the hollow earth news - minnesota caving club · 2012. 9. 11. · the hollow earth news page 4...
TRANSCRIPT
The Hollow Earth News Page 1
The Hollow Earth News
The Wisconsin Speleological Society
Volume 20 No. 9 www.wisconsincaves.org September 2013
Work continues in the Fountain Spring Cave project in Minnesota. See article on page 8.
Photo courtesy of David Gerboth
The Hollow Earth News Page 2
WSS Executive Officers 2012-2013
Chairman: Kasey Fiske
S9740 Exchange Road
Prairie du Sac WI 53578
608-544-2212
Historian: Gary K. Soule 920-743-6488
Librarian: Allan Schema 920-683-9025
Cave Survey Chairman: Dave Wysocki 608-767-3981
The Hollow Earth News is the official monthly newsletter of the
Wisconsin Speleological Society, a grotto of the National
Speleological Society. Exchanges and inquiries, as well as
articles for publication, should be sent to the editor’s address
listed above.
Membership Info Annual membership in the WSS is now based on how
you would like to receive this newsletter. The fees are:
Electronic version emailed to you is $15 per individual and
$18 per family. The mailed version is $20 per individual
and $25 per family. The WSS Membership Year begins on
June 1st and ends on May 31st of the following year. If you
join other than in June, please prorate, divide total by
number of months left until May and pay accordingly so
that your membership ends in May. Include your email
address, your NSS number and any information that you
want in the WSS database and printed in the annual
Membership List.
Send remittance (payable to: WSS) and changes of
address to: Brad Graf
1228 Williams Ave.
South Milwaukee, WI 53172
The WSS usually scheduled from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30
a.m. on the 3rd Saturday of every month, either at the
Ledge View Nature Center at W2348 Short Road, Chilton,
Wisconsin, 53014 (October thru June) or at Cherney
Maribel Caves county Park in Manitowoc County (July
thru September). This schedule sometimes changes and
WSS meetings are held at other locations. Please refer to
the latest issue of The Hollow Earth News or see the
calendar of events at www.wisconsincaves.org for updated
information, as well as maps and directions to the caves.
All are welcomed to attend. Digging opportunities usually
follow the meeting.
The WSS strongly advocates safe caving and caving
related activities. However, neither the WSS nor its
members can guarantee the safety of anyone participating
in these activities and are not responsible for injuries,
illnesses, deaths or financial losses during such
participation.
The WSS and its members do not necessarily endorse or
agree with the opinions and articles in The Hollow Earth
News and the Wisconsin Speleologist, or with opinions and
articles presented in any other WSS publications and
cannot guarantee the accuracy or validity of them.
Vice Chairman: Bryan Kleist
3618 W Northland Ave
Appleton, WI 54914
920-830-6484
Treasurer/Secretary: Brad Graf
1228 Williams Ave.
South Milwaukee, WI 53172
414-745-7840
Allan Schema
1419 S. 31st St.
Manitowoc, WI 54220
920-683-9025
Mike Sobush
523 N. Packer Dr.
Manitowoc, WI 54220
920-860-6123
Gary K. Soule
224 S. 7th Ave.
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235-2216
920-743-6488
David Sheffer
770 East Albert Dr. Lot #41
Manitowoc, WI 54220
920-323-2296
The Hollow Earth News
Editor: Karen Fiske
S9740 Exchange Rd.
Prairie du Sac, WI 53578
608-544-2212
Madison Chapter
Board Members: Vacant Position
Vacant Position
Board of Directors:
http//www.wisconsincaves.org
The Hollow Earth News Page 3
Caving Calendar
A great selection of upcoming caving activities is in the
works! All are welcome in any of our caving activities. Please
come and be a part of the exciting world of caving. These out-
ings may include caving trips, educational opportunities, survey
opportunities, and cave excavation activities. I hope you can
join us on one of these great offerings and become a part of the
wonderful world of underground adventures. One huge issue
everyone needs to be aware of in any of our caving activities is
the potential devastation of our bat populations that will occur
from the White Nose Syndrome (WNS) http://www.caves.org/
WNS/index.htm. Currently it is not in Wisconsin, but it is at our
state's doorstep. The link provided here guides you to the Wis-
consin WNS Caving Protocols on the WSS website
(www.wisconsincaves.org/WNS) and gives you information
about the problem and what to do about it. If you have been cav-
ing out of the State of Wisconsin, you cannot use the same gear
here in Wisconsin caves, per Wisconsin-DNR policies. There
are also decontamination protocols from the US Fish and Wild-
life included in the link that must be adhered to on any caving
activities in Wisconsin and any trips to our nearby sister states.
PLEASE CLEAN AND DISINFECT YOUR CAVING GEAR,
INCLUDING ALL CLOTHING, BEFORE ENTERING AND
AFTER LEAVING ALL CAVES!!!!! If you have any questions
about the Ledge View or Maribel activities, please feel free to
contact me at home in the evenings at 608-544-2212 or on the
days of the cave activities by cell phone at 608-370-1883. You
can also reach me via email until 4:00 on the day before each
activity.
_______________________________________________
*New Posting* 10/12-13 - Saturday and Sunday - Ledge View
Nature Center at Chilton WI. There are now two days of cave
work activities set for the Nature Center. Planned activity is for
excavation work in either Montgomery Cave or Carolyn's Cav-
erns System depending on participant turnout. Times for the
work and exploration activities are from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm
on both days. For Saturday night, the heated Nature Center will
be open for those who would like to spend the night. Just bring
something soft to sleep on and covers to keep warm. This is a
great opportunity for anyone to see and participate in a major
cave expansion and exploration that will be going on in the
caves at Ledge View. Everyone is welcome to help out and be a
part of any day of the activities. More information about Ledge
View and directions to get to the Nature Center can be found at
(http://www.co.calumet.wi.us/departments2.iml?dept_id=70).
_______________________________________________
*New Posting* 10/18-20 - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - Three
days of caving activities are scheduled for Ledge View Nature
Center in Chilton WI. Halloween Candlelight Cave Tours will
be on Friday and Saturday nights. Halloween tours start on Fri-
day night at 5:30 and Saturday night at 4:30. The last tour on
both nights will be at 8:30 at night. Tours will leave the Nature
Center every half hour. The tour fee is $5 per person. The tours
are a fund raiser for the Ledge View Friends Group. It is a fun
caving tour to see the caves at night and be entertained and edu-
cated by fascinating cave characters. This is a family outing that
does not involve scary characters or situations. I would highly
recommended it for all children regardless of their age. Saturday
morning from 10:00 till 11:30 is the WSS October statewide
meeting. Saturday, and Sunday from 8:30 in the morning until
3:00 in the afternoon will be scheduled cave exploration and ex-
cavation opportunities for the Nature Center. The excavation
work will be in Montgomery Cave. A volunteer crew of five is
being requested to help out with the excavation activities. Sleep-
ing arrangements will also be made for anyone wanting to stay
over night in the Nature Center for Friday and Saturday nights
for no fee. Just bring something soft to sleep on and covers to
keep warm. This is a great opportunity for anyone to see and
participate in a major cave expansion and exploration that will
be going on in the caves at Ledge View. Everyone is welcome
to help out and be a part of any day of the activities. More infor-
mation about Ledge View and directions to get to the Nature
Center can be found at (http://www.co.calumet.wi.us/
departments2.iml?dept_id=70).
_______________________________________________
10/26-27 - Saturday and Sunday - NCRC Cave rescue training
in Bloomington, Indiana. This is an introduction to cave rescue.
Topics covered include Incident Command System and how it
applies to cave rescues, medical management, hypothermia, pa-
tient packaging, extreme situations, the cave environment, com-
munications, media interaction, search, and more. There will be
both classroom and hands on instruction, and the students will
run a mock incident. There is NO VERTICAL component to
this course--horizontal caving only. Prerequisites: There are no
prerequisites for this class. This is designed for anyone who has
an interest in cave rescue management and operations. Both rec-
reational cavers and emergency response personnel will benefit
from this class.
Those under 18 will need to call the seminar coordinator to
make prior arrangements to attend if not accompanied by a par-
ent or guardian.
Seminar Cost: The seminar cost is $40. All seminar instruc-
tors are volunteers to help keep costs low. Where: Indian Uni-
versity Geology Building, 1001 East 10th Street Bloomington,
IN 47405. Preregistration is required. For more information,
contact: Jess Deli - NCRC-CR Coordinator, by email
([email protected]) or by phone: (812) 345-5012.
_______________________________________________
*New Posting* 11/2-3 - Saturday and Sunday - NCRC Cave
rescue training, Perryville, Missouri. This is an introduction
to cave rescue. Topics covered include Incident Command Sys-
tem and how it applies to cave rescues, medical management,
hypothermia, patient packaging, extreme situations, the cave en-
vironment, communications, media interaction, search, and
more. There will be both classroom and hands on instruction,
and the students will run a mock incident. There is NO VERTI-
CAL component to this course--horizontal caving only. There
are no prerequisites for this class. This is designed for anyone
who has an interest in cave rescue management and operations.
