THE JOURNAL OF Spelean Historycaves.org/section/asha/issues/071.pdf · ASHA assumes no responSibility for statements made by contributors to . The Journal of Spelean History

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THE JOURNAL OF

Spelean History OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION

~1 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 2 APRIL-JUNE 1988

THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY The Official Quarterly Publication of the American Spelean History Association

Angelo I George Editor

VOLUME 22 NUMBER 2 APRIL-JUNE 1988

THE ASSOCIATION

The American Spelean History Associatio n (ASHA) is chartered as a non-profit corporation for the study d issemination and interpretation of spelean hisshytory and related purposes All persons who are intershyested middot in those goals are cordially invited to become members Annual membership is $500 family membershyship is $600 and library subscriptions are $400 ASHA is the official History Section of the National Speleologishycal Society

ASHA assumes no responSibility for statements made by contributors to The Journal of Spelean History

THE JOURNAL

The Association publishes the The Journal of Spelean History (ISSN 0022-4693) on a quarterly basis Pertinent articles or reprints are welcomed Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced in English and havesome relationshyship to spelean history Articles written on word processshying systems with 5 14 floppy disk are welcomed and will insure a more timely publication Submissions of rough d rafts for preliminary editing is encouraged All illustrations should be camera ready and prepared with the column width of the Journal in mind If illustrations require special handling arrangements should be made with the editor in advance Photos and illustrations will be returned upon request Submit all articles to Marion O Smith (address givenbelow) for distribution to section editors

BACKISSUES

All copies of back issues of the Journal are presentshyly available Early issues are photocopied Send request to Fred Grady (address given below) Indexes are also available forvolumes 1 2 3 4 and 5 All issuesof volumes 1-72 are available on microfiche from Kraus Reprint Company Route 100 Millwood New York 10546

FRONTCOVER

Interior view of the Peak of Derbyshire engraved from a drawing by Oennell for the Gallery of Nature and Art Published by R Wilks 69 Chancery Lane London July 15 1813 A I George collection

OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSltXIA TION

President Marion 0 Smith PO Box 8276 UT Station Knoxville TN 37996

Vice-President CatoHoller PO Box 100 Old Fort NC 28762

Secretary-Treasurer Fred Grady 1201 South Scott St Apt 123 Arlington V A 22204

TRUSTEES

Russ Gurnee Jack Speece Marion Smith Gary Soule Larry Matthews

JOURNAL STAFF

Editor (this issue) Angelo I George 1869 Trevilian Way Louisville KY 40205

Desk Top Publishing Diana Emerson George

Editors (future issues) Dale Ibberson 445 Hale Ave

oHarrisburg P A 17104 Dean H Snyder 3079 Main St Neffs PA 18065

THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY V22 N2 APRIL-JUNE 1988 2

THE PETER M HAUER SPELEAN HISTORY AWARD

The Peter M Hauer Spelean History Award is established to provide annually a certificatand cash award to be given to an individual or group of individuals engaged in an outstanding spelean history research project

Noted speleoauthor Dr William R Halliday is the recipient of the 1988 Hauer Award

For over 30 years Bill ha= recorded the history of cave exploration in the US and has published it in books and periodicals He was the first editor of The jourtUll of Spelean History Currently a member of the NSS Board of Governors he continues his work on a number of spelean history projectso

1988 William R Halliday 1987 Ange10 I George 19amp6 Gary K Soule 1985 Trevor R Shaw 1984 Marion O Smith 1983 Larry O Blair 1982 Joel Sneed 1981 Anne Whittemore 1980 Jack H Speece 1979 Kevin R Downey

CONTENTS

HISTORIC FLOODED CAVES OF DEKALB COUNTY TENNESSEE COPPERAS AND FRANK Marion O Smith 4

INTERIM CHRONOLOGY OF HISTORIC EVENTS AT GREAT SALTPETRE CAVE ROCKCASTLE COUNTY KENTUCKY Angelo I George 7

THE SPENCER COOPER POWDER MILL Gary A ODell 12

PRE-181S DEMISE OF THE DOMESTIC SALTPETER INDUSTRY KEIrrUCKY Angelo I George 15

ABSTRACTS OF SPELEAN HISTORY PAPERS NSS CONVENTION HOT SPRINGS SOUTH DAKOTA JUNE 29 1988

SPELEANHISTORY SESSION ENDLESS CAVERNS VIRGINIA AND THE EXPLORERS CLUB Russ Gurnee 21 LEGEND OF THE BOO]UM NORm CAROLINAS CAVE

DWELLINGBIGFOOT Cato Holler Jr and Oliver Holler 21 THE HISTORY OF COLD AIR CAVE PENNSYLVANIA Dean H Snyder 21 A BRIEF HISTORY OF LINVILLE CAVERNS Nancy Holler 21 TEMPLE CAVES OF THAILAND William R Halliday 21 GAGE CAVERN A BRIEF HISTORY Emily Davis Mobley and Thom Engel 22 SHOWCA VESIGNSAP ASSING ART Susan Holler 22 DEMISE OF THE DOMESTIC SALTPETER INDUSTRY Angelo I George 23 HAROLD ANTHONYS EXPEDITIONS TO THE GREATER ANTILLES Fred Grady 23 GEOLOGY-GEOGRAPHY SESSION SALTPETRE IN FOUR EUROPEAN CAVES CHEMICAL HISTORICAL

AND MINERALOGICAL ASPECfS David A HubbardJr Janet S Herman Richard S Mitchell and Elmar Hammerschmidt 23


bull HISTORIC FLOODED CAVES OF DEKALB COUNTY TENNESSEE COOPERAS AND FRANKS

by

MARION O SMITH

COPPERAS CAVE

A few nineteenth century references pertain to Tenshy_nessee caves which were mined for a substance called copperas A rock shelter near Manchester was sometimes mentioned but the site most frequently alluded to was a cave next to the Caney Fork River in what was then Warshyren but now DeKalb County The literature includes other references far more numerous to caves which conshytained Indian burials The copperas cave in old Warren County was one of the most noted because of the disshycovery of two elaborately wrapped mummies which prompted a fl urry of often contradictory descripti ve and speculative articles

