3XTEXAS CAVER

THE TEXAS C AVER

VOLUME I X, NUMBER 11 - NOVEMBER , 1 964

C 0 V E R:

CONTENTS

Terry Raines pauses at the end of a section of Crevice Passage in Powell's Cave near Menard, Texas' longest cave . The photo was made during the 1962 Project "48". (Photogr apher unknown, unless it was self -made by Terry)

153 THE PROJECT IN PICTURES

157 CAVER OF THE MONTH - Ruben M. (Bud ) Frank

158 PHOTO TIPS (Edited by C. Kunath)

158 Letter to Editor

159 Cartoo n of Projec t by Fowler

160 N E W S

160 Cartoon by Lilly

"TAKE NOTHING BUT PICTURES , LEAVE NOTHING BUT FOOTPRINTS "

Page 153 THE TEXAS CAVER, November, 1964

THE PROJECT

n P CTURES This is an endeavor to portray

the 1964 T.S.A. Project "72 " from a collection of photographs that various members took last Labor Day . This is our special story for the month. We hope that you like it.

TOP PHOTO: Early arrivals at Powell's Cave entrance during the Project. In f oreground are Chuck Larsen, past chairman of T.S.A. and Katherine Goodbar, present secretary -treasurer. (Photo i s by Carl Kunath)

MIDDLE PHOTO: A little pala ­ver around the temporary desk as teams get organized . Shown are (left to right) Carl J ohnson J

Tom 7, Tom Meador, 7, Jirruny Ray, Pete Lindsley, David Merideth, Jim Estes, Mike Bundrant, and Jim Reddell . (Photo by C. Kunath)

BOTI'OM PHOTO: With telephones hooked up and ready to go U.T . and Balcones Grottoers get set to sign in for a day of caving. Pic­tured are Gene Blum, a cute U.T. caverette J Orion Knox, Jim Reddell, David Merideth, and Gene Haydon. (Photo by C. Kunath)

By this time the project was going in full swing. People kept arriving all the time swelling the ranks of cavers.

After seven or eight mapping teams and exploring teams were in the cave, some 72 cavers, Chuck Larsen set up his headquarters tent just a short distance from the cave's entrance.

(next page)

THE TEXAS CAVER , November, 1964 154

RIGHT PHOTO : The never -v-acant waiting l ine at the cave entr ance . Cavers f r om Balcones Grotto pr epare t o descend . Tom Warden , grotto chair ­man , watche s (back t o phot o ) (Phot o by C. Kunat h)

LEyr CENTER : Typical of the crazy maze that had t o be mapped . (Phot o by D. Merideth)

RIGHT CENTER : An exploring team follows t he telephone line partway up the long , long crevice jus t beyond Station #3 . Many leads off t his passage were left unche cked in the 1962 Project.

PHOTO AT LEFT: Eugene Haydon pulls himself up through Chuck ls Chimney as Bill Russell gets h~s breath. This is the way t o t he downstream water passage. (Photo is by D. Merideth.)

By the end of the day Satur ­day several thousand feet of cave were mapped.

PHOTO ABOVE: Eugene Haydon sets off a flash t o light the Crevice Passage on way to Station #4. (Photo by D. Merideth)

PHOTO AT RIGHT: Early on Sunday morning Carl Kunath caught this snap of Elvin Dickey. "Who cut on the lights?" he mumbles.

A few cavers went into the cave on Sunday morning, but most made ready for the TSA meeting .

Page 155 UPPER LEFT: Lee Skinner l ,uts a finger on the project goal, 10 , 000 feet ~ It was not reached for lack of mapping e ~uipment. (Photo by Kunath)

UPPER RIGHT: Bill Russell gazes thoughtfully at the large downstream water pass­age, first discovered in the year 1962. Over 1,500 feet was mapped. (Photo by C. Kunath)

)fl OTO , RIGHT : The Powell family ri sits the cave on Sunday morning . ~uch interest was shown on Pr o ject lork being carried on. Mr . Powell, Jith dark glasses and hat, is ~ lking with Chuck Larsen and Pete .indsley . ( Photo by C . Kunath)

'HOTO , BOTTOM : At the well pipe :and telephone line #1) Bill Rus ) ] 1 reaches fo r a nother t oo l from :.u ne Haydon as Mr . Powell ' s well Ls put tnto servi ce a ain to feed thirsty cattle a nd oats abo ve .