Both recreational cavers and emergency response personnel will
benefit from this class. Those under 18 will need to call the
seminar coordinator to make prior arrangements to attend if not
accompanied by a parent or guardian. The seminar cost is $40
for NSS Members and $60 for non-NSS Members. All seminar
instructors are volunteers to help keep costs low. Where: Perry-
ville Fire Rescue,301 W. Ste. Marie St. Perryville, MO, 63775.
Preregistration is required. For more information, contact Jess
Deli - NCRC-CR Coordinator, by email at ([email protected])
or by phone: (812) 345-5012.
________________________________________________
The Hollow Earth News Page 4
Caving Calendar (cont’d)
** Cherney Maribel Caves County Park was devastated by a
tornado that destroyed the majority of the trees, the picnic shel-
ter, and bathroom facilities on the early Wednesday morning
hours on August 7th. Due to liability concerns, no one is al-
lowed in the park and people will be issued trespassing cita-
tions if found in the park. Please stay clear of the area until
further notice.
aaa
WSS Meeting Minutes August 17, 2013
Ledge View Nature Center, Chilton, WI Submitted by Kasey Fiske
WSS Meeting called to order at 10:10 am
Present: Kasey Fiske, Gary K. Soule, Bryan Kleist, Allan
Schema, Dave Sheffer, Robert “Nuke” Thompson proxy for
Mike Sobush, and Larry Buchholz as proxy for Brad Graf.
The treasury report was read by Kasey for Brad and is current
as of 8/15: General Fund: $4,614.42; Maribel Fund: $257.47;
and Generator Fund: $500. The July meeting minutes were
unanimously approved with no corrections.
Kasey gave a public “thank you” to WSS members who have
made an extra effort to help out the WSS this month. It no way
diminishes all the great efforts put in by other members. Every-
one contributes and makes great contributions continually to the
WSS and our sponsored activities. Allan Schema was acknowl-
edged for his extra effort in continually developing the website.
Kasey was recognized for his live early morning caving inter-
view on Wisconsin Public Radio on August 2nd at 6:00 AM. Mi-
chelle & Bryan Kleist were recognized for their joint caving
presentations at the Kewanee Library on 7/24 and Bryan again
for a solo presentation at the Weiss Museum on 7/30.
Gary showed the Board donated caving items from Ken &
Doris Zeyer, both former WSS members. They are now both re-
tired and living in Beaver Dam. They have donated carbide
lights, helmets, caving packs, and coveralls to the WSS. Gary
suggested that the items could be auctioned off at this year’s
Hodag auction. The Board agreed, but also suggested that one
of the older helmets with a British Primer Carbide Light and an-
other helmet with an attached older Justrite Electrical Light
should be donated to the WSS Library. They could be valuable
for use later as historical caving equipment examples for a fu-
ture nature center or caving exhibit. A motion was made to
place the two helmets in the WSS Library and it was unani-
mously approved by the Board. Kasey will put together a WSS
thank you letter to Ken and Doris for their donations.
Gary next presented to the Board two homemade, beautifully
crafted, caving rescue skeds that he was able to obtain as a do-
nation to the WSS from Sandra Hissong, who lives in Indian-
apolis, IN. They were made by her husband, Jack Hissong, who
is now deceased. He was a very active NSS member for many,
many years. The value put on both skeds combined is around
$300. One sked, the Board agreed, would be permanently
housed at the Nature Center. The other one would be temporar-
ily stored at the Nature Center, until a new location can be
found for it. Ideally, we should have skeds stored on both sides
of the state. Kasey will put together a thank you letter to Sandra
for her donation.
Kasey reported to the Board the unfortunate news that WNS
spores have now been positively identified in Minnesota in two
locations. The WNS spores were found in Mystery Cave in
southern Minnesota and also in the northern part of Minnesota
at the Soudan Mine. The news came out just the night before the
scheduled MSS Cornfeed. The MSS had to scramble to make
any caving trips possible and had to take some extraordinary de-
contamination precautions to make it possible for their planned
caving trips to Mystery Cave.
Kasey next reported the unfortunate news that the 49th Hodag
would have to be moved or cancelled for the year. As a precau-
tion, since Crystal Cave is less than an hour drive from Minne-
sota, Crystal Cave owner, Eric McMaster, had sent out a memo
on 8/16 to both the WSS and MSS e-mail list serves that he was
temporarily suspending any wild caving trips at Crystal Cave.
Kasey did some quick checking with Ledge View, right after
the e-mail came in, to see if we could have it at Ledge View. He
talked to Ron Zahringer, head naturalist at the Nature Center,
who agreed it could be a possibility to move it there but we
would have to share the grounds with their scheduled Food Fest
for Saturday. The Board discussed the issue and did not want to
cancel the Hodag. Most people had already requested time off
for the scheduled dates, so a relocated Hodag would also have
to be on the same weekend. The Board decided that, with little
leeway on timing, to move it elsewhere. The Board agreed our
best option was to move the Hodag Festival to Ledge View.
The Board next looked over a preliminary Hodag Hunt Festi-
val registration form that Karen Fiske had put together for
Ledge View. The Board agreed on the costs and items listed on
the form with just some minor changes. Kasey and Karen will
work quickly to get the form finalized so it can get posted on
our WSS webpage along with a written announcement for the
new Hodag location.
Kasey reported that he worked with Brad to get a thank you
letter drafted and a donation-in-kind form out to Mary Jo Kroes
for her $500 cash donation designated for a generator. Kasey
also explained to everyone that the new account “Generator
Fund” read in the earlier treasury report is the $500 donation
from Mary Jo Kroes.
Kasey reported that the guided tours on 8/4 for the Ledge
View Bicycle Escarpment Ride went well. It was the first time
he had been able to take a large group down into Montgomery
Cave to see the new observation deck. Everyone was impressed
with the new deck! Kasey reported that about 25 people were on
the deck at one time. There was plenty of room and the deck
had no bounce or movement at all to it. It is very solid and se-
cure!
There was a discussion on the continued distribution of the
caving brochures, after the closure of Cherney Maribel Caves
County Park. We need to be extra cautious and distribute them
sparingly, making sure the distributor is well aware that the park
is closed.
Kasey reported the work on the Horseshoe Bay (HSB) Cave
resolution was transposed onto WSS letterhead, signed, and
copies sent to both George Zachariasen and Gary Soule in time
for the HSB stakeholders meeting.
The final discussion item was the need to talk to the Calumet
County Sheriff on getting crews out of the Calumet Jail. We
The Hollow Earth News Page 5
continue to have scheduled weekends that we can’t get crews,
usually because of disciplinary actions in the jail, putting every-
one in the jail on lockdown. Allan reported he checked with the
Manitowoc County Jail to see how they handle lockdowns in
the Manitowoc Jail. He was told the jail in Manitowoc has simi-
lar policies and procedures in place not to let anyone out if there
is a disciplinary problem there, as well. Maybe with a discus-
sion with the Sheriff we could get an exception to the policy.
Ron said he will set up a meeting with Sheriff for us and we
will have it at the Nature Center. We all think it is important to
show the Sheriff what the crews have been able to accomplish
at the Nature Center and he needs to know how much we appre-
ciate him letting them out to help. One source of help we need
to pursue more in Calumet County is community service work-
ers. We need to be communicating with Calumet County proba-
tion officers and social workers to see if they could be of assis-
tance in getting us more help.
Digester updates: Allan reported the construction of a mas-
sive digester at the now closed restaurant at the Maribel exit off
of I-43 is now a dead deal. The original planners for the digester
are changing tactics now, and going after large farms in the area
to build digesters for the individual farming operations. The
problem of ground water contamination still exists, but is now
being spread out in smaller operations over the whole Karst sen-
sitive area. Bryan reported that the group against the digesters
development has their own website at (http://
www.ledgeguardians.com/). There are interesting videos on
their site that show spring thaw running water disappearing into
sinkholes in the area. Horseshoe Bay Cave updates: The next
HSB stockholders meeting is Tuesday August 27th at the HSB
Cave entrance at 11:00. Crystal Cave updates: As reported
above. Ledge View updates: The debris piles in the park are
supposed to be removed within the next two weeks. Maribel
Updates: The Park is still closed to all visitors including the
WSS over liability concerns. Insurance coverage for the tornado
damage can only be recovered for buildings, stairways, wooden
bridges, parking lots, and maintained mowed green spaces. The
Park insurance does not cover damage to trees as we had first
thought. The electricity has now been run into the Park to the
ground service base that is at the far north edge of the mowed
grass area off of the last lower parking lot.
Meeting Adjourned 11:40.
aaa
NEWS AND NOTES
Newly Discovered Cave in Viet Nam Submitted by Bob Boro
This newly discovered cave is 5.5 miles long, big enough to fit
a NYC block of 40-story buildings, and features a river, rainfor-
est, and towering stalagmites; cave now open to the public and
permits for 2014 are going fast.
