December 26, John Steioff, Dick Steioff, Dan Bloxom, and Charlie Folk headed twoard Lynchburg with complete caving gear, ready to work off an overstuffed feeling from Christmas.
State Quarry
Dance Cave was the goal but when the State rock quarry was spotted (8 miles from Tullahoma City limits on Route 55) it looked inviting for a lesson in geology. Pulling in past their rock crusher we found a one-acre lake had formed and halted operations on the main rock face. Upon futher investigation we found the top of the hill was being worked and numerous blasting holes had been drilled in the newly worked top surface. Then, much to our surprise, we found one hold had been broken through into a cave, leaving a hole large enough for entry. Rocks dropped in proved the hole to be quite deep, so after running back down the hill for equipment we were ready to prepare for the descent. A 5/8 rope was bowlined to a large steel rod which was pushed into a nearby dynamite hole, and the other end dropped into the hole. Bloxsom went down on Prussic knots and reported the hole 36 feet deep and continuing in two directions. Folk then rapelled down and the cave was thoroughly explored in about thirty minutes. The cave was found to be a narrow slit 12 to 36 inches wide, 20 to 30 feet high, running 75 feet SE and 150 fee NW from the entrance. Most of the cave was traversed by chimneying 3 to 8 feet above the bottom, due to the narrow width at the floor level. (Since this trip, Folk and his daughter, Frances, returned January 8, and found the SE end of the cave blasted over and caved in. The NW end has a crack running above the cave, but the entrance was still open. It would be very dangerous to enter now, although one could easily walk down into it over the pile of rocks that have filled the other end.) After braiding the rope and scraping mud from each other, the party left for —
Dance Cave
Located .3 mile up Price Hollow Road which runs north off Pleasant Hill Road .5 mile from Route 55 is Dance Cave, on the Martin farm. Parking the car at a wide place in the road, the four Cumberland Grottoites crossed the fence and a creek and entered the 860 foot passage. The first 400 feet proved to be perfectly straight and with plenty of headroom. It was unusual to be in that deep a cave and look back and still see the entrance. The rest of the cave ran roughly in the same SE direction with a 5 to 30 foot ceiling, but with some spots having a cool crawl through the stream. No side passages were found.
Byrom Cave
After leaving Dance Cave the group went back to Pleasant Hill Road and followed it east one mile to Cobb Hallow Road where the Lester Byrom place was located .7 miles north on it. Just back of the Byrom home, under a 60 foot bluff, was found an interesting cave containing a pool, 20’ x 40’ x 8’ deep. A small passage in the back came out over the center of another pool which seemed to end in a siphon. An old-timer, out on the road, said there was a million dollars at the back side of that cave, but nobody around there ever cared enough about a million dollars to fool with going in after it. One of the fellows gathered on the road to gawk at the bunch of hard-hatted, funny lookin’ mud men. “low’d as how he knowed whar a spring was over close to Turkey Crick”. The four followed their new found friend about three miles to —
Turkey Creek Cave
This proved to be a small opening which one could barely squeeze under or over a water pipe to get in beyond a half barrel which was catching the water from a small waterfall. This was piped across the road and being used at a home. The upstream end of the tiny cave was too small to squeeze through. The downstream end pinched down rapidly to about a foot high and ten feet wide. It seemed to continue for quite a distance at these dimensions, but no one had energy left by this time to worm their way any further.