The first known public notice of this cave was in late September 1809

About 30 miles from Carthage on the Caney Fork of Cumberland river a Mr James Bryant has discovered a very extensive Allum and Coperas cave -- capable of being wrought to an extent sufficient to supply the whole consumption of this state and can be afforded at retail in Nashville for half the price the imported coperas has heretofore sold This d iscovery is of the greatest imporshytance The cave lies in Warren county within two miles of a boatable stream there is also a fine road from it and the coperas we have seen is not quite so fine as so~e of the imported but appears to be much stronger and looks very weI Mr Bryant-has experienced ccnslderabe difshyficulty in acquiring a proper knowledge of the cheapest and most productive process by which to separate the coperas from the allum-- heretofore he has been obliged to destroy the allum to save the coperasMr Bryant has only made about 200 weight of coperas as yet but a Mr Coats to whom he gave permission to try what he could make has made about 800 weight 1

James Bryant was a resident of White County and Coats may have been one of several men in Smith Counshyty with that surname2

Copperas Cave isprobably the cave in CopperCave Hollow on the west (actually south) side of the Caney Fork River about 10 straight line miles downstream from the falls and just west of the bend near the confluences of Ferguson and Townsend creeks During World War I Thomas L Bailey called it Johnson Cave since a W M Johnson was then the owner He reported that it was in Ordovician limestone 2S feet above the river and in thick woods on the bankabout 100 yards east of a small ravine

The entranC8 is 30 feet wide and 8 feet high and slopes very slightly downward This cave isquite large and exshytends over a mile in a northwesterly direction It averages 40 feet in width and 15 feet in heightThe loose earth in

heaped up in high banks and mounds and probably averages8 feet There are few stalagmites and stalactites and the earth is a stiff yellow clay There are a large numshyber of branches [and) there is no regular stream for a mile from the mouth

In late 1948 Johnson Cave was flooded when Censhyter Hill Dam was closed

Copperas is a sulfate of iron which was sometimes mined in a natural state or more often artificially manufactured by a process which began by exposing iron pyrites to the action of air and moistureIn the early and mid-nineteenth century much of the United States supply of commercial copperas was produced at Stafshyford Vermont Mineralogist Parker Cleaveland wrote in 1816 that copperas

may be recognised by its peculiar astringent taste It very rarely occurs in crystals of a determinate form or in masshyses of any considerable size It usually appears in effloresshycences or in tuberose or stalactical concretions or in crusts composed of fibers or capillary crystals or in a state of powder Its colors are commonly some variety of white gray green or yellow as greenish or yellowish whiteampc

It often effloresces on argillacous or micaceous slate which contains the sulphuret of iron or pyrites Its crysshytals sometimes appear in the caverns or galleries of mines4

Copperas in combination with astringent vegetable matters as tannin extracts of galls oak bark oak sawshydust sumach the cups and husks of acorns forms pershymanent black dyes Therefore it was used particularily in dying black cloths and making ink5

Details of mining techniques or processes used in copperas caves are not now (1987) known or understood The 1802 French visitor to Tennessee Francois Andre Michaux provides only a clue when he stated that upon the banks of Roaring and Cumberland rivers there were

immense caverns where there are masses of aluminous substances with so small a degree ofthe purity necessary to be employed in dyeing that the inhabitants not only go to fetch it for their own use but ex~rt it to Kentucky [ bull J They cut it into pieces with an axe 6

Two specimens apparently from the same cave James Bryant had discovered were forwarded from Dr Thomas 1 Wray of Augusta Georgia to the staff of the American Mineralogical Journal sometime between 1810 and 1814 One was native Copperas Sulphate of Iron and the other was native plume Alum ore Sulphate of Alumine It is not known how Dr Wray Originally obshytained these specimens but in a gene-tal discussion he

THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY V22 N2 APRIL-TUNE 1988

saidThese beds of pure native Copperas or pure native Alum are always either in natural caves or under the brow of a bluff where they are sheltered from the inshyfluences of heavy rains or torrents of water 7

INDIAN BURIALS On May 1 1811 Pleasant M Miller of Knoxville

wrote the editors of the Medical Repository that the disshycovery of two bodies in a copperas cave announced in a Nashville paper some months before was in fact true He had learned that Some parts of the bodies have been transported to some of the larger towns to the eastward the cane coffins were not long enough and the legs were cut off and laid on their breasts while the entire bodies were as well preserved as dried venison ham He inshyduded a copy of the 1809 report about James Bryant copshyperas cave where the burials were found and an extract by another person possibly a Mr Cassedy

on the 2d day of September last some persons were digshyging in a copperas cave (in the county of Warren state of Tennessee) situated on the Caney Fork of Cumberland River 10 miles below the falls That is about six feet below the surface ofthe bottom of the cave something like clothshying was discovered which upon proper examination was found to be the shrouding of some dead bodies Upon further investigation the bodies were found to be two in number a male and female They supposed the male to have been at the time of his decease about 25 years of age He was enveloped in the following manner first with a fine linen shirt His legs were drawn up then five deer skins were closely bound round his body A twilled blanket wrapped round them and a cane mat sixty feet long wrapped round the whole His frame was entire exshycept the bowels his hair of a fai r complexion his teeth remarkably sound his stature above the common The body of the female was found interred about three feet from that of the other Its position of lying was similar to that ofthe male The carcase was enveloped first with two undressed deer skins under which upon the face was found a small cane mat Then four dressed deer skins were wrapped round it over which was folded a cane mat large enough to cover the whole There were then five sheets supposed to be made of nettle lint wrought up curiously around each side with feathers ofvarious kinds and colors Two fans of feathers were found next upon the breast The body with the whole of the before described wrapping was found on what was believed to be a hair trunk or box with a cane cover which was wound up in two well-dressed deerskins of the largest kind the whole girthed with two straps the female is supshyposed to have been from 12 to 15 years of age her hair short and black the body entire the eyes as full and prominent as if aliveS