Neal ' s Cave about one and a half miles dist nt , wi t h another wa~er

is thou ht to flow into henc to San Saba River.

THE TEXAS CAVER, November, 1964 Page 156

PHCTO AT LEFT: Katherine Goodbar takes minutes as Orion Knox presides over the semi-an ual Board of Governors meeting of T.S.A. held near Powell's Cave entrance. Behind Goodbar is newly elected vice Chairman, Carl E. Kunath of San Angelo.

Other officers elected for the year 1965 were Pete Linds -ley, Chairman, and K. Goodbar to serve as secretary-t~easurer for a third term. All were el ected by unanimous vote.

We are sorry not to have had a more wide variety of photograph ers represented herein, but the , pictures received made up our repertoire.

Also some of the photograph sent to us were not used becaust space and f unds prohibited the use of all of them.

See also pr o ject cartoons i n thi s issue of th2 TEXAS CAVER .

--- --- - - -- -- ---WHAT 'S HAPPENI NG APRI L ~ & 4 ir

SAN ANGELO?

THE TEXAS CAVER, November, 1~64 - -Page 157

C ~VER OF TH E mOnTH In any gathering of Texas cavers,

one person is certain to be present, di gging up bones, dirt, and ideas . That person, of course, is Ruben M. (Bud) Frank

Born near Yoakam, Texas Bud be­came interested in cave s a fter mov ­ing t o Corpus Christi and j oing the Corpus Christi Speleological Society . His career with the CCSS was cut a little short by the Army, but he did not let this interfere with his cav ing activity. While stationed i n Europe he used this as an opportun­ity to travel throughout France, It ­aly, Germany, and other countries, meeting cavers and go ing caving. He attended the 1958 Internationa l Con­gress of Speleology in Italy. After the army he entered the Univers i ty of Texas and soon became an active mem­ber of the UT Grotto.

In 1962 he married another U.T .G caver, Margaret Cridlebaugh. They have a year old spelunker named Mike Bud has served as Region Vice-Chair man and his support of the Re gion i s much and contributes t o its success t oday.

BUD FRANK (LEFT) STANDS AT TI-lZ ENTRANCE TO CAVE " h'" .TRAVIS CO. WI'IH A FRI END , PH I LLIP RUSSELL . (Photo b" James Reddell)

His interest and enthusiasm for fossils a nd for sediments in Texas caves and his articles on these in THE TEXAS CAVER has done a gr eat deal t owa r ds increas ing our knowledge of these subje cts. He has been geologist for the Texas Speleological Survey since it was first or ganized and is the author of a recent issue on the Vertebrate Paleontology of Texas Caves .

At the June, 1964 , NSS Convention in New Braunfe ls he was honor ed with the 1964 NSS Research Grant for $250 to assist him in writing his thesis, which will be on the sediments in the caves of t he Edwa r ds Plateau.

Bud Frank's enthusiasm fo r cavin g and for the sc ience of speleol ogy has , as much as anything else, made Texas cavers aware that there is s omethin :; besides fun and excitement to be found unde r gr ound .

It i s with grea t pleasure that t he TEXAS CAVER and the TEXAS S?ELEOLon I ­CAL ASSOCIATION mal<e this award fo r the month of November, 1~64 t o Ruben M. Fr ank in recogni tion of hi s interest i n and contributi ons t o the s[lort Cln:1 science of speleology .

TWO THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO I N EARNEST : Be ge t tinG r eady now to ente::: -:h2 annual TSA photo sa lon at the San Angelo convention in April; 1:05 . Alsu i f you des ire t o present a paper at time, it would be a good i dea t o l~lake iJ r <2 -par at i ons fo r your talk no~~

THE TEXAS CAVER , Tovember, 1964 - Page 158

PHOTO T JS (This month ' s tips were taken from an article that appeared in the Nov ·-Dec

issue of the Philadelphia Grotto Digest and was written by Mark Blumenstein and entitled "Cave -Photogr aphy"T - - --

t~ximum range in cave photography is very important. Here is a table which may help you choose the right bul b for your use underground. The maximum range scale is for use with Kodachr ome II, Ektachrome X, Kodachrome X, High Speed Ektachrome , and Anscochrome 200, assuming you use 1 /30 of a second at f. 3.5.

