The
great thing in this report is that we are getting lots more written reports on
caves. Locations and maps are great and critical but we all, myself included,
need to write more narrative reports. It is one of the things that separates the Missouri
files from other state surveys across the country.
A
while back, Joe Light sent a pile of material that I think I forgot to
acknowledge. This included reports on caves in St. Louis
and JeffersonCounties,
plus the City of St. Louis.
These are all very nice reports with photographs, location maps, and drawings.
Tom Panian sent reports on five caves on PioneerForest land in ShannonCounty.
These are nice reports, well-written with lots of good information.
Bill
Copeland sent reports on two new caves in the Nixa karst
of ChristianCounty.
Tony
Schmitt eliminated two duplications in JeffersonCounty .
This is valuable as it cleans up wrong locations and bad records. Tony also had
a number of locational corrections for JeffersonCounty. Most of these were bad (very
bad) latitude and longitude locations. Sometimes these
older locations are the result of misplaced or missing numbers. Much of the
time, however, it is apparent that they are simply the result of folks not
knowing how to do the procedure with topo maps. (That
isn’t much of a problem anymore; it has been replaced by folks not quite
knowing how to set a gps unit!) Which again
points out the need for people describing locations with legals
– they act as a secondary system for comparison.
Tony
also turned in 5 new locations from Ste. Genevieve County, mostly from plateau areas
in the southern part of the county.
Kris
Hartman sent a topo overlay of a new cave that SEMO
is mapping in Ste. Genevieve County. The cave is now over a mile long. Kris
also sent digital copies of the SEMO Grotto newsletter. The issues look great,
with photos and descriptions. I am able to clip out the text and move reports
directly into the cave files – works for me!
Paul
Woods sent a map of CaveHollowCave
(akaCivilWarCave) in
McDonaldCounty.
Randy
Long of the Forest Service sent in a bunch of reports and locations from
various places.
Philip
Moss turned in locations of several new caves and entrances in PerryCounty.
Philip, as part of Ozark Underground Lab, is working on dye-tracing in the county
under a clean-water contract through MDC.
Bob
Taylor handed over maps of six caves: HermitCave in PulaskiCounty, AlmonCave
in HickoryCounty,
Cedar Bluff Pit in PulaskiCounty, a redraft of GarinCave
in McDonaldCounty,
PaxtonCave
in WrightCounty,
and Eldred Well in CooperCounty.
Two
caves were removed from Miller and CamdenCounties as they had no
locations, no maps, and no reports. These don’t even qualify as cave leads!
A new
cave found in RipleyCounty during a CRF trip
was dubbed River Side Winder. Mick Sutton is drawing up the map. As a result of
this trip and another trip, revisions were made to a cluster of caves in the
Tunnel Bluff Natural Area. I think there are now 9 features named and located
in the area. The confusion partially came from the fact that the county line,
which is unmarked, runs right through the area and property on both sides is
owned by the Federal government.
Bill
Elliott and I worked on cave locations for a solid day at MDC headquarters in JeffCity
with the result that 8 caves made their way into the files. We also figured out
a bunch of caves that are on MDC property. Still there are lots of questions
out there, particularly on lake lands that are owned by the Federal government (Corps
of Engineers) but managed by MDC. Remember, if you think you have found a new
cave on MDC land, let Bill know.
Roy
Gold sent another pile of GPS locations, including two new caves, from a
variety of counties in SWMO.
Dan
Lamping sent a really nice map of TwistingSpringCave
in ShannonCounty
on PioneerForest land. Six people from Meramec Valley Grotto were involved in mapping the 378
footer.
Jim
Cooley sent a location description, improved location and entrance photo for a
known cave in BentonCounty. Jim also sent a fat
envelope full of cave reports and maps featuring two new caves in Benton and Camden
Counties each. This is nice work in a largely overlooked area. It is good to
see KCAG stepping up and getting some good stuff down out there.
Jon
Beard and Doug Gouzie (MSU) sent descriptions of two
caves in GreeneCounty that are in the ROW for a new
MODOT project.
Mick
Sutton sent detailed reports on two Forest Service caves in ShannonCounty.
These are known caves that Mick revisited for biological and management reasons.
Bob Osburn and Bob Criss sent a
location, report, and map for a new cave on the Missouri River bluffs in St. LouisCounty. It is always good to get a
report. I sound like a broken record but we really need people to write short
reports for the cave locations they turn in.
Ben
Miller sent in a new cave at Vilander Bluff in CrawfordCounty. Ben also sent a bunch of written
reports for caves in Onondaga Cave SP land. Ben also sent a report on IndianLadderCave, long missing, in BarryCounty.
Nice work! As always – we can sure use more reports.
I am
sure I have forgotten some people so please don’t take offense. With a family
illness, heavy Riverways work load, and the wretched
weather, it’s been a difficult year so far. The bright side is I got
underground more than usual…