The early Tennessee historian John Haywood in 1823 gave another lengthy description of the burials found in Copperas Cave

One of these persons was a male the other a female They were interred in baskets made of cane curiously wrought and evidencing great mechanic skill They were both disshylocated at the hip joint and were placed erect in the basshykets with a covering of cane to fit the baskets in which they were placedThe flesh of these persons was entire

and undecayed of a brown dryish colour produced by time the flesh having adhered closely to the bones and sinews Around the female next [tol herbody was placed a well dressed deer skin Next to this was placed a rug very curiously wrought of the bark of a tree and feathers The bark seemed to have been formed of small strands well twisted Around each of thegte strands feathers were rolled and the whole woven into a cloth of firm texture after the manner of our common coarse fabrics This rug was about three feet wide and between six and seven feet in length The whole of the ligaments thus framed ofbark were completely covered by the feathers forming a body of about one~ighth of an inch in thickness the feathers extending about one-quarterofan inch in length from the strand to which they were confined The appearance was highly diversified by green blue yellow and black presenting different shades of colour when reflected upon by the light in different positions This next covershying was an undressed deer skin around which was rolled in good order a plain shroud manufactured after the same orderas the one ornamented with feathers The female had in her hand a fan formed of the tail feathers of a turkey The points of these feathers were curiously bound by a buckskin string well dressed and were thus closely bound for about one inch from the points About three inches from the point they were again bound by another deer skin string in such a manner that the fan might be closed and expanded at pleasure Between the feathers and this last binding by the string were placed around each feather hairs which seem to have been taken from the tail of a deer This hair was dyed of a deep scarshylet red and was one-third at least longer than the hairs of deers-tail in this climate generally are

The male was interred sitting in a basket after the same manner as the former with this exception that he had no feather rug neither had he a fan in his hand The hair which still remained on their heads was entire That ofthe female was ofa yellow cast and of a very fine texture Both male and fema le by their hair afforded in conshytrovertible evidence as some of those who saw them supshyposed of European or Asiatic extraction The female was when she deceased of about the age of 14 The male was somewhat younger The cave in which they were found abounded in nitre copperas alum and salts The whole of this covering with the baskets was perfectly sound without any marks of decay The eyes of those persons seemed perfectly sound only somewhat sunk below the ordinary position in the socket caused by their dry state9

In 1815 Moses Fisk of Hilham Tennessee also wrote about the two bodies One he said was of a man and the other of a child six or eight years of ageHe claimed he visited where they were found in a chamshyber half way up a steep hill under a large projected roof of rocks buried a yard deep in a bed of dry earth He did not see the male mummy because it had already been reburied but he acquired possession of The basket used as a coffin for the child made of split cane which apshypeared to have been wrought without the help of an edge tool He argued tha t the burials were of aboriginalsl0

By 1817 Pieces of the cloths which inwrapped the mummies were in John Scudders American Museum at City Hall Park in New York City plus an exsiccated


foot One piece of the fabric was plain while the other was decorated with feathersl1

Dr Wraywasdismayed at the fate of the mummies observing They were found by illiterate labourers who set no value whatever on their discovery and who alshylowed every visitor that wished it to break off parts either to be totally destroyed on the spot or taken away12

FRANKS CAVE

Several miles upstream on the Caney Fork and still in what was once Warren but now Dekalb County was a sizeable saltpeter cave It is also apparently flooded At least no cave is reported to the Tennessee Cave Survey from the appropriate area of the Sligo Bridge Quadshyrangle

The State of North Carolina issued Warrant No 2976 dated December 27 1803 to Ephraim Daniel in consideration of his military service It was entered on February 231810 as No 4470 and the State of Tennessee granted White County resident Joseph Franks assignee of the heirs of Daniel a 5 acre tract on Sink Creek on the South side of Caney forkincluding [a] Salt Petre CaveFor $800 Franks deeded the property to Charles Sullivan on February 4 1810 which deed was acknowshyledged in open court exactly two years later and Registered February 81812

Sullivan did not keep possession very long He adshyvertised in the April 1 1812 Carthage Gazette that at McshyMinnville On the succeeding May 5 he would offer to public sale

on a credit of twelve and eighteen months a large salt petre cave known by the nameof Frank cave on sink creek in Warren County with two excellent furnaces consisting of four 25 gallon kettles each with plenty of hoppers and cabbins to live in

The result of the public sale and consequently the further history of Franks Cave is not known As early as 1809 and for at least ten years afterward Joseph Franks kept a ferry on the Caney Fork where he lived In 1821 the Tennessee legislature authorized him to open a Turnpike Road from his own home in White County crossing the Caney Fork at his ford to the top of the hill or bluff in Warren county By 1825 Sullivan was living in Decatur (soon to become part of Jackson) County Alabama In 1831 while a resident of Kentucky he briefshyly held town lots in Bellefonte AlabamaB

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Angelo I George of Louisville Kentucky inspired the above study of Copperas Cave by supplying copies of the Pleasant M Miller letter and other reports about the Indian burials

FOOTNOTES 1 Charlestown [Virginia) Famlers Repository October 01809 2 WPA Deed and Cowlty Court Minutes White and Smith

counties 3 Thomas L Bailey Report on the Caves of the Eastern Highshy

land Rim and Cumberland Mountains The Resources of TtMesstt VIII (April 1918) 93- 94 Thomas G Webb DdWb County (MemphisMemshyphis State University Press 1986) 98--99

