NOVEMBER 2006 GROTTO NEWSLETTER

IN THIS ISSUE
• Forest news, 2
• Contest, 3
• Minutes, 3
• Wind Cave, 4
• Beavers, 5
• Floyd, 6
• MaCa Camp, 7
• Canyon, 6

‘Boxing day’ for a caver

The ESSO Grotto annual
Christmas party meeting and
elections is coming up fast! We
have the Flatwoods library
kitchen/meeting room rented
again, this year Dec. 9. The
consensus on the time seems
to be 6 p.m. A later time had
been discussed. Please check
the Web sites, essogrotto.com
or the Yahoo groups page, or
call me for the latest news -
Trip to west
606-739-8507!
Don’t forget to bring a pot reveals new
formations
luck dish -- the grotto provides
the turkey. White elephant auc-
tion gifts are also needed.
Proceeds to
benefit the by Allen Blair
treasury. We’ll Ah, the cool crisp
probably also air of November! It
run the silent
auction S HORT makes me think of one
thing -- Summer cav-
again. During
the brief meeting,
C RAWLS ing, particularly Mark
we will elect officers for 2007. Walker's summer
sojourn to the West
––
where he visited,
From Roy Vanhoozer, the among other places,
dates for the 2007 Mammoth
Cave Restoration Camps have
Wind Cave in South
been set as follows: Weekend Dakota.
camps are March 3 and 4; May At Wormfest,
5 and 6; and November 3 and Mark shared some pic-
4. The week-long camp will be tures from the cave
held August 5 thru 11. and many thought
Please check out the them breathtaking. I
camp's website at www.mcn- was reminded of Roy
prestoration.com for informa-
tion on how and when to sign Vanhoozer's comment
up for future camps. once that the "box-
––
work" at Wind was
one of the most
NEXT BIG TRIP: November intriguing formations
18, Post-Crawlathon meeting that's ever been found
trips to Tarkiln and Cow and in caves.
Counterfeiter. You can both You can judge that
learn the caves and help us
take some venture Scouts on a
for yourself, of course,
cave tour! Don’t forget, it’s 10 on this very page. I
a.m. for the Crawlathon meet- think you'll agree.
ing with Coy and 1 p.m. for
cave trips! See WIND, Page 4

