwards Oh that was several years afterward Everybody says that Jesse did it but Tom he begins to claim it Then another old fellow here Wells he claims he dis-

JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTOR~ 43

covered it 22

Custer County Courthouse records show that Frank D Horton and Nels I Hyde filed location certificates on the cave but soon abandoned them L C Faris filed another in 1889 Three mining claims were located on the land in 1890 by a Mr Day who soon sold them for $250 to J C Moss of the South Dakota Mining Company which filed location certificates with the Register of Deeds However a letter recently donated to the National Park states that the first mining claim over the cave was filed in 1890 by John D McDonald who later that year sold out to Moss of the S D Mining Company23

In the first detailed report of a commercial tour guided by J D McDonald (who had been retained to manage the property) a Hot Springs Star reporter was perhaps the first and last source to publicly state at the time that the cave was discovered by the noted cattle thief Jesse Bingham24

With the arrival of McDonald and his sons Elmer and Alvin the serious exploshyration and development of Wind Cave began The financially overextended S D Mining Company could not continue legal action in support of their claim and McDonald needing funds for its development sold a half interest to John Stabler The gay nineties were an exciting and colorful time in the caves history which today provides fascinating interpretive material for Park Sershyvice literature and Visitor Center displays The feuding between the McDonalds and the Stablers over control of the cave provided the opportunity for the Government to withdraw the land from settlement and on January 9 1903 the area became the first National Park created to protect a cave one of such size and possessing wonders of such surpassing interest that it deserved this exshyceptional distinction

Regardless of when (or whether) Lame Johnny Donahue and Jess Bingham first found Wind Cave their personalities present some interesting comparisons Neither disputed being a thief though of different livestock and under different circumstances but both seemed well-liked and had influential friends even among (established) lawmen of the local area (Johnny in fact had previously been a deputy sheriff of Custer County) Were they reckless lawbreakers only interested in adventure or personal gain who were the objects of peoples misshyplaced sympathies Or were they personally appealing characters the victims of exaggerated charges and official venality Perhaps only the ghosts of Wind Cave Park and its environs know the full story Two things however are clear a talented though relatively minor horse thief became the subject of colorful stories intense historical research and geographical notoriety (Burnt Wood or Dry Creek the site of uLimping JohntsH alleged stage robberies lynching and 1inal resting place has been called Lame Johnny Creek ever since) and a cattle rustler who appears to have discovered what is now one of the worlds longest caves b-ecame the unsung and usually misidentified star of one of the more fas~ cinating discovery stories in the history of American speleology

FOOTNOTES

lNPS Wind Cave National Park p 2 was the first guidebook to describe White Bulls story originally recounted in Vestal Warpath This is not to be confused with Vestals later 0-948) warpath and Council Fire The former is based on his remarkaBle 1930 interview of White Bull the nephew of Sitting Bull The Chiefts credentials and Vestels meticulous research methods indicate a high degree of authenticity in their account

44Vol 18 No2

2Koller 37 Years Havent Dimmed Memory p 24 This was reprinted in part and with additional material in Wi-iyohi the Bulletin of the South Dakota Hisshytorical Society XXIII (April 1 1970) pp 1-4 also in Windy City Speleonews the newsletter of the Windy City Grotto of the National Speleological Society XIII no 6 (1973) pp 28-30 and in Speleo Digest 1973 (published in 1980 by the NSS) pp 360-61 Koller added that During earlier times Indians would not enter Wind Cave There is no such superstition now The records of cavern exshyploration make no mention of ever finding the bones of the white buffalo or any other bird or animal in the cave As to the white buffalo--there was one such rare specimen on the government range near Missoula Montana

3LaPointe Legends of the Lakota pp 79-85 The author concludes that This was indeed true until the white man came bringing along new conditions disturbshying ancient religious traditions and burdening the natural world with entirely foreign ways of living

4Brown and Willard The Black Hills Trails Peirce Odd Characters and Incidents of the Black Hills and Casey The Black Hills and Their Incredible Characters are the standard if sometimes contradictory accounts of Lame Johnnys life these are collected and compared in Rezatto Tales of the Black Hills pp 220-27 along with modern observations on the subject the discovery claim reshylated in Peirce Old Time Trails was mentioned in Clark When Hot Springs Was a Pup p 17 a rigorous well researched recent study appears in Engebretson Empty Saddles Forgotten Names pp 77-79 93-103

5Rezatto Tales of the Black Hills pp 223 225-26 Some reports of stage robberies and even murders by him were the product of sensationalized news stories of the time

6Ibid pp 225-27 Hasselstrom ed When Hot Springs Was a Pup pp 48-49 The lynching apparently occurred in 1879

7Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 365 Clark When Hot Springs Was a Pup p 17

8Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave pp 365 371-72 388-89 Woodward World of Darkness p 32 repeated this account for the 1979 NPS guidebook Wind Cave Clark When Hot Springs Was a Pup p 17 likewise considered Jess and Torn Bingham as the astonished discoverers who galloped back to Minnekahta [pre-1883 Hot Springs] in a state of stuttering excitement

9Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave pp 365-66 388-89 Woodward World o~ Darkness p 33 reflecting current National Park Service interpretation frederick Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 16 condensed the full account citing Tom and Jesse Bingham as co-discoverers Owen Cave Regions of the Ozarks and the Black Hills pp 113-14 related a slightly romanticized version which was typical of the story as it was told to visitors in 1896 naming Torn as the sole discoverer Even contemporary and other nineteenth century sources disagree on the exact date of the discovery According to interviews noted in Bohi (p 366n) area resident Charles Roe said it was the spring of 1880 Robert McAdam rememshybered it as about 1882 and Charles Stewart and others claimed it was discovered in 1884 by 30hn Wells Prior to 1903 various authors listed each of these years as well as 1881 Bahi concluded that It seems best to accept the traditional date of 1881 No douot the early interest in the cave was rather casual


10Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave pp 366 372 Frederick SeventyshyFive Years at Wind Cave p 16 Post-1890 published sources seem to agree that the enlargement of the hole and the excavation of the nearby entrance occurred in the years after the discovery but that no further improvements were made until 1890

IlHebert Forty Years Prospecting and Mining in the Black Hills pp 106-8 reported and quoted by Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 266 and Woodshyward Wbrld of Darkness pp 33-34 Heberts previous chapter implies that the year was 1880 This was almost certainly the earliest Wind Cave trip to be reshyported in detail however it was not published until forty years later--setting somewhat of a precedent for long-delayed trip reports

l2Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 366 Woodward World of Darkness p 34 These were based on a 1952 interview with Charles Stewart

l3Clark When Hot Springs Was a Pup p 42-43 Hasselstrom ed When Hot Springs was a Pup pp 61-62

14clark When Hot Springs Was a Pup p 43 Hasselstrom ed When Hot Springs Was a Pup p 62 Boht Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave pp 366-67 reported Charles Stewartts version in which he his sister and mother Kennett Harris and the young man named Walter entered the cave and remained until after midshynight When they returned to Hot Springs early in the morning they found that a search party was Deing organized to look for them

15Ibid p 367 Joseph E Pilcher who patented a IDln1ng claim in the Custer area became the second superintendent of Wind Cave National Park on May 1 1909 and served until his death on March 14 1910 Wind Cave is actually in Custer County however there is no doubt that it is the cave described in the article

l6Ibid p 367

17Ibid Woodward World of Darkness I p 35

18Ibid Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 368

19Cook The Hot Springs of Dakota p 21 Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 368

20Ibid pp 368-69 from the Hot Springs Star May 10 1889 and interviews with Gus Hauer and Bob McAdam Woodward World of Darkness p 33

2lBohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 369 It is an interesting conshytradiction that Lame Johnny was named as the discoverer in the years following this disclaimer

22Snyder Wtnd Cave National park p 55 Woodward World of Darkness p 33 Some post-1900 authors simply said that the discovery was by an anonymous cowboy or clouded in frontier obscurity II

23Bohi Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 369 Frederick Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave p 16 Perhaps McDon in longhand suggested the name Mr Day

24Bohi Seventy~Five Years at Wind Cave pp 371-72 from the Star of August 22 1890 Another exploit credited to Jesse Bingham by Carl and Friede Sanson in a 1958 interview was the shooting a few years earlier of the last buffalo