4 David A WeIls Wells Principles and AppliaUions of Chemistry (New York Ivison Phinney amp Company 1862) 363 Parker Oeaveland An Elemenfllry TrtiltiseonMineralogy and Geology (Boston Printed by Hilshylard and Metcalf at the University Press Cambridge 1816) 503

5 Wells Principles 363 On Dyeing T1It Western Gitana or Repositoryfor Arts Sciences and Literature II (July 1814) 65

6 Timothy J Barlow compiler and editor The Lifo and Writings ofMoses Fisk (CoIlegedale Tenn The CoIlege Press 1980)48

7 Thomas I Wray Minerals from Tennesseemiddot The Amniazn Mineralogical Journal I (1810-1814) No 4 p 265 Dr Thomas I [or J) Wray was a wholesale and retail druggist as late as 1841 The AUgu5f1l Directory lind City Aduertistr (1841) SO

8 Medical Repository Hex 3 III (1812) 147- 49 New Series III (1817) 187 Pleasant M Miller (1773-1849) was a Virginia-born Tenshynessee lawyer congressman and judge Mary U Rothrock ed The French Broad-Holston Country (Knoxville East Tennessee HIstorical Society 1946) 456

9 John Haywood The Natural and Aborigi1Ud History of Ten1Ussee (Nashville Printed by George Wilson 1823) 163-64 Haywoods description of the two burials was used by Joseph Jones Erpkmltions of the Aborigi1Ud Remains of Tennessee (Washington Published by the Smithsonian Institution 1876)p 1-2 andin GoodspeedsHistoryofTenshynessee (Nashville 1886) p 54John Haywood (1762-1826)native North Carolina lawyer who moved to Nashville in lS07 served on the supreme courts of both states and was the first president of the Tenshynessee Antiquarian Society In 1823 he also published his Cimlll7ld Political History of Tennessee Mary U Rothrock John Haywood Hisshytorian of the Western Country in her edited version of Haywoods Niltural Il1Id Aboriginlll History (Kingsport Tenn F M Hill- Books 1973) xi-xxiv

10 Moses Fisk Conjectures Respecting the Ancient Inhabitants of North America Archaeoog ia Americtvuz TranSIICtions lind Collections of the AmeriClin Antiquarian Society I (1820)303-4 Caleb Atwater on pages 134-38 in his The Writings of Odeb AtWilIer (Columbus Ohio Printed by Scott and Wright1833) quoted much ofFisks articleMoses Fisk (1760-1840) Massachusetts-born Dartmouth CoIlege graduate (1786) and facuJtymember (1788-95) moved toTennesseein 1796where he became alawyer a large landowner and founder of the Fisk Female Academy at Hilham Barlow Life lind Writings of Moses Fisk 7-18

11 Medical Repository New Series III (1817) 187John Scudder (1715-1821) was the proprietor of the American Museum 1810-21 Loyd Haberly TheAmerican Museum from Baker to BarnumThe Nero York HistoriClil Society Quarterly XLIII (July 1959) m

12 Wray Minerals from Tennessee 266 13 WPA Warren County Deeds Book A 1808-1818 (June 26

1936) p 58-59 BookE 1823-1826 (September8 1936) p42-43Carthage GilutteApriJ 1 1812p4clWPA White County Minute Bookl806shy1811 (January 27 1938) p 74 278 Minute Book 1812-1814 (August 1940) p 2 Minute Book 1819-1820 (June 1940) p 6 Public Acts of the StIlte of Tennessee September 17-November 17 1821 p 200 Letter from Ann B Chambless Rt 4 Box 265Scottsboro Alabama 35768 February 251 987


INTERIM CHRONOLOGY OF HISTORIC EVENTS AT GREA T SAL TPETRE CAVE ROCKCASTLE COUNTY KENTUCKY

by

Angelo I George

A chronology of events at Great Saltpetre Cave No2 to George Montgomery and to the Madi~nCounshyRockcastle County Kentucky is assembled from historishycal research in progress Events prior to 1821 are based mostly on primary sources Events after 1821 are based

bull upon secondary sources and oral traditions of the Richard Mullins family David D Singleton family and John Lair

1747 Disputed D Boon signature and date in Pinchemtight Alley Prior to 1769 almost nothing is known about Daniel Boone Born on February 11 1731 would make him 16 years old at time of signature His first trip into eastern Kentucky was in 1769 Misspelling

of Boone without the e is a hoax 1769 Another variation on the disputed date and

D Boon signatureOnly this time the forgers consulted John Filsons History of Kentucke Filson is the fi rst biogshyrapher on Boone and he mistakenly misspelled the famous indian fighters name

1778-1783 No historic evidence has been found to target Monk Estill a slave to James Estill as making sal tpeter and gunpowder in this cave

March 11 1796 Complex land sales from James Kincaid of Madison County Kentucky to merchants Samuel and middot Robert Smith Baltimore Maryland Reshy

search in progress to assess the geographic location of Madison County propertiesAfter the sale Kincaid thinks he still retains title to certain separate plats of land within this 9500 acres

1798 John Baker discovers the cave and takes his wife and two or three children on a cave exploring trip Their light went out and they remained in darkness for two days before finding the light of dayNo record of sal tpeter mining known at this time period

Late 1800 James Kincaid actively mining saltpeter from Great Saltpetre Cave

January 13 1801 James Kincaid mortgaged 9500 acres on the waters of the Rockcastle River to George Trotter and Alexander Scott of Lexington Kentucky for loan of 220 pounds Sterling He mortgaged the saltpeter cave and all of his saltpeter making equipment to include one ox cart and 12 kettles

January 30 1801 James Kincaid mortgage of 9500 acres to include Kincaids Cave is filed in the Court House at Lexington Kentucky