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/excursions/post/son-doong-
cave-in-vietnam-is-a-spelunking-paradise/ or
http://www.sondoongcave.org/
Some great pics and videos on the websites. Who’s up for a trip
to Vietnam?
a
Historic Horseshoe Bay Cave Articles Submitted by Gary K. Soule
Articles researched by Gary K. Soule, (Cave Explorer and
Speleo Archivist,) 224 South 7th Avenue, Sturgeon Bay, Wis-
consin 54235-2216; (920)743-6488;
Email: [email protected]
Volume 22., Number 31., Friday, July 24, 1914, Issue of the
Door County Democrat, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; Page 1.,
Column 1.
“TO DEVELOP RESORT” United Fruit Growers Co. arti-
cle excerpts…
The company has purchased 271 acres of land in the town of
Egg Harbor, consisting of the 80 acre farm until recently owned
by Guy Bingham, 111 acres of Grant Haskel, and 80 acres from
A. J. Anderson, which includes the Horseshoe Bay Cave.
Another attraction is a large cave which, as yet, has never
been thoroughly explored, altho parties have ventured into it for
a distance of half a mile. Many small passages lead several
blocks. Small passages leading from one large opening to an-
other has made it difficult to explore the interior, but the com-
pany now has a crew of men at work opening up these passage-
ways and cleaning out the cave so it will be more accessible. It
is also proposed to light the cave with electric lights from a
plant to be located one-fourth mile away, which will also supply
lights for a hotel which the company proposes to operate.
Volume 22., Number 39., Friday, September 18, 1914, Issue
of the Door County Democrat, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; Page
6., Column 4.
Article: “Into Cave 800 Feet”
A party of gentlemen from this city and Fish Creek went to
Horseshoe Bay, Sunday in the launch Arbutus and visited the
big cave on the United Fruit Growers property.
The party explored the cave for a distance of 800 feet, when
further ingress became so difficult that they abandoned the idea
of going further.
When the company gets the cave cleared out so that people
can enter it without difficulty, it undoubtedly will become a
very popular place for tourists to explore.
a
Online Caving Newsletters Available
The Aug/Sept 2013 BRG CARBIDE DUMP is published. It
can be viewed (and/or downloaded) at the following address:
http://blueridgegrotto.org/carbidedump.htm
The September issue of The Underground Movement, the
newsletter of the Central Connecticut Grotto is now available
at:
http://www.caves.org/grotto/ccg/um/2013_09_um.pdf
a
The Hollow Earth News Page 6
News and Notes (cont’d)
Orientation to Cave Rescue Seminars - carpooling
Hello everyone,
I started the registration process for the cave rescue seminar,
the one held in Indianapolis on October 26-27 (see the Caving
Calendar on page 3), and I am trying to figure out traveling. If
there is someone driving there and has space in his/her car,
please let me know. I am happy to share the gas both ways and
I can also drive -I have covered few thousand miles in US and I
have been a driver for 7 years in EU and US.
Thank you very much,
Kyriaki Chatzikyriakidou
a
Cumberland Caverns Makes the National News!
Submitted by Gary K. Soule
What an honor when literally millions of citizens get to see a
show cave on, of all things, the NBC Nightly News!!
Such was the case when, on Saturday night, September 14,
2013, they showed previews of the spectacular Cumberland
Caverns ballroom! This show cave is located near McMinn-
ville, Tennessee. Sure enough, the last news item featured the
monthly “Bluegrass Underground,” that is held in the cave.
It showed the impressive lighted chandelier hanging from the
cave ceiling high above a crowd of people, while a lively band
and singers performed on stage. Yes, even spotlights moved
about the room!
Lester Holt, the NBC, the news announcer, said that the ball-
room was 333 feet underground, and could hold up to 500 peo-
ple at one time. Teddy Jones, general manager of the cave, was
the person interviewed. Other parts of the television story
showed the massive cave formations, as well as a view looking
out from inside the cave. You could see people walking into the
cave. Also a jeep bringing equipment into the cave!
The first time I ever saw this cave was over 40 years ago. Roy
Davis, the developer, drove my parents and I on a jeep thru the
cave, even including some of the wild sections! I will never
forget it!! I have since attended many caver Christmas parties
in this spectacular cave.
a
NSS Dues to Increase Submitted by Dawn Ryan
The NSS dues increased as of October 1, 2013. Right now
would be a financially opportune time to either become a
member or become a Life member at current rates.
In addition to the wonderfully produced coffee table quality
monthly newsletter, your membership in this professional sci-
entific and social organization (at less than the cost of a tank of
gasoline) connects you with ten thousand people of similar in-
terest around the world in support of cave exploration, research,
and protection.
The regular annual NSS dues will be increasing from $40 to
$45; life membership will increase from $800 to $900. There
are other membership categories at lower costs and a discount
for life members over 59.
The NSS also offers an Auto Pay option which many mem-
bers love.
You can easily join the NSS online at
http://www.caves.org/info/membertypes.shtml using a credit
card.
a
Cave Collector in Minnesota Submitted by Gary K. Soule
An interesting article about John Kellner recently appeared in the
New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/us/cave-collector-in-
minnesota-hunts-for-additions-to-his-empire.html?
ref=todayspaper&_r=0
aaa
2013 NSS Convention Trip
Some very special moments in spelean history occur once a
year for those cavers able to attend the annual National Spe-
leological Society Convention. Recent NSS conventions have
been in Glenwood Springs, Colorado in 2011; Elkins, West
Virginia, in 2012; Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in 2013; and
coming up Huntsville, Alabama the week of July 14 through
the 18, 2014; Waynesville, Missouri in 2015; and Ely, Nevada,
in 2016.
Since my particular interest is in show caves, their history,
and development, I always tend to like to do research and visit
current and former show caves, both going and coming, from
the NSS Convention. But for cavers just attending the NSS
Convention, usually if you have the weekend off before and af-
Moments in Spelean History by Gary K. Soule, Grotto Historian
The Hollow Earth News Page 7
ter the NSS Convention week, it allows plenty of time to travel
and take in the standard convention events.
I left on Friday, July 26, 2013. I started out by traveling to
visit Seneca Caverns, a show cave formed by a giant earthquake
crack in the earth’s crust. It is located just south of Bellevue,
Ohio. Since I have seen all the currently operating U.S. show
caves, I merely wanted to visit and gather the latest show cave
materials from the current owner. We had a nice visit and
shared ideas on the latest in show cave concepts. We are old
friends.
Then I drove on to nearby Sandusky, Ohio. I wanted to check
out the two small, bottle shaped caves that comprised the former
Crystal Rock Caves. The larger of the two caves was originally
inside a gift shop building. I saw it while it was still open as a
show cave operation many decades ago.
The cave had a front door in an impressive sinkhole, and a
shaft and public staircase for an exit up into the same large gift
shop building.
To my amazement, a modern, three quarters of a million dol-
lar private home was now built over the cave, and replaced the
gift shop building! The main cave entrance sinkhole was sur-
rounded as a partially open, front courtyard with impressive
views of the sinkhole from large plate glass windows in the sur-
rounding circular two-story home!! It is for sale, but if you have
to ask the price, you cannot afford it! I got a complete tour of
the home and cave. The smaller cave is on a neighboring prop-
erty and was sealed by a steel door, but I had seen it.
Then it was on to Altoona, Pennsylvania, where I compared
research notes with another well known speleo historian.
Nearby was Tytoona Cave Preserve. This is an NSS Cave Pre-
serve. Two past attempts to commercially develop this large
river cave failed, due to flooding. I was thrilled to put on tall
boots and visit it with others.
Then I drove on to the historic, ex-commercial Hipple Cave
near Woodbury, Pennsylvania. This rather low river-formed
cave had a long flight of 52 cement steps down into it! A ce-
ment pad to the left of the cave entrance is all that remains of
the generator station that powered the electric lights in the cave.
This cave had some nice cave formations, and some still exist in
it.
I then changed my travel plans due to an unexpected delay be-
cause of brake trouble with my vehicle. So after repairs, I
headed for the only currently operating show cave in Maryland.
It is the Crystal Grottoes of Maryland, near Boonsboro, Mary-
land. This smaller, but extremely decorated show cave is simply
amazing for its area.
Then after driving around and into Washington, D.C., I
stopped off for an information visit to Skyline Caverns near
Front Royal, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Then I visited the ex-commercial Battlefield Crystal Caverns
near Strasburg, Virginia. The cave was still closed. I was
amazed to be this far from home and find the caretaker wearing
a “DOOR COUNTY” t shirt! We talked about “home.” I once
was given the keys to this historic cave, and had the liberty to
go anywhere I wanted as I did historical spelean research on the
cave. I did not have to see it again. It is still closed, but the Civil
War Museum is open on the property. I did take a surface trail
to some impressive open sinkholes on the property.
Then on to Shenandoah Caverns and Endless Caverns, two
major show caves near New Market, Virginia. Shenandoah Cav-
erns has a new county road built well away from the cave now,
as well as two auxiliary tourist attractions nearby. The manager
and I had a nice talk. I knew his dad from before.