- -Maximum range (in feet)

1/30 of a second at f. 3 .5 AGlB M2B M3B 25B (5 000 (4000 (9000 (10000 lumens) lumens ~ lumens) lumens)

Kodachrome II 19-20 20 29 30 ASA 25

Ektachrome X Kodachrome X 28-30 28 40 44 ASA 64

High Speed Ektachrome 55 50 73 73 ASA 160

Anscochrome 55-60 50 73-75 75-80 ASA ? OO

DEAR EDITOR: (C oncerning TSA membership cards)

Mos t grottoes and caving societies have an adequate program for training of their new members . However, the independents; the lone cavers who are imbrued with the desire to go caving, have no connection with amy organized ca ving r oup that continually instructs its members in better cave-o~~er re­l a tions .

My plan t o correct this lack comes from s omething I remember from my days as a Boy Scout. City kids who were not able t o go to the country t o t ake their tracking tests , were allowed t o stand in front of a display window for a few minutes , then later be quizzed on their memory of it. In that same regard, why not require the independents to read one or more pre selected publications on safety and conservation and then write a letter, (report), on the subject t o TSA for their review?

I sug est that the books b~ Folsom, Halliday and Mohr might be used as r equired r eading, or perhaps a composite paper written by Fred Tart, Bill Bell, Eugene Blum, or any other who is avid in his concern for better cavin practices .

I further suggest that the report each applic&nt sends TSA be a minimum of 100 -20 words ; half to be written on safety, half on conservation. The membership board , (perhaps the officers of TSA), would then pass on the letters an accept or reject each ap plication for a membership card in TSA.

This report method i 's to be used principally for thos independent mem~ers of TSA who do not have access to an organized gr otto cave safety

'\

THE TEXAS CAVER, November, l S64 - PaGe 159

(letter to Editor, continued) program. However, to avoid the semblance of discrimination, perhaps the executive council of each grotto should send in to TSA a list of their members whom they consider to have enough knowled ge of safety and conservat i on to be eligible for membership in TSA. Question: Should independent NSS members be allowed membership cards, 'carte blanche', or also be re~uired t o present a report of s ome kind?

If you decide to publish a s pecial paper for re·-iuire d. reading , it might be mimeographed and sent to those that re quest it, or be published in the TEXAS CAVER. I like the latter, for we all need new reminders of our responsibilities during cave trips.

Whether you use my suggestions or another, something must be done, and quickly, before we all are reduced to watching cave slides and si t ting around listening to old timers tell of their cave experiences, while paying homage to "stuffed fro gs".

Yours for better caving, s / TOM WARDEN

NSS 6869

POWELL'S CAVE MAPPING TEAM: (Suzanne Fowler)

~5~ "THIS IS THE PLACE, FELLOWS! THERE'S THAT !MBK PASSAGE. "

"DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU EXPLORE CAVES AT NIGHT??

WHEN IT IS DARK???"

THE TEXAS CAVER, ovember , 1964 - Page 160

n E w s ABILENE , N.S .S . The only field trip s cheduled for the pas t three weeks was cancelled . It was t o be at River Styx Cave near Guthrie .

The Gr otto met i n r egula r session a t the home of Geor ge and Jacque Gray and en j oyed a fi ne meeti ng and pr ogr am . The coming relati vely i na ct ive deer season pr omised no t rips . The pr ogr am was a 16mm sound color f i lm called the "Texas FUNtier' . The beautiful phot ography was enjoyed by all pr esent.

The gr otto ' s booster rabies shot is comin up the latter ~art of this month . Then comes the blood test a month later.

Grotto add r ess : 2818 S. 39th Street , Abi lene , Texas 79605 .

ALAMO , N.S .S. Our favorite r anchers still provided plenty of activity f or October , but plans f or November ar e get-t n ha rd to set up as usua l . The deer ver us Caver s batt l e will be won only on na rrow fro nts ./here the r anchers, t oo , are interested in t he explor a tion of their caves , and ther e ar e t oo f e" of tha t kind a t present .

