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Jumping Off
A Young Man Gets Into Harness


SCHOOLHOUSE Jack Meenehan, NSS #53FL


Writes in a letter that he and Jack Wilson -,are attracted to caving by a feature article in the WASHINGTON STAR, circa 1938. "The article discussed what is best described as an attack on Schoolhouse Cave and Hellhole. They lowered one man from the Jumping off Place in Schoolhouse and got him to the bottom. The next day they lowered people into Hellhole. This article also attracted the attention of the rock-climbing section of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Led by Paul Bradt, they investigated the cave as though it were a mountain underground. Over an extended period they systematically explored and named the major features of Schoolhouse. The cave fascinated them, as it has done everyone who has been associated with it. Their method of entry was to body rappel about half way down the side of the ridge of rock dividing Pendulum Pit from the main cave. At this point they would have to traverse around the nose of this wall to reach a hanging balcony.

The "Nick of Time" was a chock stone that allowed transfer from the wall to the balcony. "Jack and I were invited on a trip to see Schoolhouse by Paul Bradt and Leo Scott. Possibly we were the first members of the NSS to go through Schoolhouse. I took pictures of the climbs on color slides with simple equipment during this trip, and Jack wrote an article about it.

"Having been there once, I was now an expert on Schoolhouse, by NSS standards. Bill Stephenson asked me to conduct a field trip for the first NSS convention. I took three other climbers and spent 18 hours making the cave safe for democracy.

"Someone in the society had made a monstrous rope ladder with 3/4-inch hemp rope and tree branches. It was extremely long and weighed about 12 ton.. We horsed this into the Grotto below the "Jumping-off-Place", then let the ladder down in a straight line on the wall and straight across the 100 foot Pendulum Pit to the Balcony. From there a short, fixed ladder would put cavers on the inclined slope that led to the pits at the bottom of the cave. We put more than sixty people through in one day. We safetied them from both ends of the main ladder so they would be safe in crossing over Pendulum Pit. Imagine trying to stay on top of an old sagging rope ladder stretched across a black pit like a railroad trestle without support. Actually only a couple people fell off, and they were easily hauled in. I safetied people for fourteen hours.

"Our method of entering any deep cave was to assemble a group of cavers sufficiently large enough to lower and lift people from the pits. We tried, but discarded some machines as being too crude and risky."
1949 NSS NEWS
SchooLhouse Cave
PendLeton Co. WV.
Photo by S.A. Loyd




HELLHOLE
During the New Year's weekend of 1939-40, Paul Bradt, Tom Culverwell, D. Hubbard, S. Moore, and W. Schlect, members of the PATC Alpine Club, descended into Hell Hole. At that time the cave had never been explored beyond the first chamber. They roped themselves together and crawled slowly for 900 feet to another chamber. They believe this to be the vestibule to a closed inner cavern which may rival Mammoth Cave. Another early trip to Hell Hole occurred during the summer of 1940 when members of the Ohio cave group met the Speleological Society of the District of Columbia (SSDC). Among the large number of cavers present, according to Jack Peeble in his "Hunting and Fishing" column in the Steubenville, OH HERALD STAR, were George Dare, Charles "Shy" Matchett, Casey Schugt, Bill Stephenson, Dr. William Welsh and Tom Culverwell. The cavers found Hell Hole in the bottom of A ravine. They spanned the hole with a cedar log and constructed a platform with guard rails. After the winch was set in place, Dr. William Welsh was given the honor of being the first man down. He was equipped with a telephone head set, newly designed by the Bell Telephone Co. for cavers.


CLYDE COCHRAN'S SINK

The Ohio and Speleological Society of the District of Columbia groups met in Novemver 1940 to "fathom the mysteries" of Clyde Cochran's Sink Hole, WV. Necessary equipment included rope ladders, ropes, collection and specimen bags/bottles, first aid kits, extra flashlight batteries and carbide, two inflated inner tubes, and two spruce planks. In the entrance they descended on a virgin rope ladder and took the right-hand passage to the banks of a small river. Lashing the planks to the tubes, they mounted a large carbide lantern on the bow and set sail. A safety rope was tied to the craft in case a minature Niagara Falls were encountered. After 200 feet they could not continue for they had reached a rocky cascade into a river of unknown depth. Cave crickets and a rare type of blind salamander were collected.


Region Record pg 133

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