46

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bohi John W Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave A History of the National Park South Dakota Historical Collections XXXI (1962) pp 365-468

Brown Jesse and A M Willard The Black Hills Trails A History of the Struggles of the Pioneers in the Winning of the West Rapid City S Dak Rapid City Journal Company 1924

Casey Robert J The Black Hills and Their Incredible Characters Indianapolis Ind Bobbs-Merdll Co Inc 1949

Clark Charles Badger Jr (Badger Clark) When Hot Springs Was a Pup Hot Springs S Dak Hot Springs Kiwanis Club 1927 Reprinted Hermosa S Dak Lame Johnny Press 1976 Page numbers cited refer to the reprint

Cook S D The Hot Springs of Dakota Sioux City Iowa Pioneer Press Co 1888

Engebretson Doug Empty Saddles Forgotten Names Aberdeen S Dak North Plains Press 1982

Frederick Larry W Seventy-Five Years at Wind Cave In National Cave Manageshyment Symposia Proceedings 1978 amp 1980 Oregon City Ore Pymgy Dwarf Press 1982 pp 16-26

Hasselstrom Linda M When Hot Springs Was a Pup by Badger Clark (third edition annotated) Hermosa S Dak Lame Johnny Press 1983

Hebert Frank Forty Years Prospecting and Mining in the Black Hills of South Dakota Rapid City S Dak Rapid City Daily Journal 1921

Koller Joe 37 Years Havent Dimmed Memory of Being Lost in Wind Cave Rapid City Daily Journal March 11 1951 p 24

LaPointe James Legends of the Lakota San Francisco Calif The Indian Hisshytorical Press 1976

National Park Service Department of the Interior Wind Cave National Park South Dakota Washington D C U S Government Printing Office 1938

Owen Luella Agnes Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills Cincinnati Ohio The Editor Publishing Co 1898

Peirce Ellis T Odd Characters and Incidents of the Black Hills In History of South Dakota I chapter LXXXV Aberdeen S Dak B F Bowen Co 1904

Rezatto Helen Tales of the Black Hills Aberdeen S Dak North Plains Press 1983

Snyder Anton J Wind Cave National Park The Black Hills Engineer XVI (1928) pp 55-59

Vestal Stanley (pseudonym of Walter Stanley Campbell) Warpath Boston Houghton Mifflin Co 1934

Woodward Robert D World of Darkness Early Explorations of the Cave In Wttnd Cave National Park Service Handbook no 104 Washington D C U S De~artment of the Interior~ 1979 pp 31-82

47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour

The author first visited Blue Spring Cave in the summer of 1965 as a casual explorer and friend of a number of the people who were involved in the mapping and exploration of Indianas longest cave system The following paragraphs are largely personal recollections of events that preceeded the commercialization of this large cave in 1971

The first hydroelectric power generation in Indiana was at Williams a rural river community between the towns of Bedford and Shoals Italian immigrants were hired to construct a dam on the East Fork of White River at Williams Conshystruction was begun in 1911 and the level of the river was raised approximately twenty-five feet by the following year

One consequence of raising the level of the river was the inundation of a large spring opening eight miles above the dam Blue Spring (also Blue Hole) was near several fishing cabins where sport and commercial fishermen tr~ed to catch the large catfish and carp that were seen in the short channel leading from the spring opening to the river Fishermen and residents of the area were no doubt curious about the dark hole issuing a crystal clear creek that became a raging ~ddy torrent after heavy rains In the years prior to building of the Williams Dam an unknown number of people gathered their courage sufficiently to float small boats through the narrow opening and explore upstream A local resident Spencer Pearson (now deceased) confided to Sheryl Lang Richards that he had entered the spring in his youth Hovey (page 125) reported explorers had penetrated three miles into the cave however there is no physical evidence to support this statement Hovey~s description was a mirror copy of the Collett Report on Lawrence County (1874) Cavers now know that approximately 3000 feet inside the spring opening the stream passage becomes narrow and shallow enough that in pre-dam days a boat would become useless yet farther upstream there are deep pools that would have been difficult if not impossible to circumvent on foot

With completion of the Williams Dam access to the cave was cut off entirely but the length of time is in question Prior to 1940 when the Colglazier Enshytrance opened by sinkhole collapse there is the possibility two entrances were in existence One-quarter mile south of Hartleyville and a few feet east of highway US 50 lies a deep sinkhole long used for the disposal of sawmill sawdust and useless automobile tires Local rumor has it that long ago there was a fruit cellar in a cave at this sinkhole The underside of this sinkhole lies at the beginning of the First Discovery area inside the cave There is a small amount of organic debris in rubble below the sinkhole and total absence of the affects of man however due to the unstable nature of the breakdown evidence of visitation could have been obliterated by collapse

As yet the author does not know when the Bolton Entrance first became entershyable When Emery and Ruth Bolton bought the property from the Elrod family in 1951 this deep sinkhole entrance was already well-known to the local community Over the years rock mud and logs from a steep slope have fallen and washed into the entrance only to be cleared away days or even years later by floodwaters

The single event that led to exploration mapping and ultimately tourism development at Blue Spring Cave was a sinkhole collapse in the spring of 1940 resulting in what is now the Colglazier Entrance In 1919 George and Eva Hall

48Vol 18 No2

Colglazier were married and then occupied the farm on which they still reside Georges father purchased the farm in his own name and made a contract with George and Eva that expressed terms for payment to him that would eventually transfer ownership Wisely Eva had this agreement recorded at the Lawrence County Courthouse in Bedford for it was only a short time later that the old man went into uncontrolled rages where he threatened to take the farm Georges father was found one evening in his own barn hung by his own hand

George and Eva Colglazier July 16 1979

During a stormy night in the spring of 1940 the Chenoweth family who lived on the farm southeast of Colglaziers home heard a roar from the direction of George and Evas rain~swollen sinkhole pond The next morning after milking the cows George walked over to the pond only to find that it was not there1and a ten foot wide hole lay at one end of the area where the pond had been A few weeks later when the frequency of rock and mud falling in had slowed the Colshyglaziers daughter Janet and neighbor Robert Chenoweth climbed down tree roots and explored as far as daylight would permit Their parents were not happy to hear of this exploit and for good reason the size of the opening was rapidly growing as the ceiling of a cave room continued to collapse into the void below

Robert D Frederick of Indianapolis was in Lawrence County looking for caves in 1947 when a farmer told him of the sinkhole collapse on the Colglazier farm After much friendly persuasion George Colglazier allowed Bob and his family to haul a boat into the cave and travel the stream They found that by going upshystreama second entrance to the cave could be exited on the Elrod farm (the Bolshyton Entrance) In 1951 Bob Frederick again traveled between the two entrances


but did not venture upstream of the Bolton Entrance There a considerable amount of washed in rock created a portage that discouraged further penetration

The latter half of the 1950s was a time of major cave discoveries in Indishyana with such caves as Wayne Buckner Strongs Sullivan Dog Hill and Donnehue being explored However Blue Spring Cave received only a little attention from cavers The tireless Arthur (Art) Davis and Robert (Bugs) Armshystrong visited Blue Spring in 1958 with two other cavers and two rubber rafts They ventured downstream from the Colglazier Entrance to a point where the ceiling lowered significantly Only a few feet from where they turned around a boat was punctured on a sharp projection and it quickly deflated One occushypant fled to the other boat and the other unlucky fellow was left to hang onto the remaining boat in the cold water This hapless person was wearing a war surplus Mae West life jacket that still contained its packet of shark repellant and red dye for locating downed flyers Naturally the dye was activated in the cave stream with the result that there was a red trail behind the boat and the unlucky swimmer was also the same color In the same year there was another rubber boat visit this time by Patricia Humphrey Bugs Armstrong Art Davis and Jim McCoy They photographed some of the speleothems along the Main Stream and traveled upstream as far as possible by boat but did not venture into any of the very wet looking side passages That would not occur for five years

Geo~Lucifugus was a small loosely knit of cavers who were involved in all of the discoveries and mapping at Blue Spring Cave in the 1960s The original group was formed in the fall of 1961 and consisted of Indianapolis Manual High School students Lester Sobel Steve Brandlein Jim Richards and Eddie Pagel Eddie soon dropped out and Dave Darko joined the small group A record of the early years of G-L is a long-winded legend and tribute to youthful exuberance that must be saved for another time