July 6 1801 Prior to this date George Montgomery makes improvements on 200 acres of vacant land encomshypassing the cave He makes application to and is granted by the Madison County Court for the issuance of a land certificate

September 12 1801 Edmun Thomas Register of Land Office of Kentucky issues Kentucky Land Warrant

ty Surveyor to enter aoo survey 200 acres of land on Crooked Creek Montgomery paid $4000 for the land

Winter 1801 Cave mined fQr saltpeter during the winter George Hunter in September 1802 said the vats in the cave were only used during the winter when suffishycient water was available in the cave

March 12 1802 Dr Samuel Brown MD of Lexishyngton Kentucky is in Washington City and Philadelshyphia Probably Robert Smith Secretary of the Navy asked him to study the orig in of saltpeter and quality conshytrol of its production He is approached by several others on a business proposition or some in trigue He declines their offer until a better timeAt present nothing is known as to who these people are or what they required of Brown

March 20 1802 John Crook Madison County Surshyveyor surveys one land plat for George Montgomery This is Kentucky Land Warrant No2 containing Great Saltpetre Cave and Mullins Spring Montgomery ownes only one warrant and not two adjacent warrants as is commonly supposed

April 4 1802 George Montg()olery pays a filing fee of $112 1 2 to enter land on the record -booksOn paper James Kincaid owns all of the property rights at the cave Within two years time Montgomery seIls 833 of his remaining share to William Smith

Pre September 1802 James Kincaid invites Samuel Brown to become his partner in the saltpeter works

September 15 1802 Dr George Hunter M D George Hunter Jr of Philadelphia and Dr Samuel Brown visit the cave in hopes of forming a partnership with James Kincaid Brown invites Dr Hunter to become part of a joint venture at the cave Kincaid was asking $100000 for a share in thecave They saw 20 workman in the cave process furnaceS saltpeter and ash vats at both entrances along Crooked Creek Montgomery and posshysibly Kincaid were using slaves to mine 1000 lbs per week Dr Hunter writes the fi rst physical description of the cave and the mining operation His note books fall into obscurity and are not published unit 1963

Land ownership revealed to Brown by YJncaid as having conflicting claims George Montgomery and Wilshyliam Smith are not mentionedDeed records clearly shows these two individuals had a conflicting claim of ownership in the cave

March 1 1804 James Kincaid defaults on the cave mo rtgage and 9500 acres to George Trotter and Alexander Scott He still owes them for 161 pounds 7 shillings 7 pence and one half penny at 5 interest


April 2 1804 Advertisement for a court house sale ofJames Kincaids cave and saltpeter makingequipment The cave is now known as Kincaids Cave

April 12 1804 Fayette County Circuit Court issues an order to sell James Kincaids 9500 acres and Kincaids Cave to satisfy debt obligations to George Trotter and Alexander Scott

May 8 1804 Fayette County Circuit Court through the appointment of commissioners Andrew McCalla John Jordon Jr and Thomas Wallace of Lexington adshyvertise and sell this day to Alexander Scott the cave and property for $40000 Joint venture between Samuel Brown George Hunter and James Kincaid is now clearshyly dead for reasons of court house sale of Kincaids intershyest in the cave

August 7 1804 Madison County Court acting on a motion by Alexander Scott issues an order to open a road from the State Road to the Salt Peter Cave on the Rockcastle

About November 1804 Formation of Brown Hart amp Company Objective is to purchase Great Saltpetre Cave and manufacture saltpeter and gunpowder Later they would branch out into the salt brine and meat packshying industry

November 4 1804 - January 1805 Brown Hart amp Company advertise for 15 or 20 negro men to work in the saltpeter mine

November 8 1804 Dissolution of John James DuFours family partnership at the First Vineyards in Jesshysamine County Kentucky

November19 1804 Thomas Hart Jr of Lexington Kentucky invites Samuel Brown and Dr Richard Pinshydell MD of Baltimore Maryland to purchase George Montgomerys 4167 of the saltpeter cave William Smith still retains his 833 Brown Hart amp Company purchased Montgomerys share for $80000

November 21 1804 Thomas Hart Jr Samuel Brown and Richard Pindell purchase 1000 acres for $120000 from Alexander Scott This is a portion of James Kincaids 9500 acres which he mortgaged to Trotter and Scott on January 13 1801 The Fayette County Circuit Court sold Kincaids property to Scott The new joint venshyture increase saltpeter production from 1000 lbs per week to 1000 lbs per day The company achieves this by using inventions made by John James DuFour

September 15 1805 Complex land sales of Robert and Margaret Smith to Samuel Smith all of Baltimore Maryland This is the resale of James Kincaids sale made on March 11 1796

January1 1805 Arrangements made byJohn James DuFour to make saltpeter for Brown Hart amp Company

January 20 1805 DuFour departs the First Vineyards for the cave His job is that of supervising chemical engineer for the manufacture of saltpeter He invented one or possible two different kinds of rectanshygular leaching vats Probably supervised the installation of a hydraulic system to pump water up from Crooked Creek through the North Entrance to the hopper rooms and then out to both furnace areas He makes a physical

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GREAT SALTPETRE CAVE Rockcastle County Kentucky

aUVIY OREI CINCINNATI ClJIIOTTO LOUIIYIILI GROT TO

SUUHTO I TAPE A~ C H 22 188 1 ANNOTATION A I GEOROE

SURVE YORS ~ ~1E8pOE~80 ~~~~t D 8lANKEN8~ilP 8 RAOCIIFFE O VORE D VORE R THORH 8 H1880NO T STAUBlTl

INtlttIQ BY A l GEORGE 1811a

FIGURE 1 Map of Great Saltpetre Cave RockcastIe County Kentucky


map of the cave using a compass and chain This is the second oldest cave map in America and the first map in which surveying tools were used to construct a caves unshyderground geography He also made a sketch map made of the cave (draftsmanship and cartography erroneously attributed to Samuel Brown) This is the third oldest cave map known in America DuFour was the first to use the name Great Salt Petre Cave Suspect that Richard Throckmorton a hydraulic engineer and owner of the Frankfort Water Company may have been responsible for pump and water pipe designs

