The Long Caves of Texas

the TexascaveR ATTEND THE TSA CONVENTION Volume23, No.2, 1978 The forthcomming TSA Convention in Austin, Texas, April 15 and 16 is an important event. This year Texas CONTENTS is responsible for the NSS conven tion in New Braunfels. All Texas cavers will have to cooperate to Buffalo Cave . • 19 make this convention the success it Caves as Fallout Shelters 22 should be. Perhaps the best place TSA Convention . • . 23 to find out what is needed for the Valdina Farms Project. • • 24 convention and to bring forth new Long Caves of Texas • • 25 ideas is the TSA Convention. Chuck Cave Rescue Seminar • 26 Stuehm has an excellent series of Bill Steele for NSS BOG • 27 talks planned and there will be an NSS Membership Policy • 27 unusually good Bar-B-Que by one of Magnetic Hole Revisited • 28 the TSA past masters of the art. El Doctor & San Joaquin • 30 And camping at Camp Ben McCullough Texas NSS Convention . 32 is alone worth the trip to Austin. Texas is a large state and Texas cavers have diverse interests. ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Austin caves in Mexico. Dallas caves in New Mexico and Arkansas. The only Texas caves where one evere This Issue Edited by Bill Russell meets another caver are Gorman Falls and the Devil's Sinkhole. But Texas Staff: Marie Cole cavers do have more in common than Cris Olejniczak Gorman Falls and the Sinkhole. They share an idea of caving that empha sizes good people going to good caves no matter where the cave is. The TEXAS CAVER is a bimonthly publication If the Texas way of caving is not to be replaced by a less satisfying of the Texas Speleological Association (TSA) 3 an internal organization of the National outing club approach we need to Speleological Society (NSS) and is published show the world what caving is about. And the world will be in Texas in by James Jasek in Waco 3 Texas. June so lets go to Austin to be SUBSCRIPTIONS are $5.00 per year. Persons for them. subscribing after the first of the year will receive all back issues for that year. Single * * copies are available at 90¢ each 3 postpaid. The TEXAS CAVER openly invites contributors SEE YOU IN AUSTIN to submit: articles3 reports 3 neWS 3 cartoons3 cave maps 3 caving articles3 and photographs (any size print bZ.ack & white or color print) .for publication in the TEXAS CAVER. Address all SUBSCRIPTIONS and EDITORIAL material to the editor: James Jasek 3 l0l9 COVER PHOTO: Melrose Dr. 3 Waco 3 Texas 767l0. Lisa Wilkes in the main passage I of Buffalo Cave, Blanco County, When sending in a change of address 3 please include your old address. Texas. Photo by Paul Fambro. Persons interested in EXCHANGES or FOREIGN subscriptions should direct correspondence to the editor. Copyright The Texas Caver 1978 BUFFALO CAVE By Bill Russell Access to Buffalo Cave has long Finally the owners eyesight declined been difficult, not due to the rocky to where he could no longer adaquately terrain, but due to the legeno.ary protect his property, and he sold it to hostility of the owner, who would only an Austin bank. The bank was more allow a few close friends on his land. friendly but succumbed to economic He was one of the old time school of pressure and subdivided the land. It shoot first and bury your mistakes. He is hoped that cavers can reach an accom regu l arly patrolled his ranch on horse modation with the new owners. back with a rifle. According to local Buffalo Cave is a long linear sources Lyndon Johnson and Ladybird maze composed of parallel fissure were interested in establishing a passages connected by occasional nature trail along the Perdernalas cross passages. The opposite ends of ~ ver from the LBJ ranch to Johnson the mapped cave are 1300 feet apart, City. They obtained permission for a but in no place is the maze over 90 group of naturalists and secret service feet wide. In the central part men to walk the proposed trail. Even passages are larger and more numerous, though the trail would not cross his with smaller passages extending from ranch the owner didn't want a "nature each end of the central maze. This trail" anywhere near his place and as central section is composed of a soon as the group of trail makers were main passage 12 to 15 feet high and 5 visible from his ranch he opened fire, to 6 feet wide, flanked by up to five scat tering the group. The only parallel passages. Many of the casualty was the idea of a nature trail. passages are connected by a low open - Martha Meacham views hands thrust through a row of holes in a thin partition known locally as the Post Office in Buffalo Cave. 19 Photo by Paul Fambro LEFT Main Passage in Buffalo Cave Note the thin fallen slab, apparently an old partition