From here, I checked out the long since ex-commercial Cav-
erns of Melrose, an ex-commercial cave near Lacey Springs,
Virginia. It used to be called Virginia Caverns, as indicated by a
very rare brochure I have on it. Also the ex-commercial Massa-
nutten Caverns near Keezletown, Virginia. Both still have se-
cure gates. I had been in Massanutten Caverns when it was still
being shown many decades ago! I have their rare brochures on
file, but managed to buy another earlier version of the Massa-
nutten Caverns brochure at a local antique store. By the way, it
was NOT cheap!
From here it was a short jaunt to Grand Caverns at Grottoes,
Virginia. This cave was discovered in 1804, and already in
1806, it became the first show cave to open commercially for
visitors in the entire U.S.! I took the commercial tour, and it is
truly outstanding with its giant rooms and shields.
The city now owns it.
(By the way, the first recorded show cave visitors to any
cave in the world was the Postojna Jama, in what was then
Yugoslavia back in 1235! The cave is now located in the coun-
try of Slovenia. I have seen this cave, and it is impressive, com-
plete with an electric train in it.)
I then made a fast run north to Luray, Virginia. I was just in
time to hear the 117 foot tall Luray Singing Tower performance
in the evening. The former owner of nearby Luray Caverns do-
nated the tower to the city! The large, stone tower contains 47
bells, the largest of which weighs 7,640 pounds. The total
weight of all the bells is 36,170 pounds! Not content to watch
just from down below, I did my homework and greeted the
carillonneur by name as he arrived at the locked steel door at the
base of the fully enclosed tower. Since I was a friend of the
family that owns Luray Caverns, and having been in their fancy
rural home, he quickly permitted me to go inside and go up with
him to hear him play in person! We climbed numerous cement
levels, to his huge bell organ console. Then even a final spiral
staircase to a trap door. I got to climb out and under the huge
steel bells. I could see the large Luray Caverns estate and show
cave buildings on one side far below, and the city of Luray on
the other side. The 45-minute concert originated one level be-
low. After each bell song, we could hear the roar of the crowds
below as they looked up and saw us at a small window, only ten
feet under the bells!
I later met briefly with the owner of Luray Caverns, who I
first met at a National Caves Association Convention in Puerto
Rico. We had a good talk.
The week of the NSS CONVENTION in Shippensburg, Penn-
sylvania was fantastic! We had about 720 cavers show up,
which is small. They estimate it will be HUGE next year, with
over 1,200 cavers showing up at our NSS Headquarters, to see
the new building in Huntsville, Alabama!
The convention is so big that starting already on the Sunday
before, each NSS Convention has its own daily newspaper!!
Sessions had something for literally everyone. Kasey Fiske
would like the cave digging sessions and newsletter production
sessions; Nuke Thompson would like the vertical sessions and
even vertical rope climbing contests; Tony Kroes would like the
micro-shaving sessions; many cavers like the U.S. Exploration
and even World Exploration talks and photos, videos, slides,
you name it. I enjoy the history sessions as a Trustee of the
American Spelean History Association. Others loved the vari-
The Hollow Earth News Page 8
Moments in Spelean History (cont’d)
ous speleo book and equipment vendors. Even the NSS Book-
store and office ladies are all present!
Each night, a nice campground party is given: Monday night,
an all you can eat meal is provided; Wednesday night, the NSS
Auction; Thursday night, the huge Photo Salon and Awards pro-
gram; Friday night, the final grand banquet and program.
Those going to and from the NSS Convention can take part in
pre-geology field trips, and everything you can imagine. Just
read your NSS News issues!
The NSS Convention registration fee includes camping, as
well as a very high quality, thick guidebook, program etc. Nice
patches and pins are available for those who want to pay a little
extra to get them.
By the way, an unbelievable amount of money was raised for
the new NSS Office thru a matching grant and outright dona-
tions! I think just at the banquet alone, they were a little short
for a $55,000.00 matching grant, and an additional about
$9,000.00 was donated by cavers at the final NSS Banquet
alone, putting them over the top!
The weather was great the first half of the convention, but the
second half of the week had heavy rains at times, and it was hu-
mid. This is probably the same storm that went thru Wisconsin
and did all the tornado damage!
On the way back, I stopped off and took in the free tour of-
fered of Laurel Caverns near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. All
cavers had to do was present their NSS membership card to see
this long show cave!
FINALLY, BE SURE TO MAKE THE HUNTSVILLE,
ALABAMA, NSS CONVENTION JULY 14 THROUGH 18,
2014. CATHEDRAL CAVERNS IS JUST A SHORT DRIVE
TO THE EAST, AND IS ONE OF THE TEN BEST SHOW
CAVES IN THE ENTIRE U.S. IN MY OPINION. IF YOU
HAVE NEVER SEEN AN NSS CONVENTION, BE SURE TO
GO IN 2014. IT IS ALMOST ALL VERY EASY EXPRESS-
WAY DRIVING ON INTERSTATE 65, AS WELL!
aaa
TRIP REPORTS
Update on the Fountain Spring Cave Project
Submitted by John Ackerman
Well, I knew this project would not be easy, but I figured it
would be a cake walk compared to some of my other conquests.
After all, this sinkhole was excavated in the 1930's. What did
they know about caves? What did they know about how to find
caves?
Think about it. The 1930's, compared to today.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this project, let me
give you a brief overview. A young man, whose family owned a
rural night club, decided that he would become fabulously
wealthy if he could excavate the lone sinkhole on the far bound-
ary of their property. Here is what we know: after he began the
project, he resorted to using a large generator and heavy duty
pulley system, which we have a photo of. What we don't know
is how many years the project spanned. The minimum I have
heard is two years.
It was reported that he eventually broke into a large cave sys-
tem at the base of the sinkhole. He was then drafted into WWII
and the commercialization dream was abandoned. The wood
shaft he had constructed in the sinkhole eventually rotted away
and collapsed. As time went by, every member of his family
died; the sole heir to the sinkhole was the discoverer's son-in-
law.
Last year, this elderly gentleman wanted to unload it and asked
around if there was anyone in Fillmore County deranged enough
to purchase it. We connected; he told me the story and showed
me a long stalactite that he believed had been harvested from the
cave. He recalled hearing from his father-in-law that folks famil-
iar with commercial caves informed the family back then that
the cave was not suitable for commercialization compared to
Mystery and Harmony Cave. But perhaps because the location
was at the intersection of two major highways, someone did ex-
press interest in commercializing it and was given a one or two
year option, which they forfeited.
When I purchased the sinkhole, there was not much to see, just
a nice deep sinkhole in a forest. After negotiating a 50' bank,
you reach the base of the sinkhole, which was relatively flat; a
nice peaceful and serene setting.
The planning began.
Last fall, I cleared trees around the side that provided
the easiest approach to the sinkhole. Since I could not use the
Cave Finder to excavate this deep sinkhole, I had to decide how
to transport the
fill to the sur-
face. Instead of
a generator
and pulley sys-
tem, a 55' long
hay bale lift
was purchased
and redesigned
over the winter
by a local
handyman gen-
ius into a con-
veyor belt.
Several long
wiring har-
nesses were
made to allow
the user to op-
erate the lift
from the base
of the sinkhole,
where the ma-
terial would be
loaded. In the spring, the Cave Finder was transported to the site
and everything was set up.
And then it rained. And rained. And rained. If it didn't rain in
the morning, it rained at night. Rivers of water poured into the
sinkhole. Thank God I hadn't begun the excavation because it
would have been futile. Finally, the rains stopped.
I decided to establish a secure structure at the base of the sink-
The Hollow Earth News Page 9
hole where the fun would begin. I used 6" x 6" treated timbers to
span the base of the sinkhole and then laid thick treated plywood
over the timbers. Once everything was in place, the project be-
gan - but not without problems. After three generators and nu-
merous hair-raising electrical zings, we began to make down-
ward progress.
Soon, I encountered a 10' long horizontal passage but knew we
had to go much deeper before hitting the real cave. I also began
to encounter artifacts such as metal conduit, rotted shoring, wir-
ing insulators, and even a speaker system, which was obviously
mounted on the original wood shaft they had constructed. Was
this speaker system used to communicate with people in the
cave? Was it used to signal the generator operator that another
load was ready to be hoisted from the shaft?
And so down I went, following the electrical conduit and rot-
ted wood planks. Since the sinkhole was so large, I decided to
shore up one end while concentrating on following the conduit
and plank remnants. Once I had excavated about 8' below the
shoring, I decided to add even more shoring to the base of what
had already constructed. As I climbed up and over it, the entire
structure suddenly collapsed due to the tremendous water-
soaked load of fill behind it. I tumbled down with it but was
relatively unscathed. I backed up and cleared everything wall-to
-wall, then decided to continue that way until I reached China.
At the ten-foot level, I could see that this project would be
quite dangerous for the poor soul down below (me), and sure
enough, a full bucket of heavy muck was inadvertently dropped
from above and landed directly on my head. My teeth snapped
shut, and I saw stars. But the sharp nerve pain that had been run-
ning down my spine for several months immediately ceased.
What a Godsend...until the pain returned with a vengeance a
week later.