In the fall of 1963 Richards and Brandlein attended Indiana University at Bloomington It was good fortune and a meeting of the Bloomington Indiana Grotto that brought these G-L cavers together with Dan and Dale Chase of Bedford A friendship soon formed that endures to the present

The first two ventures into Blue Spring Cave by G-L were without boats Walkshying upstream on mudbanks was interrupted by occasional necessity to swim across the stream and an especially long cold swim through the low ceiling area 150 feet downstream from the Bolton Entrance Wading downstream from the Colglazier Entrance became impossible after only a few hundred feet The stream became deep where a submerged passage joins the main stream

The Chases were acquainted with a local Hbooner caver Bill Iry who at the urging of Dale managed to borrow a rowboat from his grandfather for the purpose of exploring upstTeam from the deep water at the Bolton Entrance They obtained permission from Emery Bolton to use his entrance Iry is a colorful character who accompanied the G-L folks on several excursions to Bedford area caves He was a few years older than the others and approached farmers with a facade of authority and the line uCan me and my boy scouts go in your cave Bill still still brags about how he and his boy scouts mapped Blue Spring Cave although he visited the cave only once This upstream boat trip was in December 1963 by Bill Iry Tony Moore Dan and Dale Chase and Jim Richards Jim later wrote in the G-L Newsletter describing this first visit beyond the deep water as a

Vol 18 No 2 50

real thrill And why not for several thousand feet the stream passage is forty feet high and twenty to forty feet wide with speleothems a waterfall and high mudbanks

The five explorers left the boat at a breakdown blocking the stream and conshytinued on foot a few hundred feet After sliding down mudbanks and wading the stream they arrived at the base of a high breakdown pile (The Mountain Room) and were disappointed to find the large stream passage ended A four foot wide canyon (Straddle Alley) took off to their right but the water in it was dark and obviously deep At this time Bill declined to go on so Jim took him to the boat The other three not lacking in enthusiasm plunged ahead along submerged ledges that were difficult to keep a footing on They traveled 400 feet to find a formation area and narrow canyons that after a short distance joined other narrow wet canyons that go in all directions This area is aptly called The Maze An untimately wise decision to follow the air-flow took the three through the Lube Tube and a five canyon junction (Five Points) through hundreds of feet of narrow canyon to the Pool Room aore than one person has fallen headlong into the eight foot deep water when their efforts were unsucshycessful to stretch across in a nearly horizontal position and then inch along to safety thirty feet away Dale Dan and Tony followed the air-flow into a side passage beyond the Pool Room and found themselves staring up into a black void With boundless joy they climbed up to a twenty foot high canyon and a damp breakdown covered floor

The first direction they chose was upa slippery slope that led to a high crawhvay With walking passage the other direction the three backtracked and slipped their way through muddy breakdown to where according to Dale t hey stood absolutely awestruck on a tallmudbank looking off into a very nice thirty by twenty foot canyon A noisey stream flowed from right to left disshyappearing ~n a smaller scoured clean canyon Apparently to save the large stream passage for supreme enjoyment they checked out the downstream passage first The water soon became over chest deep so they turned around (a mystery in this area is the presence of a ve LY large tree stump) Carbide was i n short supply but their exc itement was too high to turn ba ck so the three hurshyried upstream splashing t hrough pools containing blind fish and black gravel On that first visit to the Fi rst Discovery area the explorers unknowingly stop-shyped 200 feet short of the bathtub that would later become the beginning of the Fourth Discovery portion of the cave Prudence final ly won with the realishyzation that no one knew of their exact whereabouts This and a critical shortshyage of carbide forced a retreat

Meanwhile waiting in the boat Bill cursed them for being gone so long since he was supposed to return the boat that evening Jim was eager to find out hat the others were finding and finally convinced Bill they should forge ahead using the ploy they could be needed as rescuers As they followed wet footprints and the air-flow Jim felt the same excitement of discovery as his friends ahead but he could not move quickly enough because he was slowed by Bill who constantly groaned about the cold water and his rubber boots that were frequently slipping off his feet No sooner had Jim and Bill reached the large stream passage than the others returned with very dim lights

Once out of the cave plans were immediately made for returning the next weekend to continue their exploits This time there was no boat and no Bill Iry to complain There was also not enough inner tubes for everyone so some


of the group clung to plastic bags filled with spare clothing and sleeping bags The determined plan was to camp on a mudbank before The Maze then continue exshyploration They floated upstream from the Bolton Entrance as an ungamely lookshying mass that shivered in the cold water No one had a wetsuit it would be another year before any of the group could afford such a luxery

Jim Richards tells of the camping experience as trying to sleep on a satushyrated mudbank where the weight of wet sleeping bag and occupant drove moisture from the mud making everyone who was already cold and wet even more miserable The idea of rest was abandoned in a few hours Most of the First Discovery was poked into including the remnant of a large upper level trunk passage (The Balcony Room) The explorers finally made their way out through The Maze and Straddle Alley fully expecting to swim with bags of soggy equipment back to the Bolton Entrance Soon after arrival at the mud bank campsite lights and voices approached on the stream In a few minutes a boat appeared propelled by the returning cavers and the Chases~ father Homer The elder Chase borrowed a rowboat intent on rescuing the cavers from their foolhardyness Back at the Bolton Entrance the cavers were tired from lack of sleep and long hours of exertion but Homer (in his usual good-natured opinionated brashness) would hear nothing of leaving the boat to be carried out of the ninety foot deep sinkshyhole another day Jim Richards readily admits that although they all hauled and pushed Homer was the real force that moved that heavy boat up the sinkhole over logs and rocks to the car

Richards and Brandlein built a square end scow of sassafras planks For six months this boat carried G-L cavers along the main stream on their adventures Sometimes non ~L cavers wished to visit the cave and were graciously allowed in by the Colglaziers One such group borrowed the boat but failed to tie it securely out of the stream and it was soon lost to a flood

Another episode involving a boat proved embarrassing to G-L members It see~ that a wooden rowboat somehow made its way three miles upriver from the Stumphole Bridge to rest on the riverbank of the Colglaziers t farm It lay there a few weeks until the Chases Jim Richards Art Palmer and some others carried it over the river bluff and into the Colglazier Entrance where it was used on several mapping trips Emery Bolton caught three cavers (including Lester Sobel) leaving his entranceso he held them at gunpoint and had his wife call the sheriff The boat in Emeryts entrance was recognized to be the one that was missing from the bridge Homer and Dorthea Chase received a phone call from the sheriff that their sons and their friends (who were by chance at the Chase residence in Bedford) were wanted at Boltons concerning a boat On the way to Boltonts Tony Moore was put out of Jimts car to hide in the bushes (he was on probation over a dynamite incident in Bloomington) As the episode evolved the owner was not particularly angry over his boats use in the cave The incident was fuel for strained relations with Emery Bolton for years to come

A few weeks after the above incident ended Homer Chase managed to scrape together enough money to buy a well~used steel rowboat for his sons and their friends to use in the cave It served well through most of the mapping trips into remote areas but as tfme went one and the boat struck lots of hard obshyjects the increasing frequency of bailing provided everyone with lots of practice and wet hardhats In the summer of 1968 an acquaintance of G-L O1ason Hewitt) brought some of his friends for a trip upstream to the Mounshytain Room On their return they were neglectful of bailing (they were drunk

Vol 18 No2 52

~nd stoned) so when they arrived at the portage near the Bolton Entrance the boat had nearly sunk They did not care to bail the water nor carry the boat across the portage and chose to exit Emerys entrance knowing that he did not want cavers using his entrance Emery saw them climbing up the sinkhole and routed them with his shotgun blazing Years later Emery claimed that on this occasion he had someone who was visiting his farm throw handfulls of rocks in the direction of the cavers while he fired into the air Emery Bolton pulled the boat from the cave and refused to let Homer retrieve it For a long time it lay rusting away in Emerymiddots barnlot Until Homers death in 1979 he swore oaths on Bolton over the incident

January 1964 saw G-L cavers in their first attempt at mapping in Blue Spring Cave Mapping the main stream passage with one homemade boat was esshypecially difficult where no mudbanks existed In some places someone had to get out of the boat (usually Dale Chase) and cling to rock projections to proshyvide a target for the compass To measure distances between stations was difshyficult because the Boat had to be anchored when pulling the tape taut In shallow water poles were pushed into the mud to prevent the boat from being pulled along by the tape