Notes from the Underground
Tygarts Forest widens by 181 acres
Bone Hole Hollow
located on section
by Allen Blair,
from The Independent
Tygarts State Forest near Carter
Caves State Resort Park will expand
by 181 acres.
The Kentucky Division of
Forestry announced Wednesday it has
purchased that additional land off the
northwest section of its Carter County
property to enhance area recreation.
“We’re excited about this oppor-
tunity,” said Mary Jean Eddins,
spokeswoman for the Kentucky
Heritage Land Conservation Fund in
Frankfort.
The state fund provided $287,000
to Forestry for purchase and manage-
ment of the 181-acre addition.
“Like the present state forest, the
added property will eventually be
opened to the public for outdoor
recreational uses such as horseback
riding, hiking and hunting,” she said.
The property is not being opened
to the public immediately so bound-
aries can be marked and management
activities performed, Eddins said.
It is due to open in early spring,
she said.
State officials are reminding inter-
ested users that while hunting is
allowed on Tygarts State Forest under
proper rules, the new area is not open
to hunting yet.
Eastern States Speleological Organization (ESSO) Grotto, Inc.
Meets third Mondays monthly in Flatwoods, Ky.
Lisa Pruitt-Thorner, President; Brian Saul, Vice President;
Cindy Duncan, Secretary; and Shelia Gilliam, Treasurer
HTTP://WWW.CAVES.ORG/GROTTO/ESSO
HTTP://GROUPS.YAHOO.COM/GROUP/ESSOGROTTO
The land was purchased from a
single landowner and includes a large
property northwest of Oakland Ridge
Road adjacent to current Tygarts State
Forest land, officials said.
The money for the purchase came
from the conservation fund, which
awards unmined minerals tax money,
nature license plate fees and such to
state agencies and local governments.
The purchase enlarges the state
forest to 874 acres. The added proper-
ty is primarily wooded but has about
70 acres of pastureland, which will be
replanted as hardwood forest. Some
acreage will be used for research.
Existing woodlands will be put under
proper timber management, the state
said. The tract is near Carter Caves,
and potentially provides important
habitat for Indiana bats. A biological
inventory will be taken to learn of any
threatened or endangered species.
Exotic and invasive plants will be
eradicated where possible.
The Kentucky Heritage Land
Conservation Fund receives about $4
million a year for conservation proj-
ects, officials said.
The public can get involved
through “nature plates” available at
county clerk offices for an additional
$10, proceeds of which benefit the
fund.
Since 1995, the fund had provided
nearly $32 million for protection of
27,000 acres of natural areas and
wildlife habitat across Kentucky, the
state said.
Page 2
Caving Calendar
November 4-5, Mammoth Cave
Restoration Camp weekend, see
www.mcnprestoration.com.
November 11-12, Veterans Day
Weekend at the Gorge. Contact
Jonathon at jonlewis@zoomnet.net
for details.
November 18, Crawlathon staph
meeting, 10 a.m. welcome center.
Trip afterward to Tarkiln, Cow and
Counterfeiter with Scouts!
November 20, ESSO Grotto meet-
ing, 7:30 p.m., Flatwoods library,
eats at Giovanni’s.
•
December 9, 6 p.m., ESSO Grotto
Christmas party, at Flatwoods
library. Potluck, grotto provides
turkey. Time to be announced.
Remember, it’s election time! Must
pay dues to vote!
December 15, Crawlathon registra-
tion packets mailed out and Web
site updated, www.crawlathon.com.
•
December 30-Jan. 1, New Year’s
Trip, TBA. Contact Jonathon at jon-
lewis@zoomnet.net for details.
January 13, Final Staph Meeting at
Carter Caves, 10 a.m., followed by
chili lunch provided by the park.
Trip at 1 p.m., Cow and
Counterfeiter familiarization?
January 15, ESSO Grotto meeting,
7:30 p.m., Flatwoods library, eats
at Giovanni’s.
January 26-28, Crawlathon, 26th
annual event at Carter Caves!
•
February 19, ESSO Grotto meeting,
7:30 p.m., Flatwoods library, eats
at Giovanni’s.
•
March 3-4, Mammoth Cave
Restoration Camp.
March 19, ESSO Grotto meeting,
7:30 p.m., Flatwoods library, eats
at Giovanni’s.
More: www.essogrotto.com