Around the 20' level, the folks on top of the platform were
afraid to look down. We had created a gaping hole. At about this
depth, after I removed one random rock in the floor along the
SW wall, a patch of blackness opened up. I peered into a 12'
wide x 10' deep highly decorated passage, and within an hour, I
was exploring it. After thirty horizontal feet, the lower level of
this passage became choked with formations, blocking the way
ahead. The upper level continued out of sight but would have re-
quired removing dirt to continue. I doubt the original explorers
ever discovered this passage because the formations were un-
touched. Back in the 1930's, it was common practice to harvest
formations for sale.
And so I continued downward, following the old planks and
artifacts. As I kept getting deeper, my anxiety level began to in-
crease. This project was getting more and more dangerous.
Safety talks were common. After I loaded each bucket, I would
get up off the quicksand-like "floor" and hug a portion of wall
that provided a bit of protection in case something, or someone,
should fall down the shaft. After I would hear the hoist motor
stop and could hear the bucket slam down on the platform, I
would move back into the fall zone to scoop up more material.
One afternoon, with absolutely no warning and no sound,
three heavy buckets, laden with muck which were stacked to-
gether, came sailing down as I was in the fall zone. They landed
directly on my shoulder; yes, the one with the pinched nerve. I
landed face down in the muck and thought that someone had
struck me with a sledgehammer from behind. When I awoke, I
heard someone up top ask his helper if they thought I was dead.
Against my better judgment, I pressed onward and downward -
with lots of pain killers.
What I really needed was some good old common sense. No,
strike that. What I was really desperate for was somebody who
knew as much as I did about sniffing out caves. I prayed to the
Cave Gods, and they sent me David Gerboth; you know, the guy
who can actually see through solid rock. Thanks to the Gestapo
Wisconsin DNR, Dave had been shut out of his project at Crys-
tal Cave.
Dave scaled down the pit and sniffed it out like a hound dog.
After he was finished, we had a clear attack plan. I would con-
tinue to do all the digging, and he would stay up on top, telling
tall cave tales until the cows came home. (No, that was just a lit-
tle joke; we did arrive at a game plan.)
Eventually, a stout steel concrete filled post was encountered
and I knew we must be close to the base. Dave and I surmised
that they would have set this post in the actual cave opening as
an anchor to hold back tons of loose material. I estimated that
this pipe would be 20' long because that seems to be the stan-
dard length of pipes of this nature. I decided to stick with it until
I reached the bottom of this pipe. "That is where I will find the
answer," I said with confidence.
After what seemed like eternity, I reached the end of the pipe.
And found another pipe connected to it!
Throughout this project, there were white dots on the bottoms
of the rocks, caused by wind blowing up through tiny voids in
the floor, which indicates air movement from below.
Needless to say, it is cold, wet, breezy, and dangerous down
there. Last Saturday, as I had done a thousand times previously,
I pulled myself up off the gooey wet base of the dig site and
took refuge along the sinkhole wall, as the bucket of fill rose to
the platform above. Tiny streams of frigid water ran down my
neck and back as I hugged the wall. Then, out of the blackness,
a lone empty bucket sailed down and crashed an inch away from
me. As I reminded those above me, an empty bucket will only
break my neck or back. A full bucket will kill me.
For the life of me, I cannot believe the sheer brute willpower
the original excavator possessed. I have excavated 40 feet of
material from the base of this sinkhole (think 4-story building)
and understand that there may be a long way to go before reach-
ing an answer. I have always been labeled as the craziest, fear-
less, and most successful caver in these parts; however, I am of-
ficially turning that title over to the man who headed up this
amazing project.
The Hollow Earth News Page 10
Update on the Fountain Spring Cave Project
(cont’d)
For almost 25 years I have insisted, and later proven, that a
sinkhole is actually a blockage of a major cave passage. And
Dave has reminded me that certainly there is a passage opposite
the one I uncovered 20 feet up from where I am currently.
"Excavate the sinkhole and it will appear on the east wall," he
said. Sure enough, I have uncovered 6 feet of it already. How-
ever, it is not belling out quite as fast as we had hoped. But, I
have no doubt that there is a large cave down there. And I also
have no doubt that this project could go on and on, and on and
on, until we finally breach the cave-or I die trying.
Therefore, I have decided to match up the passage direction on
the surface and drill test holes to find Fountain Spring Cave. If
that is not successful, then I will continue to follow the pipe.
Surely that will provide an answer! More updates as time passes.
aaa
Ledge View – Upper Ladder Changed Out and Lowered to a New Base Floor Level
by: Kasey Fiske: 02-06-2013
There was a lot of discussion about a new possible platform
location in Montgomery Cave after the January excavation work
had uncovered two large ledges in the First Room. One ledge we
assume runs along the entire length of the west wall. We had un-
covered both ends of that ledge and we are pretty confident that
it is one continuous ledge. The portion of the ledge we couldn’t
see yet is buried under an island of debris that is about 4 feet to 5
feet in diameter and three feet high. The island is supporting the
base of the upper narrow ladder that leads to the surface. The
other ledge we found in the First Room runs along the east wall
and the north end of it was partially covered with some larger
rocks in the transition area between the First and Second Rooms.
The two ledges were buried about 5 feet below the old floor
level. It made sense to utilize the two new ledges as the base for
a new platform that would span across the gap between the two
ledges. The south end of the platform would be built all the way
to adjoin the south wall, where the gap between the two ledges
was real narrow. The north end of the platform would culminate
about half way across the First Room and on the end of it we
could build an observation railing to look down towards the Sec-
ond Room.
After our January excavation effort, the upper ladder was left
on the island of debris that we would need to remove for the
placement of the new platform. In doing so, the upper ladder
would be way too short to reach the new platform level. The up-
per ladder is designed for a manhole cover opening. Being so
narrow, it is hard with your foot placement to go up and down
the ladder. We knew we had to replace the upper ladder for a
longer one. To make it safer to go up and down the ladder, we
thought we would try to change it out for a normal width exten-
sion ladder.
Bryan Kleist, in anticipation of being able to build a platform
between the two ledges, had stopped in at Goldin Iron Metal Re-
cycling Corporation in Kaukauna, WI to see if he could find
some suitable metal pieces that we could use to span the gap be-
tween the ledges and be the building base for the new platform.
He did not find anything that would work reasonably well to
span the gap, but he was able to pick up one long piece of chan-
nel iron that he thought was long enough to run the full length of
the west wall ledge, where we planned to place the platform, and
he was also able to pick up a used aluminum extension ladder
that he thought we could use to replace the upper narrow First
Room ladder. The good news for us is he was able to get both
donated to us for the project. Thanks, Bryan!
Plans were put in place for the next scheduled excavation ef-
fort in Montgomery Cave to be on the same weekend as the third
Saturday of the month February Wisconsin Speleological Soci-
ety (WSS) meeting. I contact Ron Zahringer, the head naturalist
for the Ledge View Nature Center near Chilton, WI, to see if he
could request a crew for us from the Calumet County Jail for the
weekend and if we could get permission to stay overnight in the
Nature Center on Saturday night. Ron got back to me and was
successful in getting a crew of four for both Saturday and Sun-
day. Ron also gave us permission to stay overnight on Saturday
at the Nature Center. I also had contacted the Manitowoc County
Volunteer Coordinator, Doreen Bessert, to see if we could get
court ordered community service workers from Manitowoc
County. Doreen had helped us get workers in the past for Ledge
View. She came through for us again and let me know I would
have two workers available to assist us during the planned week-
end.
The February weekend activities were set for Saturday the
16th and Sunday the 17th. I left my house Saturday morning a
little earlier than normal at 5:30, as a precaution to any bad road
conditions that I might run into. Normal driving time is two
hours from my house and I wanted to be there at 8:00. The roads
were all in good shape and I arrived in plenty of time at the Na-
ture Center. After waiting about 15 minutes in the parking lot, I
got into the Nature Center a little after 8:00, when the assistant
naturalist who was on duty for the day had arrived. I stowed
away my sleeping gear in Ron’s Office for the night and then
talked to my two community service volunteers from Manito-
woc County who had arrived for the day. One of the guys return-
ing for the day was Rock Crusher Ben. I let Ben and the new
helper know to hang out and check out the amenities of the Na-
ture Center until I could get back. I had to leave to run in to
The Hollow Earth News Page 11
Chilton to pick-up the 4-man crew at 8:30 from the Calumet
County Jail.
The crew was ready when I arrived at the jail. Three of the
crew members from the jail were part of the crew that we had in
January. It is nice to get experienced helpers, like Rock Crusher
Ben, so they know beforehand what to do without needing any
directions from the rest of us and then can show the new volun-
teers what needs to be done. We got back on the road quickly af-
ter we all climbed in my truck for the return trip to the Nature
Center. When we got back to the Nature Center, Tony Kroes and
Gary Soule were at the Nature Center. Tony had brought with
him his micro-shaving kit and other rock breaking equipment.
He volunteered to run the crew in the morning hours, so I could
get ready for the WSS February meeting that was scheduled for
10:00. Gary also would be staying at the Nature Center with me
for the meeting.