April 9 1805 Shortly before this date Samuel Brown and his workman discover in the cave the bones of a giant ground sloth Megalonyx jeffersonii

Apri122l805 DuFour returns from the cave to the First Vineyards Brown Hart amp Company paid him $8000 for his services

November 41805 Workman discover a skull and lower jaw bone of a flat-headed peccary (pig) PIatygonus compressus First North American discovery of this genus

November 10 1805 Brown finishes memoir on Nitre and Gun Powder and sends copy to President Thomas Jefferson There are instruction to give it to Robert Smith Secretary of the Navy and to submit it to the American Philosophical Society for publication

February 12 1806 The memoir is read for Samuel Brown before a meeting of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia At present no direct information has been found to target Brown in Philadelphia Some inshyformation suggest him in Washington City

April 1806 Samuel Brown departs Lexington Kenshytucky for New Orleans Louisiana Territory He does not return to Kentucky until 1819

1806-1808 The Brown family to include Samuel Brown are implicated as traitors in the Aaron Burr conshyspiracy to over throw the United States Government The Browns were not brought to trial Muckraking evidence was submitted by Charles Wilkins and used by The Western World in an attempt to politically bring down the Brown family

1808 Charles Wilkins marketing saltpeter produced from Great Saltpetre Cave and other caves in the mountains of eastern Kentucky This needs better documentation

1809 A description of a cave on Crooked Creek with remarks and observations on nitre and gunpowshyder by Samuel Brown is published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society First published descripshytion of the cave and its early history

November 261809 Thomas Hart Jr dies cave adshyministered by the executors of his estate Lawyer and coexecuitor Henry Clay handles the legal affairs of the Hart estate Will establishes that Hart owned 50 in the cave Dr Frederick Ridgely is one of the beneficiaries in the Will and received a horse in gratitude for his life long friendship

Apparently the executors were not liquidating the accounts and the Fayette County Court appointed Henry Purviance William McBean John Branford and Charles

Wilkins to examine and settle the accounts of the exshyecutors of the Hart Jr estate and make a report to the court At this time Charles Wilkins was supplying saltpeter to the du Pont Powder Works and had not yet purchased Mammoth Cave

Late 1811 DuFour engineered constructions inside Great Saltpetre Cave serve as proto type blueprints to CharlesWilkins of Lexington and Fleming Gatewood for their saltpeter operation at Mammoth Cave

1812-1815Warof 1812 As many as 60 to 70 laborers worked in the cave Similar numbers of slave labor force worked in Mammoth Cave during the same time periodBased upon the number ofDuFour hoppers inside Great Saltpetre Cave saltpeter production must have been 30 greater than Mammoth Cave

December 28 1813 Prior to this date the executors of the Thomas Hart Jr estate sell Samuel Browns share in the cave for $250000

April 1806-late 1813 After Browns removal to Louisiana Territory new management at the cave failed to recycle lixiviated saltpeter earth Saltpeter yields probably petered out at the start of 1814 The cave probably closed by late 1813 or was only sporadically operated to mid 1815 Similar non- conservation practices of this renewable resource occurred at Mammoth Cave

December 241814 Treaty of Ghent end of the War of 1812

February 15 181S US Senate ratifies Treaty of Ghent Saltpeter mines close or scale back to pre- war levels of production Start of a national economic recesshysion

June 3 1815 Robert Morton Lewis of Southwark Pennsylvania is another part owner in the cave He adshyvertises for sale his share and saltpeter equipment in the cave

1821 Richard Mullins family tradition says twelve year old Calloway Mullins was a water boy and ox team tender in the cave He was born in 1809 or 1811

November 26 1821 Complex land sales by Samuel and Margaret Smith of Baltimore Maryland to Thomas Ellicott and Jonathan Meredith of the same city This is the same suite of properties contained in the James Kinshycaid sale on March 11 1796

1844-1848 Mexican-American War Richard Mulshylins family tradition says the cave was in operation on a limited basis

1848 Traditions of David D Singleton says that 16 year old Champion Mullins worked in the last saltpeter operation

1849-1869 Oral trad itions of G W French of Withers Kentucky says the cave was reactivated with talk of war in 1849 and intermittently mined through the Civil War

1860 Traditions of the Richard Mullins family reshylates that George Montgomery sells the cave to Calloway Mullins for $5000 and a rifle gun Sometimes a horse is thrown in to sweeten the transaction This is supposed to have occurred shortly before the Civil War John Lair says the year waseither 1840 or 1850 Another variation is that


Calloway purchased the cave in 1813 1850 and 1870 Federal Census indicate Mullins was either 4 years old if born in 1809 and 2 years if born in 1811 Too young to hold property let along bargain for it O early George Montgomery was not associated with the cave after November 19 1804

1860-1864 Civil War According to tradition the cave is re-tooled as a saltpeter mine If true then there were two new styles of rectangular saltpeter hoppers constructed in the cave DuFour vats in the Pillar Room removed and new styles constructed V- vats probably still jn use Mullins family tradition says that Calloway Mullins used 72 slavesand family to mine saltpeter under Federal supervision At this time period there are 6 male and 2 female children in the Mullins family Richard Mullins grand father was the foreman in the caveThis is also at variance since Calloway Mullins was the foreman at the same time Maybe they shared the duties

Octobermiddot21 1861 Battle of Wildcat Mountain in RockcastIe County During the battle the Federals lost 25 men under Colo T T Garrard of the 7th Kentucky Federal Infantry The Confederates lost 130 men of their 5000 man force under Gen Felix K Zollicoffer Six addishytional Kentucky Federal regiments were called in with arshytillery as re- inforcements and that turned the tide of the battle in favor of the Union