In a few hours everyone had enough of this frustrating effort and decided a second boat was essential for continuing the survey A decision was made to look into side passages off the main stream but no one really wanted to go far One route soon became a stream crawl in deep sand (the Sand Passage)

At a large lefth~nd side passage Dan Chase and Tony Moore waded the small stream and climbed numerous slippery mudbanks for a thousand feet until they reached a collapse and a smaller canyon that they recognized as a tributary rather than the passage they were following Dan moved a rock in the breakshydown pile revealing a crawlway They slid and oozed between slimy rocks and over pools for eighty feet to where the breakdown endedand the crawl became more reasonable to negotiate They emerged in a high dark canyon (The Kings Hallway) and spent the next two hours racing through large canyons and streams in what would be the Second Discovery During this time Mike Means Jim Richards and Dale Chase sat in the boat cold and growing more worried about their friends Dan and Tony returned at the moment the others were about to start a search Later trips to the Second Discovery found and mapped over four miles of passages on two levels

Arthur N Palmer came to Indiana University from New York State to begin his studies with the spring semester of 1964 His hD dissertation was going to deal with a karst region in Lawrence County that included Blue Spring Cave Art was no stranger to cold wet cave since he spent (or misspent) his youth in not~so-hospitable caves of the northeastern U S The G-L cavers met Art ~t ~ meeting of the Bloomington Indiana Grotto A pact of cooperation and friendship formed instantly Mutual aid between Art and G-L spanned from the spring of 1964 t~ completion of his thesis in 1969 During 1964 to 1967 Art led the mapping effort in Blue Spring and a number of other caves in Lawrence County Under Artts influence eight plus miles were mapped in 1964 and 1884 niles of passages were on his map when he finished his thesis Only one and one-quarter miles have been added to the survey since Art took a geology teaching position with the State University at Oneonta New York

In the spring of 1964 an assault was made to map the Second Discovery On One occasion the mapping group was p~rticular1y large so Dan Chase and Tony


Moore left the others They wanted to check out the high righthand lead at the end of The Maze and the beginning of the First Discovery The crawlway that was abandoned on the initial visit into the First Discovery gradually became a stoopwalkand then walking size A lead in the floor brought them back to a familiar spot near the Pool Room Instead of retracing their way through the stream crawl they chose to take their original route to the beshyginning of the First Discovery and begin again This time they passed by the stream crawl but were soon forced to their hands and knees in a mud floored crawl with no human made marks The Third Discovery was a reality as they crawled 400 feet to an overlook to a stream twenty feet below coming toward them to a right angle turn into a narrow canyon It was at the bottom of a slippery scramble down a narrow slot where their excitement really soared The stream ahead was cascade above cascade for hundreds of feet through intershyconnected potholes which were sometimes five feet across They checked out a dry lefthand tube (Lincoln Tunnel) and turned back downstream They climbed the twenty feet up from the stream and hurried down the craw1way and in a few minutes found that their lamps were out of water with no water nearby They were also running short of spit and the lamps were down to a dim flame when they reached a small shallow muddy puddle one of them had stepped in on the way in Laying on his stomach each caver managed to suck up enough water in his mouth from the boot print to partially fill his lamp Ten feet down the passage they felt foolish because there before them was a deep clear pool of water Back in the Second Discovery everyone was excited over Dan and Tonys latest tale of discovery This was probably the time when the G-L cavers enshythusiasm and excitement were at their peak and there were still major disshycoveries to be made that year

Dale Chase Tony Moore and Jim Richards returned as soon as possible eager to find more of the Third Discovery The beauty of the stream was not surpassed until they followed the water upstream 3000 feet and stood at the base of a thirty foot high flows tone that spanned twenty wall to wall They climbed up and were in the Pyramid Room with numerous draperies stalactites and three colorful Pyramid shaped stalagmites One of them was twelve feet high by fifteen feet across at the base During subsequent mapping trips the stream was followed through a near siphon and deep water to find that it conshynected with the notorious (ugh) Sand Passage

In the late spring of 1965 and a short time before Dale and Jim were thrashing about in the Fourth Discovery a lot of activity was going on in the Second Discovery Most of the area had been mapped three water well holes were found (one has a casing) and a north-south route connecting the Well Casing Passage to the Second Discovery stream was discovered On one mapping trip there was a grim find in the Well Casing Passage A forty foot long ceilshying slab had fallen to the floor where they had read compass and tape a week before

Several east trending passages of the Second Discovery end with sinkhole collapse Dave Darko Tony Moore Tom Hall and Mike Means were mapping up to one of these collapses and heard the rumble of traffic outside the cave They climbed up into a small dome and canyon where the noise was louder They dug into and pulled down rocks cans bottles and a variety of unrecognizable trash In only a few minutes they were able to scramble out of a small hole in the bottom of an eighteen foot diameter sinkhole in someones pasture The opening was only 800 feet from Highway 37

Vol 18 No 2 54

The owners wife was adamant about not wanting anyone in that hole but her husband was a lot more conciliatory and told the G-L people they could sneak in out of her sight As is often the case when something wonderful happens from a labor of love others come flocking to absorb the fruits of someone elses efshyforts Because of ease of access an increasing number of cavers and their friends were visiting the cave With justified concern that spoilage would surely occur Jim gathered an assortment of materials including a gate of autoshymobile springs from Robert J Hosley a thirty gallon drum and sacks of cement On the way to the cave Jim and the Chases stopped near the river to shovel sand into the trunk of Jims 1957 buick With the car riding very low they managed to drive out across the pasture to the sinkhole The gate was affixed to the lower end of the drum by hinges The steel drum was concreted into a small exshycavation and a sign hung on a nearby tree that informed would-be visitors the key was available at the Chase home

This arrangement worked relatively well until in 1967 the recessed gate was battered open using a heavy log Rumors had it that some people from the Indishyana University Spelunking Club were responsiBle The gate did not get repaired and an ever increasing number of visitors came ignoring the owner harming his fences and leaving carbide and trash behind Scout leaders showed up with buses teeming with boy scouts and the Central Indiana Grotto of Indianapolis encouraged new cavers and non cavers to visit this cave that has many real hazards In August of 1975 the new owner named Dawson plugged the entrance with concrete after cavers from Bloomington and Crawfordsville removed about 150 pounds of debris from the cave Jt was a classic instance of disregard of the cave and landowner by the public scouts and organized cavers

The Fourth Discovery takes off near the end of the First Discovery and is therefore hard to separate from the latter Near the end of the First Discovery the main stream comes from a somewhat smaller side passage on the left that has dark deep water The main passage continues ahead and ends in breakdown a little beyond the Balcony Room Intrigued by the deep stream and hoping that the water was in a recent passage that would bypass the breakdown Jim Richards and Dale Chase made three trips on inner tubes along the dark deep stream After floatshying only a hundred feet on the first trip they were surprised by what appeared to be a siphon out which turned out to be a bathtub with only three inches of airspace (in dry weather) Later on a mapping trip Jim nearly drowned when a wave caught him by surprise On the other side Jim and Dale continued floating for hundreds of feet until the cold water Became unbearable Twice more they were turned back by the cold water Tom and Doug Hall were students at Indiana University and friends of Art Palmer The dragged a rubber raft and wet suits to the area and found one and half miles of relatively dry walking passage that had numerous wet leads

The next trip into the fourth Discovery was shared by Tony Moore Bob Hosley and Dan Chase They now had wet suits and a rubber raft They tried a low side lead from one of the dry passages and found another upstream section of the main stream On this trip they explored about half a mile of the Pothole Passage which is so named Because of the six foot deep potholes that lurk waiting for the unwary caver who is walking in three feet of water one moment and drowning the next

In 1967 Art and his new wife ~argaret (Peggy) Vogel Palmer were desperately trying to finish the mapping Of course the passages that remained to be mapped were the nastiest places in the Fourth Discovery and their tireless energy had


worn out so many strong cavers that it was hard to find help As Arts time in Indiana was running short he and Peggy made many mapping sorties by themselves They mapped about half of the Fourth Discovery with no additional help There was only one wetsuit between them and each would wear half which sometimes they would exchange on long trips