I took Tony and all the volunteer crew members from both
Manitowoc and Calumet Counties out to the storage shed so
they could get into the dedicated gear for the day and assisted
them in gathering up all the tools they would need, including the
dig tripod and three wheelbarrows. I gave Tony the key for
Montgomery Cave so he could open up the cave. I let the volun-
teers know that they could start a fire on the surface to keep
warm like we had in January. I gave them some paper that I had
brought from home to start the fire. I also let the volunteers
know that we needed to get any new cave debris removed for the
day up on top of what has already been dumped. The surface
disposal area was getting too spread out. I let Tony know to run
the crew until 11:00 and then return to the Nature Center, so the
crew could get in their hour lunch break. That way, they would
be ready to return to the caves with the rest of us when our WSS
meeting had concluded for the day.
Tony and the volunteer workers walked to the cave to set up
the dig for the day. They hand carried or pushed in the wheelbar-
rows the equipment needs for the dig. At the caves, Tony opened
up the cave and gave minimal directions to get started. Ben went
below with Tony to fill pails. The five remaining surface crew
members set up the dig tripod and got a fire going on the surface
to keep warm. Tony spent the morning hours breaking up buried
rocks that were in the transition area between the First Room
and Second Room of Montgomery Cave. These are the rocks
that caused us to stop digging in the Second Room because the
exposed front sides of some of the rocks there were dangerously
undercut. They are massive and there was a series of them piled
end to end and intermixed. Tony used up all of his batteries that
he had brought with him for his drill in the morning hours and
was only able to clear a few of the rocks, while he was micro-
shaving. The rocks were extremely dense and hard to break up,
according to Tony. Both Ben and I also knew that to be ex-
tremely true, as they were some of the same rocks we had tried
to break with a sledgehammer during our January dig. The
sledgehammer had just bounced off of them, no matter how hard
we tried to break them up.
Tony and the crew arrived back at the Nature Center at 11:00,
as directed. Tony let me know what they had accomplished and
to tell me he was heading for home. He had no more batteries
for micro-shaving and hoped he would be back in the morning
on Sunday to help out. The crew sat down to have their hour
lunch break.
The WSS meeting ran smoothly and we wrapped things up on
time at 11:30. From 11:30 to 12:00 the meeting attendees, who
would be participating in the afternoon excavation work, had
time to get something to eat and get themselves ready for the
caves. One additional task we needed to do, before we headed
down to the caves, was unload a hideaway bed from Mike So-
bush’s truck. Mike, who had attended the WSS meeting, was
giving me the couch to take back home with me for my home
use, as Mike and his wife were getting a new couch for their
home. Mike untied the couch and I had the crew help me take it
into the Nature Center. We put it in the Nature Center’s library
area.
Returning to the caves with the crew in the afternoon were
Gary, Bryan Kleist, Richard Sheffer with his son Shane, and
Allan Schema. Bryan had brought with him from home the do-
nated extension ladder that he had received from Goldin Iron
Metal Recycling Corporation. We took the new extension ladder
down with us to replace the existing narrow ladder. When we
had replaced the lower Second Room ladder for the metal fabri-
cated industrial ladder that is now in the cave, on an earlier exca-
vation trip to the cave, we had tested the lower older ladder in
the tight narrow crevice surface opening. The removed older lad-
der was a normal width and it fit in the opening, but it was tight.
We knew we would have to modify the surface opening some
for the Nature Center cave tours to be going in and out of the
cave on the new extension ladder, but for our immediate pur-
poses it would work. I was hoping Tony would make it back on
Sunday, so if we did have to make some modifications, he could
make them for us.
The first thing we did when we were at the caves in the after-
noon is take out the First Room upper narrow ladder and stuck
in the new donated extension ladder. It fit, but as suspected, it
was tight. Bryan had with him some chisels and a hammer from
home. We took a little time to chisel some rock projections on
the sides of the opening and some hanging rocks that hit your
back as your went up and down the ladder, so the ladder would
fit better in the opening. Bryan’s handy work helped, but we
could see that some micro-shaving would need to be done to
make the extension ladder even fit better.
When we were satisfied with the extension ladder fitting better
and knowing it would work; Bryan, Gary, Rock Crusher Ben,
Allan, Richard, Shane and I went down into the cave to start the
excavation work again. The extension ladder was removed, leav-
ing the remaining five volunteers on the surface to handle the
dig tripod and the three wheelbarrows. Our digging goal in the
afternoon was to remove the 4 to 5 feet diameter 3 foot high is-
land of debris that the narrow upper ladder had been sitting on.
Richard took on the job below hooking pails. Gary and Shane
teamed up to work in the south end grotto area cleaning ledges
and walls. The remaining four of us started breaking apart the
pillar of debris and filled pails. Pail after pail of debris started
quickly leaving the cave. The guys pulling up on the rope above
hardly got a break and they really needed all three wheelbarrows
running back and forth to the disposal pile to keep up. To keep a
fresh pair of hands on the surface to handle the above ground
rope duties and not to get burned out doing just one job con-
stantly, the surface crew switched around between the wheelbar-
row and upper rope duties.
Before we knew it, it was going on 3:30 and it was time to
wind down the dig for the day. We had just enough time to clear
most of the island of debris. In doing so, we were able to con-
firm that the newly uncovered west ledge did run all the way
across the room. The extension ladder was lowered into the cave
The Hollow Earth News Page 12
Ledge View – Upper Ladder Changed Out (cont’d)
and extended to its new sitting position. We left all the tools and
pails in the cave and climbed the extension ladder to the surface.
One thing we did notice about the new ladder right away is it
seemed to be very bouncy to us, when it was extended. Maybe
this new ladder was not going to work out after all.
We locked up the cave and walked back to the Nature Center.
The wheelbarrows were pushed back to the storage shed. The
narrow original ladder was carried back and stored in the shed,
as well. The dig tripod we left set up on the surface by the cave.
We all got out of our dedicated excavation gear in the storage
shed and hung up the dedicated gear. We got back into the Na-
ture Center a little after 4:00 and had enough time to get cleaned
up and recap the day’s activities before the Nature Center closed
for the day at 4:30. The Manitowoc County workers left for
home in their own vehicles. I got the key for the Nature Center
so I could later get back in the building to spend the night, and
then gathered up the jail crew from Calumet County, as they
were scheduled to be dropped off in Chilton at 4:30.
After dropping off the crew on time at the jail, I met up with
Gary, Bryan, Richard, Shane, and Allan in town to have supper
together. We had a pleasant evening of conversation and good
food to eat. Allan and Bryan left for their homes from Chilton,
after we had eaten. Gary, Richard, Shane, and I drove back to
the Nature Center and set up for the evening. We opened the
door to the Nature Center and set up our sleeping areas for the
evening. Richard and Shane were fortunate enough to utilize the
hideaway bed for the evening. I had my cot with me and slept on
that. Gary used some display seat cushions to sleep on. There
was not a lot of conversation that night as we were all pretty
tried. For myself, I read just a little bit and then drifted off and
got in a good night’s sleep.
In the morning, we got up and started to move around at 6:45.
I got dressed and put my sleeping gear away again in Ron’s Of-
fice. Gray and Richard took their sleeping gear directly outside
and packed them back in their parked vehicles. Gary and I drove
in separate vehicles and left the Nature Center a little after 7:30
to have breakfast together at the Seven Angels restaurant in
Chilton. Richard and Shane stayed at the Nature Center. After
Gary and I had breakfast, Gary drove back to the Nature Center
to get dressed for another day’s activities. I stayed in town and
drove over to the Calumet County Jail to pick up the crew again
at 8:30.
The crew was ready to go after I requested them out just be-
fore 8:30. We ended up getting the same four guys for the day.
Arriving back at the Nature Center with the crew, I noticed Tony
was thankfully in the parking lot getting his micro-shaving kit
and rock breaking tools ready to go. While talking with Tony
about the need to modify the surface entrance more, we were
joined by Bryan who also had returned for the day. Rock
Crusher Ben had to work on Sunday, so I knew he would not be
coming back to help. The other Manitowoc County Community
Service we had on Saturday was there and ready to go. Gary and
Shane were dressed for the caves and ready to go in the Nature
Center. Richard was not going to go back to the caves with us.
He instead helped out all day in the Nature Center mopping all
the floors and cleaning to keep busy. He said he had gotten cold
and chilled during the night and just needed to stay inside to
keep out of the cold so he could get warm again.
I had the crew volunteers gather up some of Tony’s tools and
head over to the storage shed so they could get into the dedi-
cated caving gear. The rest of us going to the caves also got
dressed in the storage shed. I had the crew gather up the older
narrow upper ladder that we had just put away the day before
and one of them carried it to the cave again. I was questioned by
a lot of people on why we needed to bring the ladder back to the
cave, but just mentioned to them you will see. The three wheel-
barrows were again pushed to the cave.
We arrived at the caves just a little after 9:00 to start our day
by opening up the cave again. The five volunteers would be on
the surface for the day, so they were instructed to set the dig tri-
pod over the entrance and started a fire again. Gary, Shane,
Bryan, and I went down the ladder to start filling the supply of
empty pails we had below. Tony started his morning on the top
of the extension ladder eyeing up what needed to be done to
make it fit better. There looked to be an easy fix if he could suc-
cessfully micro-shave a little of the lower rock out of the way.