Minutes, News
October grotto meeting minutes ...
by Cindy Duncan
The October 16, 2006, meeting of ESSO
Grotto was called to order by President
Lisa Pruitt-Thorner. Those in attendance
were: Lisa, Chloe, and Camille Thorner,
Steve and Suzie Duncan, Charlie Munn,
Sheila and Ernie Gilliam, Mark Walker,
Bryan Queen, Allen Blair and Cindy
Duncan. Secretary and treasurer reports for
given and accepted.
Allen presented a copy of the updated
Carter County Bulletin that he has done to
this point. Going to be really cool looking
with several new maps, data and cave tales.
W.U.S.S. is helping out with information
also.
December is the month new officers
will be elected. If you would like to run for
an office, please notify one of our nominat-
ing committee: Mark Walker, Dave Junker
or Bryan Queen. Your yearly dues need to
be paid before you can vote. Elections will
be held at the Christmas party which will
be December 9 at the library, 7:30 p.m.
Everyone and their family are welcome to
come. Bring a dish full of calories, okay?
Burchett's Cave is now closed to
Crawlathon and everyone else. ESSO is
going to try and get enough money to pur-
chase part of the land there. There are other
organizations that could possibly help with
Looking for some creative cavers!
Time for If you haven’t already, it’s time to pay your grotto
dues for 2007! Dues are $15 per individual member, and
$5 per supporting family member.
2007 It helps pay for newletters, van trips, education and
conservation efforts, and most recently benefitted a cave
acquisition fund!
Dues! Mail dues to: Sheila Gilliam, Grotto Treasurer, 211
Woodland Ct., Grayson, KY 41143.
this purchase and are being contacted. It
was voted for Sheila to take $1,000 from
our treasury and invest it where the most
interest would be given.
The next C-thon meeting is November
18. After the meeting, Steve said he would
like to do a surface to surface survey then if
possible. This information would give us a
better idea of which parcel we could possi-
bly buy. Course, permission from the
Lands, is needed. It was mentioned that
Mac Riley of McGuires's Camp would be
interested in purchasing some property
with us. Steve and Suzie will talk with him
about the matter. Should these plans fail,
maybe we could purchase Canyon Cave.
Without Burchett's for C- thon, others
caves mentioned were: Skyscraper, Swirl
Cave, Rock House Cave, probably a cuople
others I didn't hear.
Steve said that the Corrugated Cave
for C-thon is a big GO so if you have or can
get big, big cardboard boxes let him know
okay?
Adjourned at 9:00.
Editor’s Note: Please contact Bryan
Queen, Dave Junker or Mark Walker if you are
interested in running for grotto office. Visit
ESSO’s Web site for contact information,
www.essogrotto.com, or call Dave at (606) 836-
2546.
At left is one of Cindy Duncan’s
drawings celebrating Crawlathon.
It’s among entries for a Bee “cover
contest” that will culminate in
December.
Any drawing, pencil, color,
doctored photo, any creative thing
you can think of will be welcome.
I’ll pick what I think are the
best for the Bee cover and ask for
opinions. All hopefully will be pic-
tured in the Bee and featured
online.
Email to
mrallenblair@gmail.com or write:
Allen Blair, 3520 Elizabeth Ct.,
Catlettsburg, KY 41129.
Page 3
Here's a list of recent trips I'm
looking for reports about for a ret-
rospective story in either the next
Bee or January's. Whether it's a
page or one paragraph, it will help
fill the pages:
Any trips during the June pic-
nic, Speleofest? Karst O Rama?
Cave Capers? Visits to Sloan's
Valley and the GSP property this
summer? Wormfest trips to Bat,
C&C, Laurel/Horn, etc.? NSS con-
vention in Washington?.
––
A 10-year-old girl who was
being treated for the first con-
firmed case of rabies in Indiana
since 1959 has died.
Shannon Carroll of Bourbon
in northern Indiana died at Riley
Hospital for Children in
Indianapolis, said hospital spokes-
woman Jo Ann Klooz.
Carroll was hospitalized in
early October after being bitten in
June by a rabid
bat, health offi-
cials said. More
than 30 relatives,
friends and
classmates of
the girl were
S HORT
offered injections to C RAWLS
prevent the spread of
the disease.
Some parents whose children
attend the girl's school in the town
of Bourbon, about 25 miles south
of South Bend, worried about pos-
sible exposure since rabies can
stay dormant for more than a
year. Human to human transmis-
sion of rabies is only possible
through direct contact with saliva,
health officials said.
––
Hey grotto fans, here's some
interesting "online caving" that's
been making the Internet rounds.
Contamination Prompts Ky.
Cave Shutdown: "A section of
Mammoth Cave National Park has
been closed to tourists after ele-
vated levels of fecal coliform and
E. coli bacteria were found in
groundwater, officials said Friday."
See the full story at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2006/
11/03/AR20061103 01113.html.
Britain's largest cave has been
announced. See: http://heritage.
scotsman.com/news.cfm?id=1645
982006 And more pictures are at:
http://news.bbc. co.uk/cbbc-
news/hi/newsid_6120000/newsid
_6121500/6121570.stm
 Page 4
Wind Caving