The East Passage in the Fourth Discovery extends 3000 feet due east from the main stream to its terminus at a collapse and the Buhl Room Tom Hall named the room for a famous mountain climber Art found from the survey that the room lay under the west end of a deep collapse sinkhole near Wesley Chapel Jim Richards looked over the sinkhole and decided to try digging an entrance that would aid aid future mapping He gathered Tony Moore Garry Enman Jim Gaiser Dave Stahl the Chases Darlene Mullen and the author While some people dug through trash soil logs and rocks others swapped stories and enjoyed a brew or two An aged local showed us a filled in hand-dug well near our excavation that he claimed went down to a stream of water

The excavation followed the route of storm water into a choked swallowhole Two weekends of digging created a twenty foot long zigzagging crawl through broshyken rock Finally a small stream and a black void could be seen between rocks that were too much for the tools at hand and since it was Sunday and getting late we left for home

Four days later Art and Peggy trekked the five miles from the Colglazier Enshytrance to map leads off the East Passage It was after midnight when they finshyished and decided to see if they could get through the rocks in the bottom of our excavation They both oeat poked and pulled rocks for about an hour and finally made a slot barely large enough to squirm through It was a cold night but they were happy to walk the two and half miles on roads to their car at Colglaziers farm The Buhl Entrance was opened near the end of Arts mapping and only one survey party entered it

The last serious endeavor prior to commercialization in 1971 was initiated by Jim Richards He believed that by digging a tunnel southeastward through pond sediments in the east end of the Colglazier Entrance sinkhole it would be possible to get into a cut-off section of the large entrance passage Art used a geophysishycal method of measuring the electric resistivity of the ground indicating the presence of a void between the entrance and a sinkhole pond on the Harrison King ~atJI) to the south In previous years there was an opening at the pond site that b~ew air before the Kings kept hogs Swine are regularly used by local folks to tr~ple and compact clay soil in sinkholes to make ponds

A half dozen days in the summers of 1967 and 1968 were devoted to digging the tunnel Steel reinforcing rods were fastened to boards forming rails that were laid throughout the tunnel and outside of it to a dumping area A childs wagon was donated by the Chases sister Sarah and the wheels were modified to roll on the improvised rails A piece of house gutter was fastened above the tunnel enshytrance to divert rainwater The tunnel was hand dug by one person while another loaded the wagon and two people pushed it out to be dumped The author loaded an empty grape juice bottle with a message about the tunnel and everyone present signed it with appropriate comments A handfu11 of carbide was put in to try to keep the note dry and the makeshift tiem capsule was sealed by mud in the wall of the tunnel When we finally gave up the tunnel sloped downward at 45 degrees for forty feet throught clay and a few rocks We never reached a rock wall to follow downward into the cave that surely must be there

Vol 18 No 2 56

On a final note when Ellis Knoy hired John Colglazier (Georges cousin) to bulldoze a path down to the entrance during commercialization in 1971 the bulldozer uncovered the tunnel whose entrance by that time had collapsed

Literature Cited

Collett John Geology of Lawrence County Indiana Indiana Geological Surshyvey Annual Report 5 1874 pp 299-300

Hovey Horace C Celebrated American Caverns Cincinnati Robert Clarke and Co 1882 p 125

WAS THIS A TEXAS HOAX

Immense Natural Bee-Hive

In a cavern on the right bank of the Colorado about 7 miles above Austin there is an immense hive of wild bees which is one of the most interesting natural curiosities in that section The entrance of this cavern is situated in a ledge of lime stone forming a high cliff which rises almost perpendicushylarly from the river bank to the height of about one hundred feet from the waters edge This cliff fronts partly on a small stream named Bi1i creek The mouth of this cavern is about ten feet below the top of the cliff In a warm day a dark stream of bees may be constantly seen winding out from the cavern like a long dark wrath of smoke This stream often appears one or two feet in diameter near the cliff and gradually spreads out like a fan growing thinner and thinner at a distance from the cavern until it disappears The numBer of bees in this cavern must be incalculably great probably greater than the numBer in a thousand or ten thousand ordinary hives The oldest setshytlers say that the hive was there when they first arrived in the country and it is quite probable that it existed in the same state many years previous to the settlement of the country The bees it is said never swarmed and it is not improbable that the hive has continued for more than a century to increase year after year in the same ratio that other swarms increase The cave appears to extend back many rods into the ledge and probably has many lateral chamshybers The bees douot1ess occupy many of these lateral chambers and it is not improbable that new swarms annually find new chambers to occupy and thus they are prevented from going off to a distance in search of hives Some of the neighboring settlers have repeatedly by blasting the rocks opened a passage into some of these chambers and procured by this means many hundred pounds of honey But the main deposits are situated too deep in the ledge to be reached without great difficulty and perhaps danger

A company was formed at Austin a few years since for the purpose of explorshying the cavern and removing the honey but some circumstance prevented the acshycomplishment of the undertaking It is estimated that there are many tons of honey and wax in this immense hive and if its tre1ures could be extracted readily they would doubtless oe found far more valuable than the contents of any silver or gold mine that adventurers have oeen seeking for years in that section

Houston Telegraph as quoted in the Lebanon [Tennessee] Banner of Peace and Cumberland Presbyterian Advocate July 25 1845


FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw

One of the most popular caves in New Mexico is Fort Stanton Cave Since it is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land access to the cave is conshytrolled A good relationship exists between the Southwest Region cavers (and other cavers who cave in the area) and the BLM The Southwest Region often hosts regional meetings and work regionals at this cave

Fort Stanton Cave formed in the San Andres Limestone Formation of the Permian Age some 230-80 million years ago Both phreatic and vadose waters formed the cave in three stages Two rare types of selenite crystals are found in the cave and great pains are taken to protect them Other speleothems in the cave have unusual colors There is the bluish back flowstone that resembles velvet and the carmel colored flows tone caused by an unknown impurity

Indians camped within twenty feet of the Fort Stanton Cave sinkhole long before the Spanish conCJuistadores rode into what is now New Mexico in the 1500s Fragments of pottery and other a r t i facts recorded their stay for present day archaeologis t s These ~ndians probably v i sited at least the sinkhole chamber

Fort Stant on was named for Captain Henry St anton of the 1st U S Cavalry The captain was killed i n an Apache ambush i n the a r ea on J anuary 18 1855 when he r emained behind (wi t h one othe r man) to fi ght off the Indians while his men ret r ea ted His death was the ca tal yst which ca used a f or t to be built in the area The cave was named af t er the nearby f ort l

One of t he bes t known l egends about Fort Stanton Cave grew out of an 1862 s oldi e r Apache ski rmish A patrol of so l diers f rom the f or t cha sed a band of Apache warrior s t o the s inkhole o f t he cave The I ndians disappear ed into the cave l eaving their horses tied up to some trees The s ol diers settl ed down at the entrance plann ing to starve the Indians out A f ew days l a t er one of t he guards noticed a band of Apaches r emarkably s i milar to the one s t hat had vanshyi s hed into the cave s neaki ng up on the Ind i an horses Despite being observed t he I ndians managed to mount their hors es and escape be f ore the sol di ers could organize a chase How t he Indians e sc aped f r om t he cave remains a mystery to thi s day although many people have t ried to f i nd a second entr ance

I n the 1800s the lake room was a ctua lly wet a nd canoes a nd boats were used t o explore the cave In 187 2 J W Swan a ca r pente r at the fo rt made a small r ow boat fo r Quar termaster Conrad and Lieutenan t Boyd o f Company B 8th U S Cava l r y These gentlemen spent sever al days in the cave a nd explor ed the lake leading f r om the Cr ystal Chamb er ( their de sc r i ption) f or a distance of over 8 miles f rom t he entr a nce Among t heir disc ov er i e s wa s a waterfall wher e the

2s t ream f e l l some distance over a precipice By 1898 the water had receded to the other side of Cr ystal Chamber where remains of Swan s boat and an old canoe were found The water was repo r tee t8 be as clear as the air nearly transshyparent at a temper ature o f 52degF

T0day Fort St anton Caves lake is a dry room and the only time it has a flowing stream is duri ng excep t ionally wet year s Several perennial springs do issue from both sides of the ridge containing the cave According to an early governshyment survey cave water flowed toward nearby Government Springs with the cave water level thirty-seven feet higher than the spring 3 Government Springs still flows intermittently although most of the cave passages are dry today except