Whistle Drop , a r eal work -out pit sys ~

t m ot a visit fo r the fir s t time in two years . Ka r en Schrwnpf, wi f e of our vi Chair man , made t he f irs t female de, s cent, a nd probably t he l as t , .fo r this cave . 'rhe mai n pit is enter ed from a crmvlway which puts you at the apex of a reat 60 foot dome . Faint lights far be ­

low do little to encourage t he awkwar d takeoff from the crawl way , feet first into a lon, free swin i ng rappel . Coming out if worse as there is no apparent end to t he l adde r reaching far up i nt o t he darknes . Belay is not too ood , e i t her, as he r ope has t o snake out of t he crawl

r ound t o anothe r r oom and tension is r rel maintained .

Ha ' s beautiful cave with the lakes was r evisited and another cave the r e with

ceilin of 24 inches was checked a mall pi complete with angry

le r s . lore speleoarchaeologists ked shelters to the wes t . Ron

chr f and like Bundrant sm, the end of he Indian Cr eek de acle and cleaned up

s me 0 he debri . Bill Ba llie is l ook in or somec.ne with vis i on , ene r gy ,

-.PI. . . III;"

GECRGE!!, IT'S PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO MAKE ME A AJOR CA.VER!"s,a;T-.L c .... "

THE TEXAS CAVER, Ncv=mber, 1~64 } Page 161

and a little money to take over his Cascade Caverns, still closed after the big flood--make him an offer, this is a real opportunity to kee p a very interesting cave open and can be profitable f or a ~ood , financially able operator.

Grotto address: 107 Tomahawk Trail, San Antonio, Texas.

BALCONES, N.S.S. A new cave in the Oak Hill vicinity,named Pennie's Cave was officially checked out on October 11, by Bud Stewart, David l~erideth,

1'0mmy McGarrigle, Billy Jones, Hodney Matejowsky, and two Oal< Hill boys , all led by Tom Warden. It developed into a fair s ized cave of f our levels to a 75 foot depth and extending approximately 200 feet. The name i s in honor of Tom Warden's dog, Pennie, who has an electric colla r larnp and helped to explore this cave.

Bill Clayton, Jay Staerbuck and a group of Explorer Scouts fr om st. Edwards School returned on the 18th with a compass to check the direction of the cave and prepare for the mapping of it.

Members of Balc ones have at last discovered Convict Cave in the quarry at Oak Hill, that so many spelunkers have been hunting for. More about it later when we have had a chance to checl< it out.

Grotto address: Lauren N. Roebuck (Secretary), 2406 Devonshire, Austin, Texas 78723.

BEXAR, N.S.S. At the present time (November 13) no grotto news has been received from the Bexar Grotto.

Grotto address is: 204 Vista Road, San Antonio, Texas

DALLAS-FORT WORTH, N.S.S. Members of the Dallas Fort Worth Grotto made three trips during the month of October.

A trip to the Guadalupes included Pete Lindsley, Lee Sl<inner, David Waller, and Larry Register. Most of Saturday was spent in reparing a broken down jeep, after which a short hike resulted in discovering a new cave in Frank's Canyon. Sunday was spent by exploring and photo grahinG Endless Cave and then traveling back to Dallas.

Another trip was made down into Sutton County to check out various leads there. ' We met Carl Kunath and Elbert Bassham at the Caverns of Sonora and gave a slide show for the Brummetts. Cavers included David Ince, Bert Olsen, Pete Lindsley, and Lee Skinner.

Later Pete Lindsldy, Skinner, and Re gister returned to Nev Nexico , this time to the Fort Stanton Cave and Lincoln Rid ge area. Ca ves visited in cluded Millers Cave (or Tiger mtn.), Cattle Saddle Sinks, Topa z Cave , Cactus Cave, Leeless Caverns, ~uail Cave, and Heinz Schwinge Ha l l a nd the Snowflake Passage #3 in Fort Stanton Cave. The SRndia Grotto was up on the ridge digging in Shamrock Cave.

A four -day trip is being planned to the Guadalupes on Thanks giving I{eekend. Texans are invited to meet there with the Southwe s t e rn negi on.

Grotto address is P.O. Box 28 , Richards on, Texas 75 081.

