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Civil GOES |
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Defense
CAVING |
To understand why the Civil Defense people were suddenly interested in caves to store food and other materials in the mid nineteen sixties, we need to go back twenty years to correspondence between Bill Stephenson, then the NSS President, and The Advisory Committee to the Council on National Defense. In a letter dated August 22, 1940, Bill wrote:
"We are not sure what, if any, the exact military value of caves may be. However, we can vision several possible military uses and aspects upon which they might have a bearing. Therefore offer to your committee and the U.S Government all information which our Society possesses which may be in any way useful to National Defense and the full cooperation of our Society on any National Defense projects where we may be of use.
"Some of the defense values of caves which have been suggested may be briefly outlined as follows. (1) Their use as storage places for strategic materials, especially gasoline. (2) Their use as air-raid and permanent shelters for evacuated civilian population. (3) Their possible use as factories for highly specialized or important military implements. (4) Their use as possible prisons in case of actual war. (5) The location of caves may possess a military value where heavy equipment is to be operated in a cavernous region.''--
in the early 1960's, the US Government began a survey to locate and then stock caves with food and other necessary supplies should there be an attack of the US mainland from foreign countries. Only certain caves could fulfill the qualifications, and these would be labelled at the highway as Fallout Shelters with a special black and yellow sign. Many cavers felt that this program would severely hamper access to these caves for mere sightseeing trips. Rumors flew about the VAR, John Cooper, then the Overlord of the Region, felt compelled to distribute the following edict to all cavers in the Virginia Region "Rumor has been rampant in recent months that some of our favorite VAR caves, notably six in Pendleton County, WV, are in danger of being lost to cavers by virtue of the fact that somebody thought they would make ideal Civil Defense shelters. A number of Region cavers reported months ago that Schoolhouseand Sinnethad been labelled with signs announcing that they would be utilized as fallout shelters in the C.D. effort. These reports created considerable uneasiness in the ranks of VAR cavers and others who harbor especial fondness for Sinnetand Schoolhouseand Pendleton County caves in general. Other notable caves destined to fall under to be aegis of this unfortunate program include Laurel Creek, Greenville Saltpetreand Lowmoor QuarryCaves.
When it becomes public knowledge that these caves are stocked with food, the cave and the supplies will be safe from no one. Cavers may very well find themselves blamed for thefts and vandalism committed by others. The Civil Defense people, if they persist in this undertaking, will probably decide that they have no alternative but to gate the storage caves in some way. The gating of Schoolhouse and Laurel Creek would be masterful physical feats and strokes of lunacy unparalleled, to say the least, and their potential loss is certainly to be viewed with alarm.
This truism does not obviate the fact that there is a vast difference between considered and proper alarm, and alarmism, the very antithesis of intelligent action. In this respect, I was quite concerned to read a recent suggestion in a student grotto newsletter advocating the "gating and locking of all worthwhile caves to protect them from the Government." I was equally alarmed to discover that some ill advised and apparently juvenile cavers have threatened to destroy Civil Defense materials that they may find stockpiled in Schoolhouse, Stratosphere Balloon, New Trout, Trout, Kenny Simmonsand SinnetCaves. I can't imagine anything so childish, unwise or disastrous as cavers petulantly threatening to destroy government property just because they disagree with the policies involved. The caves in question have been gratuitously leased to the Civil Defense program by their owners, and their gating would be another definite breach of the law.
All intelligent cavers will recognize these efforts to so utilize caves as token displays of a peculiar kind of ostracism, wherein the great and gawky long legged bird is replaced by a once fierce and majestic eagle, foolishly poking its head into myriad holes in the ground while leaving its tail feathers largely exposed. Be that as it may, the decisions have been made, adverse or not.
This being the case, I am asking all members of the Virginia Region to cooperate with Civil Defense officials and not take any steps that might bring discredit on the Region and the NSS, or result in the closing of any caves. The NSS is not lying fallow in this case. There is every indication that an acceptable compromise can be attained, at the very least."--John Cooper, March 12, 1963.
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