WIND
- From page one

Anyway, when Mark sent me the

picture that appears on the front page,
I started looking up "boxwork,"
researching all I could find on it. I
thought I would share it here this
month. Most of what follows is taken
directly from national park Web sites,
which relied heavily on cavers' and
speleologists' knowledge:
What it is
Boxwork is made of thin blades of
calcite that project from cave walls
and ceilings, forming a honeycomb
pattern. The fins intersect one another
at various angles, forming "boxes" on
all cave surfaces.
Boxwork is found in small
amounts in other caves, but perhaps
in no other cave in the world is box-
work so well-formed and abundant as
in Wind Cave. Boxwork is largely
confined to dolomite layers in the
middle and lower levels of Wind
Cave.
While many speleothems have
formed as water has dripped into the
passages, the most conspicuous fea-
ture of Wind Cave, boxwork, has Official NPS map of
probably formed differently -- Wind Cave, available for
although it remains one of the biggest purchase online.
mysteries of Wind Cave.
According to Palmer and Palmer,
many of the bedrock walls in Wind
Cave have resistant fins of calcite These porous zones easily weathered although in places their depths exceed
from which the intervening limestone away during cave development, as 1/2 meter.
and dolomite bedrock has been well as later when they were in con- Oxidation of metallic sulfides in
removed by weathering. The veins in tact with the moist cave atmosphere. the cave atmosphere has colored the
which the boxwork formed are along Many of the bedrock walls weathering zones in places with a
narrow fractures resulting from exposed in Wind Cave exhibit promi- variety of bright reds and yellows.
stresses produced when the mineral nent boxwork, which consists of Still a mystery
gypsum dried and rehydrated. The paper-thin intersecting veins of calcite Boxwork has also been erroneous-
calcite formed in these fractures tak- that project into the cave as resistant ly attributed to other processes. The
ing on the shape of the original gyp- fins, and from which the intervening traditional explanation is that it con-
sum crystals. bedrock has been removed by weath- sists simply of more resistant calcite
The bedrock is less resistant than ering. Most of the calcite veins are veins projecting from the bedrock.
the boxwork veins. This occurs not roughly perpendicular to the bedding, Palmer (1981), noted that the boxwork
just because the bedrock is less crys- but some lie along bedding planes was concentrated only around the
talline, but also because it has been and others show splayed patterns. caves. So he originally assumed that
changed to a crumbly sand consisting Vein spacing ranges from a few cen- the veins were precipitated after the
of calcite crystals held together by a timeters to several decimeters. The cave formed, where supersaturated
sparse cement of secondary quartz. veins are similar in composition and infiltrating water was able to lose CO2
The quartz is the remnant of an early origin to the matrix of the angular through the porous dolomite and pre-
matrix that formed around former breccias, but they formed along nar- cipitate calcite in the fractures. This
dolomite crystals. Much of the origi- row fractures resulting from stresses mechanism is valid for certain calcite
nal bedrock was apparently removed produced when anhydrite was veins in young carbonate sediment,
by hydrogen sulfide/sulfuric acid hydrated to gypsum. The intervening but it is not appropriate in the Black
(H2S-H2SO4) solutional processes, pockets, from which the bedrock has Hills caves.
which left many very small pores. fallen out, average about 10 cm deep, The origin of the veins has also
 Page 5
Of Beaver Dams

Hungry beavers hack up Horn Hollow

been attrib-
uted to calcite pre-
cipitation in frac-
tures as the result From Lisa Pruitt-Thorner
of dedolomitiza- These pictures were taken this summer back in the Horn Hollow valley, just barely beyond
tion during Horseshoe Cave. The whole valley has changed, flooded by the beavers. Most of the trees are
enlargement of the gnawed down and the area looks very different.
caves during the A couple of hundred feet, perhaps, before Horseshoe Cave you begin to notice the ground
Tertiary Period is spongy, from where the watercourse changed. As soon as you get past Horseshoe Cave, you
(Ford & are taken by the incredible amount of light into the valley because the trees are gone. It's some-
Bakalowicz 1983; thing to behold.
Millen & Dickey Rome may not have been built in a day by humans, but now beavers are a different story ...
1987). However, Editor’s note: Several of us remember this area from explorations just three years ago, when
this is not a feasi- beavers had built a modest 8- to 10-foot wide dam along the creek - it didn’t even interfere with
ble mechanism an MSU-led dye trace. By all accounts now, and Lisa’s pictures, the dam and ensuing lake is
either. valley wall to valley wall!
The boxwork
veins are truncat-
ed by the late
Carboniferous
paleokarst fea-
tures, and there-
fore greatly pre-
date the Tertiary
enlargement of the
caves. In addition,
it is not clear how
calcite can precipi-
tate within the
fractures of a dis-
solving dolomite
surface.
From A.N.
Palmer & M.V.
Palmer. (2000).
Speleogenesis of
the Black Hills
Maze Caves, Photos
South Dakota,
USA. In by Lisa
Klimchouck, A.B., Pruitt-
Ford, D.C., Thorner
Palmer, A.N., and
Dreybrodt, W.
(eds).
Speleogenesis:
Evollution of
Karst Aquifers.
National
Speleological
Socity. p. 274-286.
On the Web
http://www.np
s.gov/archive/wica
/Exploring_&_Ma
pping_Wind_Cave
.htm
http://www.bl
ackhillsparks.org/
maps_and_guides.
htm
 Page 6
Science & Film