UNIVERSITY OF TEY~, N.S.S. (No re gular grotto news has been rece ived at this time, November 13, however, the following is an announceme nt by the director of the Association for Mexican Cave Studies, Bill Russell):

"The Association for Mexican Cave Studies is at the present time ex tending its membership to include all persons interested in Mexica n speleo ­logy. The organization in the past has been c omposed of students at the Univerf:i ty of Texas, but because of the widespread interest we fee l that our membership should be broadened. The Association has collected a large amount of information on Mexico and feels that this informati on should be

THE TEXAS CAVER, November, 1964 - Page 162

made available to all interested persons. 'All me mbers of the Association will receive the monthly newsletter.

Thi s news letter contina reports on current trips, descriptions of the larger caves , evaluations of the caving potential of the various Mexican caving areas , biological reports, road logs, and ~uch other information helpful to the caver. The Association will also publish occasional papers containing descriptions and maps of caves and discussions of the mor e important speleological problems. Members will have access t o the ca ve files and all inquirie s will be pr orolp tly ans\,rered.

"Charter membe r ships are still available until December 1, l S64 f or fi ve dollar s ( . .p:; .CC) . ·'

AMCS(Box 7672 U.T. Station) Austin, Texas

SAN ANGELO COLLEGE CLUB: Our club has Gotten started very well this year. At the pr esent time there are from 15 to 2C persons in attendance at each meetin .

Pl ans fo r the Apri l convention of TSA are coming alon g fine. Host of the plans for fac ilities have been taken care of . There is nm-T a need for members of TS A ct make plans to present papers and ep-ter the photo salon. (Please write Carl Kunath, 409 W. Washington, San Angelo) if you plan to present a paper.)

Newly elected officers for this year are as follows: Pr es i dent ----------Ecd ie Glenn Vice Pr esident ----Jon Vinson Secretary-Treasurer -- - --Jack Smith neporter ·· . - - - - - . - Jimmy Ray Equipment Chlirman - .. Rick Aaron

On the l Cth of October Jon Vinson met Tom Meador in Eldorado and the two j ourneyed down toward Carta Valley. Checked one s~all cave and many many rockshel ters . The next weekend Vinson along with t,w others, Dick Morri son and David Wood ventured into the vastness of Arden Cave, a large profusely decora ted cavern near San Angelo. (editor's note: ?????) Over the weekend of the 23 and 24 of October eight San Angelo cavers made the trip down to Indian Creek cave·. Those making the trip yTere Jack Smith, Jimmie Ray , Dick M rrison, David Wood, Larry Farrell and Melvin Champion from S.A.C., and Carl Kunath and his wife came down sometime during the night. About an hour later a group of cavers from U.T. wandered in and about this time we figured it was about time to arise and go swimming. One has to first unlock an iron gate ap-d climb down a few steps to reach the pool. (Ed itor's note: If you have ever been to Indian Creek Cave you will understand that last sentence.)

TRANS -PECOS SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: At the s tart of this new year we found ourselves missing a few good cavers due to either graduation or transfer in to different s chools. Some of them were Carl and Glenda Kunath, Joe Compton and his wife, Suzanne Fowler, and James Wood. However, the club now has quite a few new members, including Robert Nantz from New York who has done quite a bit of caving in Kentuc~. Many of our members were active this Slrnnner at the Nat i onal Convention, at Pm-Tell's Cave, and elsewhere.

New officers f or the fall term are: Chairman, Elbert Bassham; Vice Chairman, Robe r t Feller ' Secretary-Treasurer, CheTE§ Horton : E'luipment Chair man , Rolland Collins ' and eporter, Robert C. Schroeder.

During the month of September only one trip was made . It was made to Terlingua Sinkhole and Histoplasmosis by E . Bassham , R.C. Schroeder, R. Nant l , and J. F . atthews; to break in two new cavers .

THE TEXAS CAVER, November, 1964 - Page 163

On October 4, R.C. Schroeder, F. Lichnovsky, B. Terrell, R. Nantz, and T. LaMasters went to O.T.L. Cave to map some unmapped passages. 108.6 feet of passage was mapped, but it took seven hours because of small passages and cave coral. Also, that day a ropework session was held for ne\T and old members.

