Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
investigated by Lewie.
It is often said that Lewie forgot more
about caves than most people know. Most of
his caving came before surveying was widely
done, so little written record of his explorations
exists. The author recalls many trips into his
hardware store and being enchanted with his
caving stories. As a young teenager, Lewie got
me interested in caving and was my sponsor
to join the NSS, as was needed in those days.
Over the years I sent a lot of friends to Lewie’s
store for supplies and cave leads. Not only local
cavers sought Lewie for cave information. A
young college student from Yellow Springs,
Ohio, named Roger Brucker made several
1950s visits to Lewie’s store. Brucker later
recalled that some of the trips they went on
were wild goose chases where the cave never
materialized.
Lewie was semi-famous for his “sketch
maps” that he used to detail cave leads, maps, or
directions. From small scraps of paper to larger
238
Lewie Lamon in Shiloh Cave.
store glass-wrapping paper, Lewie would start
a cave story or lead, and his eyes would sparkle
as the information unfolded and notes were
scribbled. I still prize several of those sketch
maps that Lewie produced for me. Although
Lewie never made up a story, his memory of just
where the cave was located could sometimes be
off. But we’ve all been there, right?
While caving near age 70 in Coons Cave
west of Corydon, Lewie wedged his body into
a slot he could not easily exit from. He gave
instructions on where to locate his daughter on
a weekend to unlock the store and bring back
a small sledge hammer (no Wal-Marts in those
days) to a couple of cavers on the trip, while I
waited with Lewie. A couple hours later, the
passage was easily enlarged, and Dallas Taylor
got a free hammer from Lewie as a thank you.
In 1937 when Federal Highway 460 (State
Highway 62), also called the Wonderland Way,
was being built across southern Indiana, Lewie
was one of a handful of people who got to enter
Firetail Cave, near the Harrison-Crawford
County line. Firetail Cave (or Loudens Cave)
was not far from Wyandotte Cave to the west.
Firetail Cave was so named because as Lewie’s
party was on an exploring trip, water started to
rise in the cave, and the group made a hasty exit,
as if “a fire was on their tails.” The construction
crews sealed the cave shut within days of its
discovery near the new roadbed. Generations
of cavers since have looked for a way into
Firetail Cave, but without luck. The passages
were reported large and “Wyandotte like.” No
maps or survey was made. Someday some caver
Lewie Lamon’s Cave Capers ticket. He was an
“honored guest” at Cave Capers 1974.