Files Report for January – March 2009
This has been one of the busiest times for cave files in
recent history. If I were fabulously rich I could do this full time…
Rhonda Rimer of MDC sent in new information and an improved
location for an MDC cave in
At the MSS meeting, a morning marathon on
The day after the MSS meeting found Mick Sutton, Spike, and
I working in the cave files again. Spike and I tackled a number of problems
including all of
Tony Schmitt and I found and mapped a new cavelet in Wayne County
while mapping a nearby known cave of equal short size. These maps are now
finished.
Jim Ruedin sent in bio reports on several caves on Pioneer
Forest in Shannon County
.
Spike Crews sent in a long memo detailing problems with cave
names and numbers in Ft. Wood . James Corsentino followed that up with some
additional explanations. James also sent a bio report for Campground Cave by
Matt Jepson and another very nice report by Joe Brocksmith, who is a former
student (long time ago) of mine.
Tom Panian sent in very nice reports on six caves in a
hollow off of Big Creek, Shannon County . All are on Pioneer Forest lands. All
have now been mapped as well. Tony Schmitt added information to help me get the
locations all straight.
Randy Long sent in a new report on a known (and mapped) USFS
cave in Phelps County
. Randy also sent a historic photo and info on a Riverways cave along the
Current River . And he sent some cave leads from Oregon County . Randy followed up on some of
his leads with nice reports and locations of two new caves on Forest Service
land in Oregon County.
Randy also sent in a better location for Kelly Hollow Cave.
Richard Thompson and Jon Beard sent a finished map of Dream
Cave all 6,023 feet of it; very nice map and a cool cave.
Jon Beard sent the map of Lon Odell Memorial Cave by Bob
Taylor and Jon. Jon also sent new locations of caves in Lawrence and Taney
Counties.
Bill Elliott sent in correspondence with a local person
about a cave in Ste. Genevieve County. And Bill sent in a note correcting an
omission on a cave in Shannon County. Plus Bill sent in some correspondence
relating to correct names in Oregon County.
Mick Sutton sent revised locations for caves within Grand Gulf
State Park, Oregon County. Mick also sent in several cave reports
on FS caves in Washington County and elsewhere.
Ben Miller sent a map of Big Ginger Blue Cave in McDonald
County . Ben also answered a bunch of my questions about cave locations in
Stone and Taney. Ben also sent in another map from Stone County.
Dan Drees sent in photos and information on a cave in Howell
County. Dan had been working for MDC in Shannon County but has now jumped to
the National Park Service
where is fire-effects biologist for four parks, including Ozark Riverways and
Buffalo.
Kris Hartman sent in a location, report, map, and photo of a
new cave in Ste. Genevieve County, where he and cohorts from SEMO and LEG have
been doing great work.
Bob Taylor sent a lot of maps in plus a legal location for a
cave in Stone County . The maps included Gentry Annex Cave in STN, Bottleneck
Cave in Lawrence County, Sweet Potato Caves 1, 2, and 3 in Douglas
County. All, of course, were nicely done in the much-imitated but
rarely-duplicated Taylor style… Bob also sent a line plot of Zoo Cave in Taney
County Later Bob sent in yet more maps: Natural Arch Cave in Greene
County, Elk Vallry Natural Bridge in Christian County, and Dickerson Park
Zoo Cave in Greene County.
Roy Gold sent in locations of three caves
in Texas County , one of which appears to be new.
Bill Copeland followed up his work at the MSS meeting by
sending in two new cave locations with reports and maps (Snake Den Cave? –
perish the thought!) plus reports on two other known caves.
Ken Grush read about us working on Laclede County and has
sent me a bunch of maps with locations on them to help us. I haven’t had time
to wade through it all but Ken does good work.
Jonathon Donaldson of SEMO sent in some photographs and
location improvements for caves in St. Francois State Park. Previous locations
were badly messed up – a result of too many cooks, etc.
Eric Hertzler sent in a location improvement and two new
cave locations from Camden County, which now has 184 records.
Eric also sent maps of two Camden Caves Eadson Spring and Hancock. These are
new caves.
Joe Nicolussi sent a report on a trip to caves near the
Cave names and numbers have recently been removed from
Laclede, Barry, Iron, Jasper, Stone and Taney. This does not mean we are losing
caves; this means that we are improving the data. In most cases these were
duplicate caves, one or two had such vague locations that they are no better
than poor leads, and two were simply not caves by any stretch of the
imagination.
I also contribute, recently finishing maps of Dry Cave and
Dry Crawl in Wayne County; Barkdull Shelter in Carter; CCS Caves 1 & 2 in
Taney; Forester Cave, Liberty School Cave, Little Bunker Hill Cave, McCormack Bay Cave,
Prairie Hollow Cave and Poker Cave in Shannon.
I probably forgot a bunch more stuff here. The material just
keeps piling up on my mailbox.
Cave while you can…
Scott House
Missouri Cave Database
1606 Luce St .
Cape Girardeau MO 63701
573-651-3782