October 10, E. Bassham met C. Kunath, L. Skinner, P. Lindsley, and others at Sonora Caverns. On that same day Robert Schroeder took D. Dukes, J.F. Matthe'.vs, .snd R. Nantz (all new members) through Langtry East Gypsum Cave. The following weekend several members went to Kent to look f or Caves.

On October 24, E. Bassham, R. Schroeder, W. Friesen, B. Bonner, Jr, and J. Stone met C. Kunath and wife plus about 50 other cavers at Indian Creek Cave. That night, C. Kunath showed slides on caves t o the gr oup.

The following weekend Walter Russell, R. Schroeder, and E. Bassham re ·· turned to Kent, findin g Kent Bat Cave. It had been mined for guano at one time, but no bats were seen. Cave crickets were collected and about 20-30 swallows were seen entering the ei ght f oot diameter entrance. Plans are being made for further trips to the Kent area in an attempt t o find new caves there.

New club address: Box 771, SuI Ross State College, Alpine, Texas.

SOUTHWESTERN U. SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (SSS). S~~er saw only two SSSers making any trips. John Weiss did some caving around Austin. Rex Shepperd and Independent Preston McMichael of Houston made a trip to the Deep CQve area and to the Region Project.

September and October saw the SSS getting organized. A training trip w~s made to Steam Cave to introduce the novices to grub and guano. Byron Behrens and Rex Shepperd took a trip to photograph Hed Hous e Cave. ,\ three foot copperhead was killed on the entrance on this trip. (This news ought to make J.E. Cooper of Baltimore Grotto a little shook up .)

In October an overnight trip was made to Gorman Falls. Pr ofessors Wolcott, Soulen, Spellman and families went along as sponsors. Over twenty members made the trip.

The club seems to be progressing nicely. We have about 3~ membe r s and a lot of enthusi~sm and are looking f orward to a fine year .

Club address: c/o Rex Shepperd, KA Box, SU Station, Geor getown, Texas .

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS: Word received from Iraan, Texas is that Mrs. Bill Hail has been active lately, not in caving , 0ut farmin g . She states that farming is the most dificult when compared to caving ...

Brooks Snyder of Hurst (D FWG) informs the CAVER that his brother, Cedric, also a member of D-FWG, married on September 27~ Raye Esther Dickson. They are presently living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he plans to finish school at Tulsa University.

EDITORIAL •••

This short statement concerns the problem involvin g t he closing of caves, conservation,Jandowner relations, and caving s a fety, and something that the Texas Speleological Association can do about them.

At the recent Board of Governors meeting of TSA at Powe l l's Cave, a suggestion was placed before the Re gion that TSA members carry bonafide membership cards, a sort of check system to be worked out between landwoners and TSA members to insure that irresponsible pers ons who have proven them selves as such be refused admission to the l~ndowner's caves. What do you think about this? Write us a letter. Let's discuss it in the CAVER.

THE T E X A S C A V E R 2818 South 39th Street Abilene , Texas 79605

Official publication of the Texas Speleological Association lATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

THE TEXAS CAVER i s t he official publication of the Texas Speleological Ass oc i ation and is published in Abilene, Texas. Material for the CAVER should be doubled-spaced t yped and mailed to the editor (address above) no later than the 6th of each mont h of issue. Photographs sent to the CAVER become the property of t he TEXAS CAVER , unle s s notified tha t they are to be returned .

STAFF :

EDITOR - - - ------ - ------- - ----- James Estes Member s ---------------------- Geor ge Gray

John Lani e r Bart Crisman

Dewayne Dickey Lee Feemster Bryant Lilly

SUBSCRIPTION RATE : $3.00 per year f or twelve i ssues.

THE TEXAS SPELEOLOGICAL ASSOC IATI ON i s a Regi on of t he National Spe leological Society and is composed of six NSS grottoes (Chapters ) and f our college clubs. TSA seeks to promote the aims and purposes of the NSS in t he State of Texas.

1964 TSA officers are : CHAIRMAN ----- -- - --- - - ---- - -- - Orion Knox, Jr. VICE CHAI RMAN - -- - ---- - - -- - --- Pete Li nd sley SECRETARY TREASURER - -- ---- --- Kat he rine Goodbar

6621 Sunnyland Lane Dallas 14 , Texas