Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
Natural Resources on cave pack rats.
Paleontological and archaeological
scientists like Patty Jo Watson (Washington
University), Patrick and Cheryl Munson
(Indiana University), Ron Richards (Indiana
State Museum) and Ken Tankersly have done
extensive research on Indiana caves. Richards
has conducted an ongoing excavation at a
Crawford County cave for over 20 years that
has yielded information and clues about the
prehistoric fauna that inhabited Indiana caves.
H.C. Mercer was an early archaeologist who
wrote and studied on the aragonite mining
done in caves by early Indians in Indiana.
James P. Stelle had a book published in 1864
on Wyandotte Cave. Horace C. Hovey was an
author and studied Indian artifacts as well as
the geology of caves in Indiana, Kentucky, and
elsewhere in the United States. Ben Hains was
a cave photographer from New Albany who
produced many stereo views of cave scenes,
especially in Marengo and Wyandotte caves.
H.C. Grosvenor was an early producer of
cave maps, and left his signature in at least one
Indiana cave. In 1927 Russell Trail Neville, a
lawyer from Kewanee, Illinois, filmed several
scenes from Crawford County caves (and also at
Mammoth, Luray, and Carlsbad) and lectured
extensively on caves throughout the Midwest for
several years. And in this era Angelo I. George
from Louisville, Kentucky, has documented
much historical research on Indiana caves and
continues to do so. Cave entrepreneur Gordon
L. Smith Jr is a well-known fixture on the
Indiana caving scene as a cave owner, developer,
surveyor, explorer, digger, and founder of the
National Cave Museum.
The Indiana Cave Survey lists over 3,000
caves from 34 counties. Over the years,
there have been numerous grottos and other
organized caving groups in the state doing
exploration, mapping, and survey. Some early
Indiana grottos, now defunct, were the Tell
City Grotto, and the Scotto Grotto based in
Scottsburg, where Roy Davis (Cumberland
Caverns, Tennessee, developer) and Jack Dorsey
(Dorsey Cave in Cave River Valley) among
others were founders. The Geo-Lucifigus
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group was active in the 1950s and early 1960s.
The SISG (Southern Indiana Speleo Group)
was headed up by Leroy Vanscoy and Larry
Fisher from the Bedford area and they were
very active in the 1960s. CHUG (Crawford
Harrison Underground Group) was headed by
Greg Spaulding, Bill Steele, Cathy Roundtree,
Skip Roy, and others, and they did extensive
work in Harrison and Crawford counties in
the 1970s and early 1980s. CHUG used the
O’Bannon cabin, which is now used by the
family of the late Governor Frank O’Bannon
as a homestead, as base camp for a number of
years. In the 1980s WREG (Wyandotte Ridge
Exploration Group) worked Easter Pit and
found a back entrance to Wyandotte Cave and
several miles of virgin cave. In the 1990s they
also re-opened the entrance to B-B Hole Cave,
found an extension off of the Senate Chamber
in Wyandotte, and others. Primary members of
this group are Joe and Tina Oliphant, Danny
Dible, Ted Wilson, Glenn Lemasters, Greg and
Val McNamara, George Cesnik, Tony Akers,
Ron Adams, and others. WREG has had a
major impact in finding new cave in the area
and their finds will long endure in caving. Dave
Black, a Lew Bicking Award winner, is a wellknown
fixture on the Indiana caving scene. He
alone is responsible for hundreds of Indiana
Cave Survey cave submissions in Harrison and
Crawford counties. Dave is the founder of the
Harrison Crawford Grotto and is a boundless
explorer, mapper, and photographer.
The ISS (Indiana Speleological Society)
originated in 1965 to undertake the surveying
and exploration of Binkleys Cave south of
Corydon in Harrison County. The BIG
(Bloomington Indiana Grotto) started the
survey in the early 1960s but the owner had
some problems with non-organized cavers and
had closed the cave to all for a time. The mostlyhigh-school-aged
cavers of the ISS approached
the owner on Thanksgiving weekend 1965 and
were granted permission to cave. Several of the
original ISS members are still active cavers today
including the author, Terry “Dog” Crayden,
Gary Roberson, Richard “Fig” Newton, and
George Jaegers. Binkleys Cave is currently over