Un-named Bat Cave

The Nature Conservancy sponsored a third cave gating project at this cave that began on July 17th, 1999. The project continued for almost two weeks with considerable volunteer and paid labor. I was able to attend on the first day of the project to help move steel and supplies down into the sink. The focus of the project was to gate the north entrance passage into the cave.

This cave (name removed by request) contains interesting archeological items. Some of the things in the cave include saltpeter vat remains, Civer War era plank bridges and ladders and hundreds of reed torch ends left behind by Indians.

July 17th found about 20 volunteers at the Entrance Pit to the cave with the daunting task of moving literally thousands of pounds of steel down into the pit. The work actually went suprisingly fast. We set up bucket-brigade style lines of humans and a couple of 6 inch angle iron chutes and we set about moving that stuff in the hole. (See pics below.)

When we finished the job that day about half of the people opted for a quick visit inside the cave. This cave has seen it's share of spray paint and parties. Several clean up efforts have removed most of the garbage from the cave but the spray paint is there to stay. Also there to stay, thanks to the gating efforts at the cave, is all the bat guano from the literally tens of thousands of bats that live and/or hibernate inside the cave.

We did not cave very long due to many rumbling stomachs, mine included. Hard work does build an appetite. We routed and Lynn and Brian Roebuck, Rob Robbins, Joe Douglas, a volunteer from Knoxville (sorry I forgot your name, man...), and me went to the local Mexican restaraunt in McMinnville, TN.

One of the previous gates. This photo shows the need for a gate. Unfortunately, when a cave location becomes common knowledge local youths tend to party in the cave, spray paint it, destroy it's flora and fauna, and remove it's formations. Sadly, this is almost always the case.

Kristen Bobo using laser surveying equipment.

"Heave!" We estimated about 500 pounds weight for these big peices.

The volunteer crew guiding a several hundred pound 6" steel angle into a chute for a glide down into the sink.

Four men down in the sink moving the steel from the chute to the pile to make space for the next piece.

That's just about the end of the workday. Look at how much we moved down there. The power of humans in numbers. That's Brian Roebuck walking towards the ladder.

A bunch of volunteers sitting sipping cold drinks and preparing to go for a short caving trip ofter a hard day's work.

Cavers descending a replacement ladder built by Tim Curtis. The original ladder still stands (visible on the lower right of the above photo) and was built in the Civil War era using all wood and peg construction.

Joe Douglas holds a broken rung in place on a Civil War Era ladder that would probably still be in use if not for reckless cavers partying inside the cave.

Two cavers inspect the remians of a really old ladder that used to go up one wall to a second level passage. Some uninformed cavers burned the ladder for firewood recently. The caver on the right is pointing to a charred part of the ladder. Ever wonder why environmentalists do things like gate caves?

Everyone looks on as a caver displays an Indian reed torch remain. These remains are numerous in the cave and are at least several hunderd years old and maybe even several thousand years old. Black smudge marks can be found along the walls all through the cave where the Indians would knock the charcoal off of their torches. Joe Douglas is visible on the left and Tim Curtis is kneeling.

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