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1943
VPI  continued
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VPI Cave Club, October 1948. building float for VPI Homecoming Parade. L to R are: Dick Southworth, Sam Rainy, Joe Lawrence. Photo by J. Murray |
"I went on the second trip into Clover Hollowwhen it was still very much unexplored. The first party tried to improvise ladders and other means to get over some of the more difficult places but the cave was still explored with misgivings. The most exciting part was way down to the creek and the waterfall. In those days we approached it by means of a hole in the ceiling of the canyon where the creek flows. A log was placed across the hole and a block and tackle were fastened to it. Then we let each person down the 90 feet in a breeches bouy. As you dangled there in space in almost pitch darkness, it was terrible! One person stayed on top to be sure that we all got out. While hoisting one person to the top of the hole, we were horrified to suddenly see the rope catch fire from her lamp! We all were relieved when it went out.
During February 1947 the VPI Grotto put out notices offering a reward for information about any large unexplored caves. Any person informing us of the location of a cave within 30 miles of Blacksburg which we have not previously visited will receive a reward whose value will depend upon the length of the cave as determined by actual survey made by the Club. The reward is $5.00 per mile for any cave more than one half mile long.
GROTT0 GRAPEVINE, September 7,1945
VPI Grotto Float Trip, 1972 Photo by R .A. Peterson. |
Joe Lawrence, Jr. also contributed to this history issue with a letter. Excerpts from this letter follow:
"In 1948 we dug a new entrance to Pig Hole. Bob Barnes, a mining engineering student, made the survey and told us where to dig. Eight feet from the point indicated, the ground looked softer. It is a good thing we dug where the ground was softer as our shaft struck the edge of the cave. We would have missed it if we had followed Bobs's advice!
"Hard hats were just beginning to be used by the grotto in 1948. Many of us, including myself, wore the cloth miner's hat. At a time when the Pig Hole shaft had reached a depth of about ten feet, I stood on the locust log shoring to remove a rock that hung dangerously only in the side of the shaft. The shoring gave way and I tumbled to the bottom. The rock arrived shortly after striking me in the head. Three stitches received at the VPI infirmary closed the wound. Hard hats became more popular after this.
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"Digging at Pig Hole started in the spring of 1948 and progressed through summer and fall. We used dynamite liberally to break up boulders. One Saturday afternoon we reached a depth of about 15 feet and were beginning to wonder if we would ever reach the cave. Earl Thierry took his turn at the bottom of the shaft digging out dirt and rock. He lifted up a rock that released a blast of air; he had broken into the cave. The work then moved rapidly as we enlarged the hole to admit us.
When we broke into Pig Hole, we had twelve sticks of dynamite left over. You can't keep this stuff in your dormitory room. You can't throw the stuff away. You can't even give it away. There was only one thing to do; blow it up! We remembered Miller's Cavein western Giles County. There was a hole in there ten feet deep from which air currents issued.
"We headed for Miller's carrying the dynamite in one car and the blasting caps in another. When we reached Miller's a couple of us dropped down into the hole and began stuffing the dynamite into a crack in the rock. One stick slipped all the way through the crack and tumbled into the void below. The remaining eleven were put in place and fused. A caver held a carbide lamp close to the fuse until it began to sputter and then yelled, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Then he casually climbed to the surface. We all started down the hill and waited for the explosion. When it came it was a big one that sent us all running (after the blast we always ran) back to the hole to see what we'd done! We reached the hole just as the last of the earth and rock shower hit the ground. But, alas, we could not enter. The hole was so filled with dynamite fumes that it was unsafe.
"A week or two later we returned to explore the cave. The dynamite had opened the crack sufficiently for us to enter. Seventy feet down, at the bottom of the entrance drop, we found the one stick of dynamite, unexploded. It is still there for all I know." THE TECH TROGLODYTE, Winter 1968.
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