Mullins family tradition says the Federal wounded men were taken to the cave which was then outfitted as a hospitalThis variation is probably the most popular in that 13 Union soldiers were wounded in the Battle of Wildcat Mountain and taken to the cave for treatment Six of the men died and are buried in the cave near the Hospital Room The rest of the graves are supposed to be those of 24 slaves who died while working in the cave mining saltpeter Another variation says 21 or 31 men died at the cave in its defense over the control of the saltpeter-gunpowder making operation Variation on a theme of the cave battle is that the graves represent southern guerrillas killed in a fight inside the cave Mulshylins 1and father is supposed to have buried the dead in the cave

Actuality the graves are the intervening dirt ridges between V -vats The ridges are composed of the spent remains of saltpeter earth taken from the vats and placed there for structural support and renitrification to take place

1864-1939 Period of local functionThe cave was used for moonshine operations camp meeting house square dances pick nicks Masonic and Odd Fellows Lodge meeting and as a place to raise and fatten hogs The Mullins sell off lands south of the road to include the South Cave Entrance

1870-1874Time period ofMt Vernon Odd Fellows Lodge organization Tradition says some of their meetshyings occurred in Richards Run of Great Saltpetre Cave The Odd Fellows Lodge had 51 members

February 24 1888 Mt Vernon Signal reports of a moonshine still in the caveJohn Lair (April 12 1973) reports of another Mt Vernon Signal article in which 2

revenue agents raided the cave with its two 100 gallon stills and a box of human bones (sic)

c 1900 David D Singleton said he saw mounds of earth and remains of the log foundation to a powder mill at theNorth Entrance along Crooked CreekThe log founshydation is actually part of the sump at the base of a pump tower used in 1805 as part of the hydraulic water system to vat processing centers in the cave

1932 Ralph N Maxson publishes The nitre caves of KentuckyThis is a long review on the origin of saltpeter with heavy references to Samuel Browns 1809 paper Great Saltpetre Cave and Mammoth Cave

c 1937 South Entrance protected by a set of wooden bars and door

November 4 1939 First radio broadcast of the Renfro Valley Bam Dance from Renfro valley over WL W Cincinnati

c Early 1940 John Lair and Dr and Mrs Walker Owens purchase the South Entrance and adjacent lands from the widow Mrs Morris

July 27 1941 The first day the cave is open to the public John Lair and his Renfro Valley Bam Dance make a WHASCBS remote radio broadcast from the cave on opening night at 3 PM Sunday This is the third known radio remote broadcast from a cave in AmericaThe show offered John Jacob Niles and his dulcimer as a newaddishytion to the Bam Dance Richard Mullins was in attenshydance and still owns the north half of the cave The road above the cave marks tha t boundary line Lair and Owens built a log lodge hall to house 20 or more guestTwo days after the lodge was finished the building mysteriously burns to the ground Work at commercialization stops at this point Cave closed after 1943The commercial name for the cave is Great Saltpetre CaveEarly cave guide was David D Singleton

December81941 Congress declares war on Japan December 11 1941 Congress declares war on Gershy

many 1943 Cave closed The strains of war time rationing

probably impacted attendance 1943-1966Cave slides into semi-obscurity coupled

with periods of commercial activityCave open for wild caving if permission is asked for from Lair Richard Mulshylins in 1953 was guiding paid tours through the cave

1960 William H Russell and Thomas R CosteUo of the University of Texas Grotto produce a brunton and tape survey and short description of the cave Cave was not open to the public at that time

March 4 1962 Dr Wayne R White studies the speleogeography of Great Saltpetre Cave

February1965 Lair tries to have the RockcasUe Hisshytorical Society to apply for federal grant to reconstruct the saltpeter-gunpowder installation in the caveSeveral y~ars before this Lair had drawn up plans for this reconstruction One log crib rectangular hopper was made during this time period

April 1965 Central Kentucky Grotto reports that some of the saltpeter vats are being restored


May 1965 Cave still closed to paid guided tours Wild caving with permission only

May 1965 Commercial development in progress Plans to open cave in the fall of the year

November 1965 Cave intermittently shown to the public One hundred and fi fty members of the Michigan Airstream Trailer Caravan unit visit the cave

Spring 1966 New renovations of the cave being made

August 1966 Bulldozer clearing trees and leveling ground for upper parking lot near the entrance Bulldozers also at this time or later destroy a saltpeter furnace in the middle of the tum around near the pavilion Cave open almost every weekenq for guided tours Wayne R White makes a new brunton and tape survey of the cave

January 1967 Electric lights are installed for the benefit of workman in the caveThe 21 graves of guerrilshylas are apparently discovered during this event Tradishytions associated with these mounds of earth start at this point in time and are an extension of ghost stories and an alleged slave grave (actually a saltpeter vat) in the Booger Branch By 1970 the guerrilla graves had grown to 31 South Entrance is enlarged and gated with iron bars Exterior leveled off with bulldozers Plans call for showing the cave to the public by torch light

September 1967 Wayne R White publishes The speleography of Great Salt Peter Cave This is the first good treatment on the cave history since Hunter in 1802 and Brown in 1809 Article contains a high quality brunshyton and tape survey map of the cave

June I 1968 Official opening of Great Saltpetre Cave

December 1968 Plans being made for the reconstruction of the saltpeter operation in the cave

1970 Richard Mullins becomes resident caretaker and cave guideMany old place names changed to reflect new management approach at the cave

1972 James R Rebmann and Gary A ODell reprint an annotated Russell and Costello cave map and publish a short description of the cave

1973 Bobby Wainscott sketch map and description of the cave Cave survey probably copied from the Russhysell and Costello map

