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Entrance to Butler Cave, 1964 Photo by A. B. Whittemore |
Butler Cave
For all those who have never had the opportunity to explore Butler Cavein VA, we have included an article here from the ROANOKE TIMES dated February 23, 1964. [It is excerpted.] A chain across a man-sized opening on a hillside of Bath County marks the entrance to one of the largest caves in the world. |
First entered in May 1958, the cave is named for the owner, Carl Butler of Burnsville, and is the largest in Virginia. Kennedy Nicholson, with the help of two high school boys from the county, is credited with being the original discoverer. The contributing factor to the chance finding of the original eight-inch crevice in a pile of limestone was the logging off of oak and chestnut trees which once covered the hill located between Jack Mountain and Chestnut Ridge. Logging caused the land to erode, exposing the limestone boulders. Carl Butler recalls that as a boy he watched a cloud of "smoke' rise from the hillside on winter mornings. Carl Butler has turned over all responsibility for the cave's exploration to three members of the NSS: Nicholson, Oscar Estes and the Pennsylvania State University chapter of the NSS, the Nittany Grotto. The grotto is doing a detailed survey of the cave; approximately ten miles is completed.
The longest continuous exploration took place in August 1958. Seven men packed in over 1000 pounds of supplies for a 75-hour stay. To enter, one must crawl for 15 feet beyond the enlarged eight inch original opening to two 35-foot drops to the first room, the Window Room, via rope ladders. The group headquartered at Sand Canyon Camp, a sandy-floored room more than 700 feet long with a ceiling up to 70 feet high. Huntley Ingalls, of Bethesda, MD, took several hundred colored slides on this probing trip. Unusual features include gypsum flowers formed of calcium sulfate, flowers resembling small glass gardenias. One particular formation of flowstone is unique to the cave, i.e., helectites. The long strings of limestone appear to be blowing in different directions and can best be described as "hanging windblown spaghetti."
One passage has a large area covered with beautiful calcite crystals, which appear to float on pools of three-inch-deep clear water. Only a few rooms contain stalactites and stalagmites. The number of large bare rooms is reminiscent of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.
One area named "Oscar's Misery" is a crawl-through 30 feet long above an old stream bed. Several passages were found blocked by room sized boulders. Butler attributes their falling to an earthquake in the area in the 1920's. Crossing one chasm, one can peer into an opening several stories deep. Slippery mud and silt, sometimes knee-deep water, or crumbling stone ledges hope to deter those probing the cave's deep secrets.
Until last year, four levels of the cave were known. There were three waterfalls; many streams and lakes. In September 1963, a fifth level with three new streams was discovered by Nicholson's son Mike and a friend, Joe Faint. Nicholson says it will be several years before the new area is mapped.
Hoping to make the cave more accessible, Kenneth Ellis of Hot Springs, had bulldozing work done last summer at the bottom of the hill below the present crevice entrance. Cavers inside could hear the dozer but as yet no breakthrough has been made.
All the explorers are agreed: the cave must remain as it was found; that is, unmarred by direction arrows, carved initials, cans or bottles, the usual evidence of man. Until an easier access can be opened, the cave will be a private world for those members of the National Speleological Society with carbide lamps, much energy and courage.
Another cave which VPI/VAR personnel frequently explored and helped map during the 1960's was Butler Cave. At one time Mike Hamilton, of Richmond, had handled the project, but after he left for Colorado, Tom Vigour took over. During the 1966 Thanksgiving weekend to Marlboro Country (then the 'bottom' of the system), Tom introduced the use of the space blanket in caving situations. A letter to the manufacturer explaining the problems encountered in dragging sleeping bags through places like the "Crisco Way" and the subsequent need for a lighter, more durable piece of gear, resulted in six free space blankets. The following excerpt tells a small part of the experiences on this particular weekend with Rick Keener, Richard Beck and Bill Royster:
"If enough insulation is used between you and the ground, and if you wear perfectly dry clothes, you can stay fairly comfortable in space blankets. In order to retain body heat, the metallic liner cannot breath, and consequently moisture builds up, and gets COLD. Two hours of sleep at a stretch was it. I've never shivered for five minutes straight before. With all the problems, though, we did manage ten hours of fairly sound sleep. Hot bouillon and a Nu-V Bar (BARF) lessened the agony of wet clothes."
Later Tom notes, "from my previous experience, despite Plummer's article in the BULLETIN, plus what we learned on this trip, camping trips in caves usually result in more sleeping than in work. We left two notable question marks and a virgin pit unchecked, plus one passage not surveyed. A twenty hour trip would have accomplished as much if not more."--Tom Vigour, THE TECH TROGLODYTE, Winter 1967.
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