Carter County’s ‘Canyon’

Abstract: Annette (Summers) Engel ('95), Jointing and Bedding
Plane Controls on Cave Passage Development, Canyon Cave, Carter
County, Kentucky (presented at OAS, 1995) -- ANNETTE M. SUM-
MERS AND HORTON H. HOBBS III, DEPTS. OF GEOLOGY
AND BIOLOGY, WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY, PO BOX 720,
SPRINGFIELD OH 45501.
In contrast to the Mammoth Cave area in southwestern
Kentucky, minimal research regarding structural and strati-
graphic controls on speleogenesis has been conducted for cave
systems in northeastern Kentucky. Surface joint orientations
and subsurface passage orientations and bedding plane fea-
tures were used in this study to determine the dominant con-
trols on cave passage development for Canyon Cave, located
in northcentral Carter County. Canyon Cave is developed in
the Ste. Genevieve Limestone Member of the Mississippian-
age Newman Limestone and consists of approximately 3 km
of passage. The Ste. Genevieve Limestone is a white to light
gray, crossbedded, medium to coarse-grained, silty, sandy, and
oolitic limestone. The orientation of surveyed passage in
Canyon Cave shows a strong correlation with joint measure-
ments taken from surface outcrops of the Newman Limestone.
Passages occur along two conjugate joint sets, N-S/E-W and
NW-SE/NE-SW, which parallel the surface measurements.
Anastomoses, a network of small tubes or conduits, are one of
the few indicators of bedding plane control; they are abun-
dant along nearly horizontal bedding planes throughout
Canyon Cave. Consequently, the overall speleogenesis of
Canyon Cave is controlled by water movement along joints
and bedding planes.

Thornton speaks out on making ‘Floyd Collins’

From About.com and it's Hollywood
Movies people, who seem to really have
attended a September press junket and
spoke with ...
Billy Bob Thornton on Upcoming
Projects: "I have something I want to
direct. I'm having trouble getting
financing for it because these days it's
really hard to get a movie made if it's
not all about explosions or a teen
comedy. Certain things are easier to
get made and the studios have really
cracked down on budgets lately. They
want you to make movies for $12 to
$15 million or a big movie for $150
million, and the movies in the middle,
which are usually the good ones, it's
really hard to get them financed. I'm
doing one that would require about a
$25 to $30 million budget. It's really
hard to talk anybody into it, especial-
ly since it's a real serious subject and
it's a period piece."
Thornton said, "It's based on a
real story, on a non-fiction book
(Editor's note: "Trapped," By our cav-
ing friend and author Roger Brucker),
and there has been a script written by
my old writer partner Tom Epperson.
And I would probably do a pass at it
myself before I would direct it, but
first we've got to think about some-
body financing it. It's the story of
Floyd Collins in the 1920s. He was the
biggest media event of 1925. [He was]
a guy who was trapped in a cave and
it became a huge media event. The
reason I want to make the movie is
because it's very relevant right now.
It's about how the media wouldn't
become the big machine that it is if
people didn't want it. It's not a movie
that's blaming the media for every-
thing; it's a movie that actually says if
human nature weren't so that they
want to see other people suffering for
their own entertainment, the stories
would mean nothing anyway. It's peo-
ple who like to watch people's
tragedy and then it becomes huge.
That's why I really want to make the
movie, because these days it's worse
than ever."
Original announcement
Billy Bob Thornton To Make
'Floyd Collins' [from Wednesday,
February 22nd, 2006] -- Bob Thornton
is set to star in and direct Paramount
Pictures period drama Floyd Collins,
says the Hollywood Reporter. The fea-
ture is set in 1925, the drama centers
on the true-life story of cave explorer
Floyd Collins' entrapment in a
Kentucky cavern and the ensuing 13-
day news frenzy. Geyer Kosinski,
Thornton's manager, will be produc-
ing the project.
On the Web
movies.about.com/od/thorntonbilly/
 Page 7
MaCa Camp!