Vol 18 No 2 58

after an especially rainy season Two of the cave passages end in breakdown within several hundred feet of Government Springs Several times running water has been heard through this breakdown suggesting that there are passageshyways containing water behind and below it The most likely reason that the cave is not as wet as in the late 1800s and early 1900s is that there has been a regional lowering of the water table

In June 1965 several people reported that they had observed the refilled lake At that time considerable water had entered the entrance sink and had divided some flowing west into the Bat Room and through the breakdown the remainder going to the Washtub Room and apparently dividing and flowing both ways 4 That was the last time such a watery sight was visible in the cave

Actually few settlers explored Fort Stanton Cave before the 1900s The most notable early exploration was the boat visit by Conrad and Boyd in 1872 In 1877 the Wheeler E~edition made the first serious exploration of the cave 5 George M Wheeler led the third of four great western surveys organized by the Federal government It lasted from 1872 to 1879 and was called the lOOth Meridshyian expedition 6 They discovered Hellhole Ill the lower Breakdown Passage and completed one of the first instrument surveys of a cave in the country

In 1891 a newspaper~sponsored group the Great Divide Expedition explored the cave and chronicled its adventures in a vivid if somewhat inaccurate account for the readers This expedition was made up of E S Green William H Smith and Paul Ragney (who had considerable experience in exploring caves in Africa while with two French expeditions) members of the 10th U S Infantry Band stationed at Fort Stanton They were in the cave April 9~12 1891 These men came across newspapers (of the New York Tribune) dated 1877 and supposably left by the Wheeler Expedition 7 In 1908 the Chief of Engineers Office made anshyother instrument survey of the cave 8

Until the 1950s except for minor discoveries the known cave remained that which the Wheeler Expedition had discovered Signatures from these expeditions can still be seen on the walls of several cave passages But by the late 1950s and mid-1960s exploration gained full steam at Fort Stanton Cave with discovshyeries and virgin grounds unearthed at regular intervals

It was in 1956 that cavers penetrated Three-Way Hill discovered the Keyhole and the well decorated passages of the New Section Russells Crawl was pushed in 1962-65 and Hoemans Passage discovered 1963 saw the discovery of Davis Chamber Skinners Squeeze and Heintz T Schwinge Hall

Today discoveries are no longer being made Cavers still enjoy the cave and continue to do clean-up and conservation work in and around the cave They are attempting to keep visitor impact as low as possible in this highly popular and beautiful cave And some still search for the second entrance

FOOTNOTES

lHenry James The Mysterious Fort Stanton Cave New Mexico Sun Times VII (June 1954) pp 8-9 The Fort Stanton Cave A Rival of the Great Mammoth Cave of Kentucky Located in Lincoln County The Capitan Progress March 1 1901

2Ibid bull The first names for Swan and Conrad have not been determined However the lieutenant was Orsemus B Boyd (died 1885) a New Yorker who saw combat duty in the Crvil ~r before attending the military academy at West Point (1863-67)


William H Powell List of Officers of the Army of the United States From 1779 to 1900 (New York L R Hamersly amp Co 1900) p 205

3Donald E Hallinger Caves of the Fort Stanton Area New Mexico New Mexico Geological Society 15th Field Conference Guidebook 1964 p 183

4Southwestern Cavers IV (June 1965) p 82

5Fort Stanton Cave Department of the Interior BLM pamphlet 1978

6Encyclopedia Britannica XV (1977) p 965

7Ebull S Green Three Days amp Nights Spent Among the Wonders of a Midnight WOrld The Great Divide (July 1891) pp 84-85

8Fort Stanton Cave

KENTUCKY CAVE CLIPPINGS

Osceola Cave

The Bowling Green Standard says a new and wonderful cave to which the name of Osceola has been given has just been discovered near Cave City Ky It glitters with wonderful stalactites and stalagmite formations and abounds with coral and sparkling pools It is attracting great attention from the curious and the scientific It has been opened for the inspection of visitors

Louisville Journal July 25 1861

Mat Bransford

No one that has visited Mammoth Cave during the last quarter of a century has forgotten Mat the colored guide to whose attentions they have been inshydebted for most of their pleasurable remembrances of a visit to that great subshyterranean wonder Mat commenced the position of guide twenty-six years ago at the age of nineteen and is therefore forty-five years of age He is a native of Nashville Tenn and is owned by Thos L Bransford late of Nashville but at present a seeker after his rights in the South Mat has enjoyed good health although about one-third of his life has been spent underground and his step is as firm and elastic and his form as erect and fairly proportioned as that of an Indian warrior Although by no means scientific he is familiar with the geographical and chemical formations peculiar to the Cave and disshycourses of all its wonders with an apparent knowledge of his subjects that would do credit to Prof IBenjamin1 Silliman Mat arrived in this city yestershyday and is a guest of our friends of the Louisville Hotel He will sit for his portrait to-day at IGeorge H1 Browns daguerrean saloon after which he will take a shy at whatever is worth looking at above ground hereabout returning to the Cave to-morrow

Louisville Journal August 20 1863

Vol 18 No 2 60

REMINISCENCES OF MAMMOTH CAVE

Mrs M C Morgan Ravenna Kentucky

[This article originally appeared in the Glasgow Kentucky Times of December 22 1929 The following copy is from the Hart County Historical Society XVI (April 1984) pp 6-10 courtesy Dr Richard A Redmiddot Watson]

There has been so much written of The Mammoth Cave National Park that I am noting some of my recollections from the age of six years (1869 to 1900)

In 1869 my parents moved from the town of Glasgow Ky to Cave City then a small railroad station on the Louisville and Nashville railroad with a stage line from Cave City to Glasgow and another to Mammoth Cave

The travel of tourists was the main source of finances for the Cave City community Mr Andy McCoy was the stage line owner and proprietor at that time

The cave hotel and the cave proper were then conducted by Mr WID Scott Miller Sr and family The building was a large structure of hewn logs The main building was weather-boarded The building was ell-shaped with the ell of log cottages of two rooms each They were rented to families who stayed for their health or vacations through the summer months

I remember going to the cave in 1872 Our governess wanted to see the cave So one Friday afternoon she my sister and myself took the stage for the cave It was an adventure to me which I will always remember The stage was crammed and I was small consequently I was jammed in between the ladies I got sea sick - very much so However we landed there just before supper time We were given a room over the front entrance of the hotel The room had two beds One for my sister and myself and the other for Miss Trammell over governess When night came I became homesick and could neither go to bed or sleep

So I sat up until the owls and whippoor-wills began and as I had never heard one before I went to bed scared stiff and was soon asleep When I awakened the sun was shinning and the gong ringing for breakfast

Mr Miller met us as we came down stairs and led us into the dining room which was already full of guests who had arisen early to take in the cave My governess and my sister went into the cave They left me at the hotel as I was too small to make the trip So I explored the hotel building Mrs Miller who was an invalid took me to her hotel room where I played with the children

We watched the tourists come and go When wed hear the bugle calling we knew the stage was coming in The band then commenced to play to welcome the visitors and everybody got busy placing the guests to their rooms and learning which route in the cave they wanted to take The guests for the cave were each given a cave suit to put on to wear in the cave They were charged 50 cents for the use of the suit The suit was a pair of bloomer and a blouse as long skirts at that time were hindrance to climbing The men had overalls and jackshyet Each was sold a bandanna to put on their head knotting it in the corner to form a head piece

Mr Miller gave up the hotel about the fall of 1873 and was succeeded by a


Mr D L Graves who took it over with a family by the name of McBride They held it only a few months and were succeeded by Major Francis Klett a Frenchman

Major was a very energetic man He refurnished every room in a more up-toshydate manner The rooms were very large and he made each of them into two rooms w~ch were then larger than ordinary rooms Some of them had stoves some open fireplaces and all had wood burners The cottages were connected with a hall between each two rooms with a large fireplace in each room They were also weather-boarded and a porch about 20 feet wide ran the whole of the length of the cottages Major Klett also built a store room for provisions a log laundry back of the main building and a hydraulic pump to get the water in the main part of the building He then brought in some French cooks gardeners and for general work around the buildings and the grounds They raised most of the vegetables for the hotel table also tried raising mushrooms in the cave but could not make a success of it as the cave was not adapted for that use