between two passages that are now joined into one. Photo by Paul Fambro BELOW The Attic in Buffalo Cave A low wide area festooned with ceiling pendants. Photo by Paul Fambro 20 l ea near the floor level • This and tend to be composed of strongly joint r oor level of the cave is only about controlled fissure passages. The cave 30 feet below the surface, so numerous drains to the SW and a small stream entrances have developed. Nine siphons at the downstream end. About surface sinks have been connected with 1000 feet beyond the end of the cave ilie known cave. These sinks on the along the same fracturing is a sizeable surface are long linear features spring with a flow many times the small !aligned NW-SE parallel to the cave cave stream. passages. The largest are 10 to 15 The most convenient entrance is a feet wide and 20 to 30 feet deep and up walk-in entrance in the central part of to 200 feet long. A row of sinks to the maze. An easy climb down over dirt the SE of the known cave leads to low covered breakdown leads to a narrow crawlways that probably connect with passage 3 to four feet wide and 15 feet the cave . The cave appears to be 1 high crossing the maze at an angle. In developed where a series of parallel both directions from this entrance joints intersected a very favorable passage, the main passage of the cave bedding plane. This bedding plain is can be easily followed. To the north well exposed in local outcrops and east the main passage soon breaks up appar ently channels water flow. The into a series of smaller passages, but to cave is developed in the Paleozoic the sw it continues past several sinks Cap Mountain Limestone, and these rocks where it is partly blocked by breakdown. in the Buffalo cave area, and commonly These blockages can easily be bypassed elsewhere , have lost most of their by crossing over to parallel passages. ~rosity and permeability during long Connecting with the main passage at burial at depth. Thus caves develop floor level is a wide low area with only in favorable areas of fracturing, thousands of roof pendants--stalactite- Continued page 26 Paul Fambro extrudes himself through a small hole between passages. Photo by Lisa Wilkes 21 THE USE OF TEXAS CAVES AS FALLOUT SHELTERS By William Russell There are currently 27 Texas caves ventilation as a building. Unfortunately designated as fall-out shelters with a combined the ventilation is not actually measured, capicity of 26,609 persons. The rated capacity but is calculated from a table listing ilia of individual caves ranges from 39 persons in numbers and size of openings. This might Wonder Cave at San Marcos to 7947 persons in be adequate for buildings where resistance Caverns of Sonora. These capicity figures mean to air flow between openings is negligible, that in the case of nuclear attack 7947 people but is probably not adequate for caves. If could find shelter from radioactive fall-out caves are to be used as shelters actual for two weeks in the Caverns of Sonora. In ventilation should be measured. the past food and other materials for the Most caves now desingated as shelters comfort and support of the people have been are unsuitable, and if left on the shelter stored in the cave to be available if needed. list might suffer damage through publicity These materials have deteriorated over the and improvements. In the event of the need years and can pollute the cave environment. for protection, people might actually try to The deteriorating supplies, the potentially use the caves for shelter only to be forced undesirable publicity and the urge to outside, whereas if they had used an adequate "improve" the caves designated as fall-out shelter they would have been safe. cavers sheltr s has prompted the Conservation should review the caves currently classed Committee of the TSA to review the suitability as shelters and try to have unsatisfacmry of caves as fall-out shelters. shelters removed from the list by pointing It is clear to any visitor that 7947 out their obvious inadequecies. Several people could not comfortably, if at all, caves classed as shelters are inhabited by find shelter for two weeks in Caverns of bats. The health hazards from bats should Sonora. Adequate ventilation, space and be enough to remove these caves from the sanitation facilities are lacking. The list. Other caves are inaccessable or lack capacity figures for caves were established the necessary ventilation. Most of the caves early in the shelterprogram and were based now designated as shelters are lacking in on a figure of a given number of people usable space and could not support enough per square foot of floor space.

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