Lost River - Karst Information Portal

crawling, and very little belly crawling. The
small stream in the cave can not be followed
because the passage becomes too small. The
water should come out from the spring below
nearby Hidden Arch Cave.
Brian Leavell and I surveyed the cave at a
Room Cave is between Pavey Cave and the area
that contains Indian Cave, Arrowhead Arch,
Arch Cave, and Sentinel Cave. Caver Eric Morris
showed me the entrance to Room Cave on March
23, 1998; locals he knew from Crawford County
High School had shown him the cave previously.
There are names and dates in the cave from around
the early 1900s. The family name “Rhodes” is
predominant in the cave, and I would have called
this Rhodes Cave, except there is another one
already in Indiana. Gary Roberson’s relatives may
have also left their name here, as ROBERSON, is
noted at one point, towards the back of the cave.
(Gary’s dad was from English, Indiana) Although
this cave has been known about for quite some
time, it appears that the cave has not had much
visitation of recent times. The entrance can be
hard to find. There are fallen and damaged trees
in the area from a late snowstorm a few years ago.
Room Cave (Hemlock Cliffs)
Chris Schotter in Room Cave. Photo by Dave Black.
Crawford County Caves
length of 342 feet. I believe that brings the total
number of caves at the end of this valley to six.
References: CIG Newsletter, July, 1994,
Jerry Litaker;
EIG Newsletter, July, 1994, Jerry Litaker
By John Benton, NSS 10689
And the entrance is in an actual sink, instead of
in a bluff or cliff, as are most of the caves in the
Hemlock Cliff area.
The cave appears to be all in sandstone. On
March 11, 2001, Dave Black, biologist Jerry
Lewis, and I surveyed the cave. After entering
the narrow, 5-foot-high entrance one can stand
in a room, about 30
feet wide by 82 feet
long. The ceiling is
about 12 to 15 feet
high. There is some
breakdown in the
center of the room
and a soft sandy floor
has some organic
debris present,
washed in from
outside by storms.
There is a small
hole along one side
of the room where
water sinks when
it is running. This
may lead to a lower
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