The cave was then open to all the natives of that country and quite a few of them would slip in and carry off the formations to make trinkets to sell to the tourists Major Klett had a temporary wooden gate barred with iron put in the cave entrance and at location where the present iron gate now stands This cut off the access of the rock-hunters from destroying the main beauty of the cave The natives then struck out to hunt up other caves for the specimens to make their wares from as this then was their main source of ready money

The Lee boys sons of Old Man Bobby Lee who lived to be 114 years old and had in his younger days been a guide in Mammoth cave were residents and characters of the countryside Others were the Cutliff boys Bill and Bob the Houchins boys sons of Esquire William Houchins and grandsons of the Hutchins IHouchinsJ named in history of one time part owners of the cave also Uncle Nick Bransford colored and his boys also Bill and Lewis Garvin colored and Ed Bishop In fact all these colored boys and others thruout the region worked as guides table waiters cooks barbers or anything that was to be done Their women folks acted as maids laundresses etc

Major Klett remained four years as proprietor of the hotel and the caves Then Miss Julia Jesup one of the seven heirs with her nephew George Croghan as clerk tried to keep up the business with Mr Henry C Ganter in active charge of the cave Miss Jesup soon gave up and leased the hotel to Mr Wm M Comstock of Denver who with his wife brother and nephew managed the hotel for four years

Comstock was a good manager and advertised the hotel and cave extensively but his health failed He then gave the hotel over to Mr Ganter who took over the hotel and cave with the privilege of improving and building additions of several modern rooms both up and down stairs also remodeling the dining room and putting in a three story kitchen with elevator and dumb waiters to cut off all unnecessary help He also added a specimen room had the grounds cleaned off cleared up the lawn and had it sown in grass and created a wonderful flower garden middot He made other extensive improvements In fact he did everyshything he could for the comfort of the tourists There was always a band of music through the summer

In winter months Mr Ganter had the large front hall enclosed in glass doors and windows to make tfie place ~more comfortable for the public His sister Mtss Emma eanter was his housekeeper Miss Ollie Jones succeeded her Miss Jones also attended the specimen room With her was her sister Miss Moss Jones as clerk and as postmaster Miss Moss later married Mr Burns Beall Miss Jennie

62Vol 18 No2

Bush succeeded her as postmaster with Mrs Sansom as clerk

Mr Ganter had a string band at the hotel each summer with music at meal time and for dances at night in the large ball room Mr Ganter had an iron gate put in the entrance to the cave instead of the wooden one to keep out all except those who went in with the guides The gate was unlocked and locked after going in and out

There Vere some very interesting attractions in the cave There were the log and rock houses built in the cave for tubercular patients in the hope the mild air would be benefici al for them They were not benefited and had to have light as well as air Their only light was a candle and an oil lamp which at best was gloomy The experiment was not a success As Uncle Sank Heridetn said at one time lilt was bad enough to Be under the ground when you had to 11 and as l ong as he had feet to walk and Jas alive he was coming out of that ~ He was gu i de in the cave many years - until too old to travel

Now as to the so-called Egyptian mummy My father Louis Vial and Bill Cufliff found thi s mummy in the Salts Cave in the early seventies I think about 1874 My f a t her and mother owned the Jake Jones and Mary Dennison tracts of land adj oining t he cave proper t y This land is now known as the Crys tal Cave and golf l i nks proper ty My f a ther had two French s urveyors from New York t o go with h i m and t hi s Bill Cutliff to survey the Salts Cave They found it f-ffiS direc tly benea th his t r act of land all but the entrance and a few hundred f eet Back which was on t he Mammoth Cave property However later he and CutlHf went on an exploring trip in Salt s Cave They went through the new side entrance known only to themselves Each had a bag filled with balls of twine and bottles of oil and lamps As they went in they unwound the tHine until they had gotten as f ar as finding the mummy They were so surprised they did not go a ny farther but examined the mummy which was lying on a ledge up against the wall of the cave with a pile of ashes and a half-burned st i cks in front

A bowl pipe several pairs of moccasins made of grass and bark some pieces of an exceedingly light wood f lint s an arrow point etc were all about My fa t het Brought out t he bowl pipe moccasi ns a nd some of t he hair of the mummy which was about 18 i nches l ong He wrapped i t in paper and br ought it home with him he a l so had some gypsum he said covered the wal l s a r ound the mummy He later gave two pairs of the moccasins and other cave speci mens to the Public Library in Louisville And now what became of the mummy

Bill Cutliff was so elat ed ever finding it he told the Lee boys They hl1rrishyedl~ went into the cave and got i t out and sold it to a man named Proctor who owned a cave not far froJl Glasgow Junction Proctor showed it in his cave until rats cut holes i n it It was then taken to the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 My Iather visiting the Exposition recognized it as the same one he had discovshyered It was later shown at Mammoth Cave I think in 1920 when I was last there at the new makeshift hotel This is the story of the little mummy The hotel at the cave Durned and never was replaced except with a few temporary wildings

I also recall the Jesse James stage robbery between 1877 and 1880 My sister was postmis-tress at Cave City l was assisting her The James brothers came to our postofetce several times for their mail before the robbery while visiting Mr Jlallles 11cFarland relatives of theirs near Cave City Mac as he was called had no idea they were robbers


Miss Jesup was then at the Cave Hotel and had annually sent the cave proshyceeds for each heir separately in cash registered This remittance was supshyposed to be sent by the stage driver in the mail box to our office But instead she put the six letters on one thousand dollars each sealed and in a tin box gave it in the hads of Jim Brown her most trusted colored servant He came through the woods by a short cut road to our office

By the time the robbed stage arrived in Cave City we had the letters registered and sent off on the ten oclock morning mail

Xiss Jesup was so frightened after hearing of the robbery she came in pershysonally the next day to thank us for getting the money off so promptly She would always send Jinnny as she called him for and with her mail in a tin box wrapped in an old newspaper put in a cotton bag which he carried walking back and forth from the cave to Cave City

When the stage was robbed George Croghan her nephew was in the stage James went through his pockets found a dollar watch and a few pennies which were returned to him After taking the money jewelry and watches off the tourlsts they left

John Brady was the stage driver for Andy McCoy who owned the stage line

And now back to the cave and the hotel Up until we left Edmonson county where I lived from 1896 to 1900 Mr Ganter kept the cave hotel and the cave The Glasgow Junction and Mammoth Cave railroad was surveyed and run through while COJ]lstock was proprietor of the cave hotel

Afterward when Mr Ganter took over the hotel he kept improving the proshyperty and surroundings As far back as I can remember until voted out there was a Dar room for the benefit of the tourists The last barkeeper was John Hughes a cripple from Roseville in Barren county near Glasgow

Mr Ganter had an ice-house put in to have ice during the summer He had a lake made close to the hotel to cut the ice from through the winter He had this lake stocked with fish and frogs so that the tourists could fish in it if theY cared to 1 remember once a crowd was fishing off the board walk (which was out aver the laRe) one man caught a large bull frog Each of the tourists put a silver dollar in the frog~s mouth until there were eight dollars in him The frog took a leap off into the lake And for a week thereafter every boy in the neighborhood waded the pond in vain hunt for the frog and his money

And this reminds me In 1898 my husband and I lived six miles north of Gpeen River and the cave in the small village of Stockholm He being a timber man had great deal of hauling to do over to the cave railroad which was our ne9rest shipping point The roads to the cave were very bad He would take eight or ten of his hands several times a year and work on the road at his own expens-eOne day he was working and blasting out rock up by the cave entrance The next day as they came back to work they were met by three men with compass who measured each way around the front of the cave near the road They then dug about three feet down and two across each way and pulled and prized out an iron box eighteen inches square and two feet long

Before anyone had time to say anything they put the box in a grass sack two carrying it the other carrying the tools etc They left then and there Near the hotel they were met by a man with a wagon who hurriedly drove away

Vol 18 No2 64

One of the guides John Wilson was at the mouth of the cave the same as my husband and his men They were all too spell-bound to think how near to this box they had blasted out rock the day before And to this day nobody knows what was in the box

There are several quite interesting smaller caves close by The Diamond and Bat Caves were accessible the Colossal Cave that was kept by Mr James Hunt who at one time was a guide at the Mammoth Cave