Ten ESSO’ers attend MaCa camp Here’s a list of 2007 EVENTS

to look forward to, courtesy of the
NSS:
by Larry Matiz May 25-28, 2007 - Kentucky
ESSO Grotto was well represented at the MaCa Nov. 2006 Restoration Camp. Speleofest - "Underground
On Saturday morning we split up into two groups. One small group of about 10 Heaven!" The 36th Annual
volunteers went with Rick Olson (NPS) to the Frozen Niagara Entrance to clean Kentucky Speleofest will be held at
formations and lint plus they tore down two stone walls and removed the debris. Lone Star Preserve in Upton, KY,
The other group led by Roy Vanhoozer went in Carmichael Entrance to the hosted by The Louisville Grotto.
Snowball Dining Room and from there walked two miles to Cascade Hall hoping "New caves, old favorites, new
to find wood that might have floated to the surface in Echo River. The river was plans and activities, old and new
up and we didn't see any wood, on the way back to Snowball Dining Room we friends - Speleofest 2007
did pick up some wood that was piled at Valley Way Side Passage. We also 'Underground Heaven' offers it all!
removed the remaining switches from the lighting job we had been working on We will once again be offering pre-
registration online starting
for a few years. After lunch we followed the new installation of lights to Mount
January 1st, 2007 and ending
McKinley where we picked up trash from the new installation. May 10th, 2007 at
On Sunday we went over to Diamond Cavern to remove some rock that was http://www.caves.org/grotto/louis
thrown in a 20-foot pit that has filled it up. On a previous camp we removed villegrotto/ Questions?...Contact
about two wagon loads of rock, this time we only removed close to one wagon Sue Milburn
load, we had to stop due to mud and rocks combined and we didn't have any CountryCaver@yahoo.com; 270-
tools with us to dig. There are rumors that there might be two passages at the 300-8800 days; messages 270-
base of the pit, hopefully we will find out some day. Around noon on Sunday we 737-1868 evenings OR Sherry
began to head home, and some of us decided to drive across the road from Gowens runnerzgrl333333@bell-
Diamond Cavern to a private cave called Short Cave. We had an older gentleman south.net, 256-
lead us to the cave via golf cart. We had to walk the 3/4 mile or so to the entrance. 310-4522.
Short Cave is short but large, they used to have dances and country music was May 31 -
played in there. One of the owners was from the Grand Old Opery, Lonzo and June 3, 2007 -
Oscar, I can't remember which one owned the cave at one time. Southeastern
It was a great camp, about 10 ESSO members of the 45 volunteers attended Regional S HORT
Association
this camp.
(SERA) Summer C RAWLS
Cave Carnival, hosted by East
Tennessee Grotto at Camp
Nakanawa, near Crossville, TN.
Amenities include world-class cav-
ing, 1,100 acre property with bik-
ing/hiking trails, 110-acre spring-
fed lake, dining hall, climbin wall,
zip line, cabins, lare shower hous-
es, bonfie, hot-tub, and a live
band. Registration form and more
info at the ETG website.
June 22-24, 2007 - KARST-O-
RAMA - The Greater Cincinnati
Grotto invites you to attend the
2007 Karst-O-Rama at the Great
Saltpetre Cave Preserve in Mount
Vernon, Kentucky. For additional
information go to www.karstora-
ma.com
July 23-27, 2007 - NSS
Convention - Marengo, Indiana.
Nestled in the scenic hills of
Southern Indiana, Crawford
County is the "Postcard Perfect"
destination for recreation, relax-
ation, and caving! Also nearby are
MaCa Camp volunteers at two of the nation's finest commer-
breakfast, in cave, and at cial caverns -- Marengo Cave and
the private Short Cave that Wyandotte Cave -- both of which
once held dances and are must-see. Facilities for ses-
sions and camping will be colocat-
music. (Photos courtesy
ed at the Crawford County High
Larry Matiz) School and 4H Fairgrounds.
Commando Cavers!: Bridge Day rappel teams, including Team
ESSO, descend from the 850-foot high West Virginia span in
October into the New River Gorge below. A dozen teammates
trained all year for the event. (Photo courtesy Sheryl Mehta).

Allen Blair
November 2006

3520 Elizabeth Ct.

Catlettsburg, Ky. 41129

NEXT ESSO GROTTO MEETING: NOV. 20, 7:30 P.M.

AT GREENUP CO. LIBRARY - FLATWOODS, KY. - CHRISTMAS PARTY DEC. 9!