LONGEST CAVE IN CAPE COUNTY BEING MAPPED

Above, J.T. Henderson shows some of the cave's cramped spaces. Below, from left to right, Brad Blackburn, Richard Young, Dr. Stan Sides and J.T. Henderson after a long day of spelunking.

J.T. Henderson finds a rare area where he can stand in the cave in northern Cape County.

A cave, known to the local population for years, in northern Cape Girardeau County is currently being mapped by area speleologists.

Richard Young of Pocahontas, Dr. Stan Sides of Cape Girardeau, J.T. Henderson of Jackson and Brad Blackburn of Sikeston are in the process of mapping the cave which has turned out to be the longest lair in Cape County.

So far they have mapped 940 feet of the cave and they expect there is still another 600 feet to be mapped.

Formerly, the longest cave in Cape County was 600 feet. Perry County has the major caves in this area, Young said. The longest cave in Perry County, Crevice Cave, is 28 miles long. There are other caves in Perry County that are in the 15-16 mile range.

The cave is very wet and very low. There is only about 20 feet where you can walk the rest has to be explored while crawling.

Young said the water in the stream inside the cave is 57 degrees and the group uses wet suits when they are in the cave.

Young and the others have photographically documented the cave. Another task for caving organizations is to determine where the water is coming from and where it is going. Young said dye tracing is used to determine the water's destination.

The water for this particular cave is believed to be from a local source.

The caves and maps are published with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in Rolla.

There are about 5,500 caves in Missouri which places the state behind Tennessee, which has the most caves in North America.

Young is a member of several organizations that deal with the exploration of caves. He is a member of Little Egypt Grotto in Carbondale, Ill., (Grotto means hollow in the rock) the National Speleological Society, Inc., Cave Research Foundation in central Kentucky, and the Missouri Karst Conservancy (Karst means cave topography).

The exact location of the lair will not be given out of respect for the land owner and the delicate environment of the cave.

"In this part of Missouri caves are on private property and over the years we've been able to maintain a good relationship with property owners," Young said.

He added that every year vandals destroy grotto environments and formations that took thousands of years to create.

The motto of Young, Sides, Henderson and Blackburn is: "kill nothing but time, take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints."

"These are very delicate environments," Young said.

Salamanders, raccoons, cave crickets and spiders and bats can be found in area caves. There were no signs of bats in the cave in northern Cape County, but salamanders, crickets, spiders and raccoons inhabit the cave.

"I enjoy every aspect of it," Young said.

He likes to explore caves because of the comradeship, his own scientific interests, the photography and mapping and the intense physical exercise.

Young said he does slide shows for area schools and community organizations.

"I stress the environmental aspect with caving at the slide shows and I try to educate the public about proper cave ethics."

If anyone is interested in exploring caves, Young said that the public library is a good place to start. There the address to the National Speleological Society can be found or it can be found on the Internet.

Young stressed that safety is the most important thing to remember when exploring caves.

"Go with an organized group, never go alone. Take three sources of light with you and make sure someone knows where you are."

Also, those interested in cave exploration can contact the Geosciences Department at Southeast Missouri State University and they can put you in contact with the SEMO Grotto Club.