About three miles from Cave City on the Cave City road is Oscealo Cave at one time a very interesting little cave We young folks used to visit it taking lunch and our string band of music and dance for hours inside the cave There used to be a constant pool of cool water inside this cave which had at one t~e the noted eyeless fish in it There was also a cave one and one-half mUes north of Cave City on then the Owens tract of land My father Louis Vial Mpse Tucker Lewis Owens and a gang of us kids went to explore this cave We had to climb down an Indian ladder (a sapling with limbs just long enough for foothold) We descended to a room about 25 feet square and 10 feet down The men saw another room lower down They lighted some paper and tossed it down Mr Tucker and the Owens boy put the ladder down and climbed into the room They found a skelton of a man oeside a rock leaning over against the wall They picked up the head of the skeleton and brought it out and left it at the Cave City Hotel which was then kept by Mr McBride

we then went to explore a cave on Mr Tuckers knob close by The cave was of quite a large size Our dogs accompanied us and stirred up a colony of skunks inside So we did not go in that day - nor later

Back to Mammoth cave After the old hotel burned everything was so fiffershyent and still is I had visited the hotel very often during the years mentioned

We had good times and good old-fashioned hospitality which does not now exist 1 could tell you many incidents that happened and are now forgotten

In concluston I will say I hope they get the National Park On the north side of Green River they will find some very good level land more so than on the Cave side This land will produce well Also up the river toward Hart County there was an extensive coal mine then belonging to Joe Jack Merideth where we frequently sent our teams for coal through the winter months

There are several creeks running through that afford plenty of water Also quite a nice little cave in Stockholm with a spring of running water at all times for a cool drink I have always wished to live to see that nice country developed into something

It sure is a sin to have such good people and so good country isolated al shythough they had good schools and churches they did not then seem to be progresshysive They needed awakening to something beyond their resources If middot its Gods will r hope the National Park wUI get through there so all the hard-working younger generation will have better times than their poor mothers and fathers


- NOTES shy

- - - THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY - - shy

Volume 18 No 2

THE ASSOCIATION

The American Spelean History Association is chartered as a non-profit corporation for the study dissemination and intershypretation of spelean history and related purposes All persons who are interested in those goals are cordially invited to become members Annual membership is $500 family membership is $600 and library subscriptions are $400 ASHA is the official history section of the National Speleological Society

FRONT COVER Photographs of three men associated with the discovery and early exploration of Wind Cave South Dakota Tom Bingham (left) John Dennis (upper right) and Edmund Petty (lower right) Bingham and his half~brother Dennis were supposedly present when the entrance was located in 1881 Petty partici shypated in an exploring trip to the cave in 1881

Officers

President Joel M Sneed 4300 Maner St Smyrna Georgia 30080

1st Vice President Larry o Blair 192 Sequoia Dr NE Marietta Georgia 30060

2nd Vice President Gary K Soule 224 S 7th Ave Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin 54235

Secretary-Treasurer Jack H Speece 711 East Atlantic Avenue Altoona Pennsylvania 16602

April-June 1984

THE JOURNAL

The Association publishes the Journal of Spelean History on a quarterly basis Pertinent articles or reprints are welshycomed Manuscripts should be typed and double-spaced Submissions of rough drafts for preliminary editing is enshycouraged Illustrations require special handling and arrangements should be made with the editor in advance Photos and illustrations will be returned upon reshyquest

BACK LSSUES

All copies of back issues of the Journal are presently available Early issues are photocopied Send requests to Jack H Speece (address given below with officers) Indexes are also available for volumes 1 2 3 4 and 5 All issues of volumes 1-72 are available

on microfiche from Kraus Reprint Comshypany Route 100 Millwood New York 10546

Official Quarterly Publication of AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION

History Section National Speleological Society

Journal Staff

Editor Marion O Smith P O Box 8276 UT Station Knoxville Tennessee 37996

Printer Mike Whidby 924 Corning Road Knoxville Tennessee 37923


Gary Schilberg

Introduction
















36Vol 18 No2

















Vol 18 No 2 38







5

Mlnnekahta o

Parker Pk

Flint Hill


Pk

Horae Thief Park

---shyill0+



I lookout Point



1903 WIND



SPRINGS

To Red

Cloud~

To Rapid

0 0

X L--~ __ ~

o Miles F=3 Ed

KEY

City

Town

Point of Interest

Mountain Peak

Pass

Stream

Stage Trail

County Line



5 o KM E3 HHA


Vol 18 No2 40
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy


Gary Schilberg

Introduction
















36Vol 18 No2

















Vol 18 No 2 38







5

Mlnnekahta o

Parker Pk

Flint Hill


Pk

Horae Thief Park

---shyill0+



I lookout Point



1903 WIND



SPRINGS

To Red

Cloud~

To Rapid

0 0

X L--~ __ ~

o Miles F=3 Ed

KEY

City

Town

Point of Interest

Mountain Peak

Pass

Stream

Stage Trail

County Line



5 o KM E3 HHA


Vol 18 No2 40
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy








36Vol 18 No2

















Vol 18 No 2 38







5

Mlnnekahta o

Parker Pk

Flint Hill


Pk

Horae Thief Park

---shyill0+



I lookout Point



1903 WIND



SPRINGS

To Red

Cloud~

To Rapid

0 0

X L--~ __ ~

o Miles F=3 Ed

KEY

City

Town

Point of Interest

Mountain Peak

Pass

Stream

Stage Trail

County Line



5 o KM E3 HHA


Vol 18 No2 40
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy

















Vol 18 No 2 38







5

Mlnnekahta o

Parker Pk

Flint Hill


Pk

Horae Thief Park

---shyill0+



I lookout Point



1903 WIND



SPRINGS

To Red

Cloud~

To Rapid

0 0

X L--~ __ ~

o Miles F=3 Ed

KEY

City

Town

Point of Interest

Mountain Peak

Pass

Stream

Stage Trail

County Line



5 o KM E3 HHA


Vol 18 No2 40
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy








Vol 18 No 2 38







5

Mlnnekahta o

Parker Pk

Flint Hill


Pk

Horae Thief Park

---shyill0+



I lookout Point



1903 WIND



SPRINGS

To Red

Cloud~

To Rapid

0 0

X L--~ __ ~

o Miles F=3 Ed

KEY

City

Town

Point of Interest

Mountain Peak

Pass

Stream

Stage Trail

County Line



5 o KM E3 HHA


Vol 18 No2 40
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy







5

Mlnnekahta o

Parker Pk

Flint Hill


Pk

Horae Thief Park

---shyill0+



I lookout Point



1903 WIND



SPRINGS

To Red

Cloud~

To Rapid

0 0

X L--~ __ ~

o Miles F=3 Ed

KEY

City

Town

Point of Interest

Mountain Peak

Pass

Stream

Stage Trail

County Line



5 o KM E3 HHA


Vol 18 No2 40
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy

5

Mlnnekahta o

Parker Pk

Flint Hill


Pk

Horae Thief Park

---shyill0+



I lookout Point



1903 WIND



SPRINGS

To Red

Cloud~

To Rapid

0 0

X L--~ __ ~

o Miles F=3 Ed

KEY

City

Town

Point of Interest

Mountain Peak

Pass

Stream

Stage Trail

County Line



5 o KM E3 HHA


Vol 18 No2 40
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy
















Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy









Vol 18 No 2 42








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy








covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy

covered it 22





FOOTNOTES


44Vol 18 No2
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy
















l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy







l6Ibid p 367









46

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy

BIBLIOGRAPHY



















47

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy

BLUE SPRING CAVE

Sam Frushour







48Vol 18 No2












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy












Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy







Vol 18 No 2 50












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy












Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy






Vol 18 No2 52












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy












Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy





Vol 18 No 2 54













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy













Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy







Vol 18 No 2 56


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy


Literature Cited









FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy

FORT STANTON CAVE

Patty Daw









Vol 18 No 2 58








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy








FOOTNOTES










8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy







8Fort Stanton Cave


Osceola Cave



Mat Bransford



Vol 18 No 2 60





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy





















62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy








62Vol 18 No2



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy



















Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy











Vol 18 No2 64











- NOTES shy











- NOTES shy

- NOTES shy

Documents

OFfICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SPELEAN …Spelean THE JOURNAL OF . History . OFfICIAL PUBLICATION . OF . THE AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION -1 ~~ VOLUME 18, No. 2 . April-June,