Tony climbed down the ladder and then the crew on the surface
was instructed to pull out the extension ladder. The original nar-
row ladder was then carefully lowered down the surface en-
trance. It was no longer long enough to reach the wooden step-
down just inside the cement enclosure that is over the top of the
entrance, but it was long enough to reach the lower walls of the
ceiling opening to support the top of the ladder. Ah, now it be-
came very clear to everyone, Tony could use the narrow ladder
to have more room to work in the narrow entrance opening to re-
move rock out of the way for the extension ladder.
Tony made sure everyone was out of the way below and he
micro-shaved the troublesome rock out of the way. We pulled
the narrow ladder down below into the First Room with us and
then the surface crew lowered the extension ladder from the sur-
face into position again. Tony tried the ladder and it was a lot
better, but he noticed a few more rocks that he could remove to
make it even better. We swapped the ladders again and he micro
-shaved some more. We repeated the process one more time, I
think, and then Tony and those of us who tried the ladder were
very satisfied with the opening fit for the extension ladder. It is
interesting to note here that the micro-shaving did not change
much of the upper entrance to the crevice opening. Just some of
the lower protruding rock appendages were removed that were
sticking way out and were hitting people in the back as they
went up and down the ladder. When Tony was done with his
handy-work, going up and down the wider and thicker extension
ladder is now easier than when the original narrow ladder was in
the entrance opening.
Both ladders were removed from the cave so we could start to
get some excavation work done. It was now going on 10:00.
While Tony had been micro-shaving, the rest of us had been fill-
ing all the empty pails we had in the cave. We had all of them
full and ready to go. Initially, there was a continuous flow of
pails leaving the cave and it took the surface crew a little time to
get caught up again.
Below, Gary and Shane had teamed up again at the south side
of the First Room in the grotto area fine cleaning walls and the
upper ledge that runs the entire circumference of the room. They
started in the south side of the room and worked around towards
the west wall. The upper ledge that they were cleaning is about 3
The Hollow Earth News Page 13
feet above the newly discovered lower east and west wall ledges
that we had just uncovered and wanted to built the new platform
on them. Bryan was working on cleaning out more materials
from the upper very long and deep alcove that is about four feet
deep, two feet high, and 6 to 7 feet long on the west wall. The
floor of the alcove is part of the upper ledge that circumvents
the First Room. He was cleaning out the alcove towards Gary
and Shane. I started to probe the narrow debris gap between the
lower east and west wall ledges on the south side of the room.
This narrow floor area was particularly interesting to me be-
cause it is directly below the First Room lifeline that runs north
and south. The lifeline drops down along the south wall forming
the very distinct large crevasse or alcove indentation that we are
calling the grotto area. See picture, taken January, 2011, that
clearly shows the cave lifeline in the ceiling and the grotto in-
dentation. Please note that since the photo was taken, the debris
on the floor area is now cleaned out. The lifeline continues
down below the grotto area’s floor and can be seen as a slight
crack that runs through the upper ledge that Gary and Shane
were cleaning and down the south wall for another three feet to
the new floor level that I was starting to probe. We all have a
strong suspicion that there is a lower cave passage that will fol-
low this crack, but at a lower level. I was digging the south side
floor down to see if the crack opened up lower along the south
wall giving us an indication that a cave passage is really there.
Tony was working again micro-shaving the buried large rocks
in the transition area between the First and Second Rooms.
We worked in the cave until 12:00 and then decided to take an
hour lunch break. We walked back to the Nature Center to have
lunch. Joining us during the lunch hour were Allan Schema and
Angela Kollath. They got into their dedicated gear and then we
all headed back to the cave at 1:00.
In the afternoon, the five volunteers stayed on surface. The
rest of us went below ground to work. Angela took over hook-
ing pails for us for the remainder of the day. Allan started his
day lowering the floor in front of lower east wall ledge in the
middle of the room. Gary and Shane teamed up again, but this
time to work in the south side floor area that I had started prob-
ing in the morning. Bryan had dropped down from the west wall
upper alcove and started working on the floor along the lower
west wall ledge. I helped to carry filled pails from the dig loca-
tions so Angela could hook them for the trip out of the cave and
I supplied empty pails to whoever needed one. Mostly though, I
worked with Tony picking up the rocks he was breaking up into
empty pails so they could be hoisted out of the cave. With so
many people working on the floor, periodically large rocks
would get uncovered in the floor. Tony and I would first try to
break them with the sledgehammer to save on the batteries, as
Tony in the afternoon was down to his last battery. With every-
one working on the floor, it visibly was starting to go down in
spots. From a probed initial hole of a foot or so, it was enlarged
on its sides and then we would start working towards each
other. High spots in the floor were taken out to try to keep the
floor as level as possible.
Tony’s last battery was used up at around 2:30, so his micro-
shaving was done for the day. What rocks were uncovered we
would have to use the sledgehammer to break them up or they
would have to sit for another day, when we could return with
charged batteries to break them up. Tony took the remainder of
his day to tap with his rock hammer on the ceiling rocks that he
could reach. He found a few loose ones in the Second Room
ceiling in the transitional area between the two rooms. He
brought them down and we broke them up with the sledge-
hammer. There was one huge long ceiling slab in the First
Room that has always looked real dangerous to us. It was sepa-
rated from the ceiling and tipping downward towards the middle
of the room. It had been up there forever and actually had some
names and older dates inscribed on it. It was about two feet
thick, two to three feet wide, and six feet long. The inner end of
the rock appeared to be pinned into the upper part of the east
wall. Along the east wall under the ceiling rock and helping to
hold up the rock was fractured wall rock. Tony checked out the
fractured wall rock and it was all crumbly and loose. He tapped
on the huge ceiling rock and the sound his rock hammer made
was a hollow tapping sound so we knew it was not well if at all
attached to the ceiling. This was a very dangerous rock and
would have to come done. We decided not to attempt to do it on
Sunday as we were running out of time for the day. We also
though it was safer to bring it down with fewer people in the
cave, besides we would need to talk to Ron first to bring it down
because of the names and dates that were inscribed on the rock.
We knew it was going to be difficult to bring down, no matter
how we did it.
We stopped filling pails at 3:00, to allow all the pails in the
cave to be emptied and then we started pulling all of our tools
out of the cave. The empty pails were lowered back down and
stored in the cave. We climbed out of the cave and locked the
entrance. The dig tripod was taken down for the return trip to
the storage shed. We all loaded up with what tools and equip-
ment we could hand carry and the remainder was placed in the
wheelbarrows to be pushed back to the Nature Center. We all
walked back to the storage shed. All the equipment was put
away and we got out of our dedicated gear. We got back into the
Nature Center at about 4:00. One of the last things I had the
crew do is help me load up the hideaway couch that we had
stored in the Nature Center into the back of my truck. I next had
to load up the inside of my truck with all my gear and no longer
had room to take the Calumet crew back to jail. I drove from the
Nature Center and headed directly home. Gary, Bryan, and
Allan each took one or two of the Calumet crew in their vehicles
back to jail in Chilton.
It was a very successful weekend! We sure had a big dig crew
The Hollow Earth News Page 14
Ledge View – Upper Ladder Changed Out (cont’d)
for the weekend and that makes a huge difference in what we
can get done. The island or debris that was under the narrow
ladder was totally removed. The narrow original ladder was re-
placed with a normal extension ladder and the entrance was
modified to make it fit reasonably well. The new floor level be-
tween the lower east and west wall ledges, if we averaged it out,
was dropped by about another foot. For a combined hour count
on volunteer hours, we tallied 129 hours for the weekend. It is
amazing now to see what the First Room looks like. It is so
much bigger and taller. It makes a huge difference now that the
original floor has been dropped by 6 feet. In places where you
used to bump your head on the ceiling before we started our ex-
cavation work, you can no longer even jump up to reach those
spots anymore. The goals for the upcoming digs are to continue
to dig the floor down between the west and east lower ledges.
We need to see how stable they are before we can put a deck on
top of them.
aaa
Ledge View – Dangerous Ceiling Rock Removed
by: Kasey Fiske: 02-23-2013
After Tony Kroes had discovered on our February 16th exca-
vation outing how dangerous a huge ceiling rock was in the
First Room of Montgomery Cave, I contacted Ron Zahringer to
see if we could get permission to bring it down over safety con-
cerns. Ron, who is the head naturalist for the Ledge View Na-
ture Center, knew right away what ceiling rock I was talking
about. The ceiling rock is about two feet thick, two to three feet
wide, and six feet long. It is fractured from the ceiling and tip-
ping slightly downward towards the middle of the room. The in-
ner end of the rock appears to be pinned into the upper part of
the east wall. It has some names and older dates inscribed on it.
I let Ron know that Tony, after a very close inspection, had
checked out the east wall where the rock looked to be pinned in
and noticed the wall itself was extremely fractured and a lot of
the rock there was very soft and punky. The rock was deterio-
rated and had little structural strength, and was not holding up
the ceiling rock much at all. The outer portion of the wall itself
under the ceiling rock would have to come down, as well. The
inner end of the ceiling rock is probably not attached at the ceil-
ing, either. Tony tapped on the huge ceiling rock and the sound
his rock hammer made was a hollow tapping sound so we knew
it was not well, if at all, attached to the ceiling.
Ron agreed with us that the ceiling rock would need to come
down. Safety concerns take precedence over what historical
value the dates and names inscribed on the rock would be. Most
of the dates were recent. The more historical dates and names
are safe on another portion of the ceiling that is very stable.
I contacted Tony after I received Ron’s answer for us to bring
down the ceiling rock. When Tony first discovered how danger-
ous the rock was, he and I had talked about bringing down the
rock and we both agreed that it should be brought down with
minimal people in the cave. Tony would bring it down, but he
wanted to have only one other person with him for the job. He
needed someone else to be there in case something went wrong,
such as getting pinned in the cave under fallen rock. It is always
wise to never cave on your own. There was no scheduled caving
activity for the following weekend. I let Tony know I could re-
arrange my plans to be there for either Saturday or Sunday.
Tony let me know Saturday the 23rd would work for him and
we could meet at the Nature Center at 8:00 in the morning. I
contacted Ron back to let him know of our plans and he re-
minded me to be extremely careful.
During the week between when Tony had found the danger-
ous rock and our planned outing to take the rock down, the
Chilton area had gotten about 10 inches of snow and it had
drifted a lot, so I knew it was not going to be easy to get Tony’s
equipment to the cave. The use of a wheelbarrow would not
work very well at all. I knew that Ledge View had, and the
WSS also had in our supplies some plastic kids’ sleds that we
could load up and pull through the snow. It is always easier to
pull something through snow than it is to push something.
I woke up extra early in the morning on Saturday the 23rd at
4:30 in anticipation that the roads would be a slow go for me
with the recent snows we just had. I left the house around 5:00
to give myself plenty of time to get to the Nature Center by
8:00. In good driving conditions I can make the trip in two
hours. The extra hour driving time allowed me to be extra cau-
tious, slow down, and take it easy on the roads. There were
some icy roads and drifts to contend with, so the extra driving
time paid off to get me there safely. I actually got there about
7:30 which gave me some extra time to stop at McDonalds in
Chilton to grab a bite to eat for breakfast. I thought it was im-
portant to eat in the morning, as I was anticipating we would
not have a lunch break during our planned activities.
After eating breakfast, I drove up to the Nature Center and ar-
rived there just a little after 8:00. Tony had just arrived himself.
I was happy to see him and he let me know he had some new
toys to show me. He had just purchased a new drill, still in the
box, for micro-shaving, and it came with a cord. Tony said we
could just plug it in the outlet on the cave wall. Yeah, right!
Ah, then Tony showed me his nice small portable generator he
had brought with him. He had purchased it a while back for his
camper so he could recharge the batteries in it when he and his
wife went camping. He grabbed it out of his camper to use for
the day. The generator is one of those whisper quiet really nice
Honda generators. All I could say was WOW! This meant as
long as we had gas we could go all day and not have to worry
about running out of batteries while breaking rocks, which had
been a problem for us in the past. Tony had also brought gas, a
flood light, and electrical cords with him. The problem Tony
said we would have would be getting all his equipment to the
cave. We might have to hand carry and make a couple trips. I
let Tony know we had available and could utilize the kids’ plas-
tic sleds for that.
I went into the Nature Center to see who was on duty for the
day. Assistant naturalists Stephanie DeWitt-Radandt and Louise
Marum were on duty, and I asked Louse if we could use one of
the plastic sleds for the day. She said it was not a problem and
they actually had two of them in the building that we could se-
lect from. There were two sizes. I took the larger one, which is
actually a commercial one that is used for hunting. I got the key
for Montgomery Cave from Stephanie and pulled out the sled.
The Hollow Earth News Page 15
Tony and I loaded up all of his gear in the sled. It was a tight fit
but we got it to work, and we went out to the storage shed to get
into our dedicated caving gear. From the shed to the cave, we
took turns pulling the sled. It pulled somewhat hard in the deep
snow, but it sure was easier than trying to get a wheelbarrow
through the snow. By the lookout tower, the snow had drifted
across the pathway and it was about 3 feet deep. That slowed us
down, but we got through it and over to the cave entrance by
about 9:00. The return trip would not be as bad as we now had
smoothed out a pathway to pull back on.
We opened up the cave and got the generator set up on the sur-
face and filled it with gas. We hooked up and dropped two elec-
trical cords into the cave, one for the light and the other for the
drill. It was impressive to see the cave lit up for the first time.
We had not used a flood light in the cave before. It looked really
immense, as you could see the whole cave for the first time!
One of the first things we did was look and talk about how we
were going to get the large ceiling rock down. We could have
just picked away at the east wall knocking out supporting frac-
tured wall rock, but the size of the ceiling rock was so large that
once it started to go the whole east wall could tumble down and
there would be nowhere to stand to be out of the way. Tony had
thought ahead and brought a remote battery switch device that
looked like a TV remote control. He also had electrical wiring
that is used for setting off fireworks displays from a safe dis-
tance. The better option for us was to drill a hole in the middle
of the ceiling rock near the wall and bring down most of the
ceiling rock remotely with his battery powered switch and fire-
works wiring.
The scary part was standing off to the side of the rock and
drilling the hole. The vibrations of the drilling were a concern to
us in that it could just be enough to destabilize the rock. Tony
had me watch the rock and east wall very closely for any sign of
shifting rocks. Thankfully, he got the hole drilled to the proper
depth with no incidents. He doubled the size of the small 22
caliber blank cartridges we use with normal micro-shaving and
hooked up the fireworks wiring. Note that we frequently use
double charges and set them off by hand in breaking bigger
rocks, but in this case it was not an option to do it by hand. Tony
used plumber’s putty to hold everything in the place as the hole
was upside down. He hooked up the wiring to the remote switch
and we got out of the way. We both climbed up into the grotto
area on the south end of the First Room. As an extra safety pre-
caution, it takes three sequential pushes of the button on the re-
mote device for it to work. Tony made sure we were both out of
even the sight of the rock in case there was any flying rock and
pushed the button three times. We just heard a small pop and
then a huge thud as the ceiling rock broke off at the drilled hole
and hit the ground. The rock broke up in numerous pieces when
it hit the ground. There were a few high fives and shrieks of ex-
citement to share by both of us. Wow, what a relief! The hardest
part was done.
We next set our sights on the remaining piece of the ceiling
rock that was still pinched into the upper east wall. Tony
grabbed a long crowbar and started to wiggle out the loose frac-
tured supporting east wall that was underneath it. He was able to
safely remove all the upper east wall fractured rock, but the ceil-
ing rock was still there. It actually did tip downward some more
when the supporting fractured rock was removed. Tony had to
wiggle back and forth on the sides of the rock to finally bring it
out of the wall to bring it all the way down. What we found out
is the ceiling rock was actually about 8 feet long. The inner end
of the rock was pinched in between good wall supporting rock
behind the fractured wall rock and the ceiling above it.
Once the ceiling rock was all removed, we just started to mi-
cro-shave the ceiling rock into manageable pieces that would fit
into pails. We placed all the broken rock in one huge pile on the
floor. Once we had the ceiling rock all broken up, we took the
time to also break up two additional large rocks that we had un-
covered on the previous weekend between the lower east and
west rock ledges. When we finished the two additional rocks, it
was going on 2:30 and we both agreed it was a good time to quit
for the day. We both had already put in a long day. Tony took a
picture of me by the huge rock pile to show our efforts for the
day. I climbed to the surface and used one of the electrical cords
that Tony had put a loop in the end of it to pull the tools up and
out of the cave. Tony followed me to the surface and we loaded
up the plastic sled again. It was lighter this time as we had used
most of the gas up during the day. We locked up the cave and
took turns again pulling the sled back to the Nature Center. At
the Nature Center, we got out of the dedicated gear in the stor-
age shed and then loaded up all of Tony’s gear in his vehicle. I
returned the sled to the Nature Center. We talked some in the
Nature Center with the staff and then headed out on our separate
ways for home. I was on the road for home at about 3:30.
Tony and I put in a combined 15 hours of volunteer hours for
what turned out to be an extremely successful day! The danger-
ous ceiling rock was now removed and we had made the east
wall safer by peeling away unstable fractured rock to find a safer
solid rock wall behind it. All the rock we brought down for the
day was broken up into manageable sizes and placed in a huge
pile. One thing that I knew for sure, I knew exactly what we
would be doing on our next planned outing to the cave.
The Hollow Earth News Page 16
The Hollow Earth News
Karen Fiske
S9740 Exchange Rd.
Prairie du Sac, WI 53578
The Hollow Earth News
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The October WSS meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, October 19, 2013 at
Ledge View Nature Center, Chilton, Wisconsin.
Mechanized tripod winch works well in Fountain
Spring Cave project, Minnesota.
Photo courtesy of David Gerboth