1974 Angelo IGeorge starts working on the history of the cave and people associated with its operation

1976 For sale at ticket office is booklet attributed to John Lair Great Saltpetre Cave near World Famous Renfro Valley Contains a fractured historical account of the cave Trips are now self guided using coal oil lanterns in the sparsely electrically lit cave

March 22 1981 Greater Cincinnati and Louisville Grottos survey the cave with Suunto and tape

May 231981 Kentucky Speleofest (regional annual cave explorers event) host a saltpeter field trip in Great Saltpetre Cave led by Angelo I George

June 231985 National Speleological Society Nashytional Convention host a geology and history field trip to

Great Saltpetre Cave ~ed by Angelo I George and Dr Percy Dougherty

August 31 1985 The South Entrance and southern half of Great Saltpetre Cave with about 30651 acres is auctioned off by Ford Reality amp Auction Company StanshyJey and Jeanette Rein of Pine Hill are the high bidder at $100000 Cave is closed to the public

November 12 1985 John Lair 0894-1985) past owner of the cave dies at age 91 years And so ends one of the last tradition links to Great Saltpetre Cave

November 17 1985 Richard Mullins moves off property

April 1986 Cave soli closed to the public with property and cave once again up for sale

October 19 1986 Portion of cave is inventoried of its saltpeter artifacts Greater Cincinnati and Louisville grottoes map is annotated by A I George

May 1987 First published chronology of historic events on the cave by A I George

ACKN OWLEDGMENT

Thanks is extended to a number of library and reshysearch institutions especially American Philosophical Society Hagley Library and Museum The Filson Oub Kentucky Historical Society Margaret 1 King Library Kentucky Library Manuscript Section Western Univershysity Kentucky Room Louisville Free Public Library University of Louisville Medical Library RockcastIe Cou nty Library Indiana Historical Society and Washington University Library The late Mr John Lair and Mr Richard Mullins provided much insight into the traditions connected with the cave Present cave owners Mr Stanley and Mrs Jeanette Rein accompanied the author and gave permission to study artifacts in the cave Dr Wayne R White and Mr Paul Hohweiler shared much of their personal observations conducted in the cave prior to 1967 Mr Larry McCartyMrJ Pat Stephens and Mrs Diana Emerson George provided field assisshytone

GREAT SALTPETRE CAVE RICHARDS RUN

DUFOUR HOPPER STYLE I

1805

THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY Vol2 Nol APRIL-JUNE 1988 11

THE SPENCER COOPER POWDER MILL

GARY A ODELL

In the early nineteenth century Lexington Kenshytucky was one of the centers of a state-wide mining and manufacturing industry that supplied gunpowder an item vital for an expanding young country The thriving community lay in the heart of a cave-rich region from which ample supplies of nitrous soil easily refined to potassium nitrate or saltpetre as it was called could be obtained While in a few cases the saltpe tre was processed into gunpowderat factories near the caves the greater part of this natural renewable resource was sent in wagonloads to Lexington and either processed there or shipped to eastern manufacturers The acquisition of large quantities of powder was critical to the fledgling nation during the 1812 War The gunpowder industry embarked upon boom times with dozens of powdershymakers entering business and entreprenuers scouting caves for saltpetre potential At wars end the demand for powder dropped sharply and many of these businesses failed A hardy few remained and continued to make powder for local and regional use though forced to imshyport nearly all of the ingredients as saltpeter was no longer mined in quantity in Kentucky

One of the more successful powder makers of Lexshyington was the Reverend Spencer Cooper Although he did not enter this manufacture until long after the end of the 1812 War he built a large and well-known company that was halted only by his untimely death following a devastating bout with Asiatic Cholera

Spencer Cooper was born in Virginia in 1787 and after spending his youth in Cincinnati Ohio came to Lexington in 1808 and was married a year later In 1811 Cooper and his wife the former Mary H Burton atshytended a Methodist camp meeting held in nearby Woodshyford County he was there so inspired bya sermon that he became a convert and joined the church Soon noted for his enthusiasm in 1816 he was licensed to preach and was thereafter known as the Reverend Cooper 1

In January of 1818 Spencer Cooper purchased a four-acre tract of land along the Town Branch about a mile west of the Lexington settlement and near the hisshytoric McConnells Spring Within a few weeks Cooper had entered into business with Joseph Boswell to manufacture and sell gunpowder The announcement dated February 11 and printed in the Lexin g ton newspaper stated that Boswell along with his nephew George as the Hope Powder Mills were now in coshypartnership with Cooper and the firm would henceforth be known as Spencer Cooper amp Co In the same issue was also printed a notice that Joseph had purchased the mershycantile establishment ofMorrison Boswell and Sutton on Cheapside in Lexington and formed a partnership with George Boswell to operate the store This announcement

stated that they would give the highest price in cash for Salt Petre and was carried in the Kentucky Gazette for slightlyovera year thereafter the firm was never referred to again by the name of Hope Mills 2

The Powder Mill location was a shrewd choice on the part of Reverend Cooper On the farm just down from his lot on the Woodford Road was the established powshyder manufactory ofSamuel and George Trotter who had entered business before the 1812 War The two business concerns had their frontage and main entrances on two separate roads Cooper located on the Woodford Road (present-day Versailles Road) and Trotter on what was even then called the Old Frankfort Road Cooper was likely to snare a good portion of the trade as both were equidistant from Lexington on major thoroughfares It was a good deal for the partners Cooper apparently received a going concern with a ready outlet for his product at the Boswells store which in tum purchased saltpeter for use in the manufacture Within a short time Spencer Cooper amp Co was producing enough powder to warrant newspaper advertisements by the store keepers of neighboring communities 3

From various sources a fairly detailed picture of the operations of Coopers powder factory can be built At the time the du Pont Company of Delaware was the leadshying powder manufacturer in the country having prospered greatly during the boom times as end destinashytion of much of the saltpeter procured in Kentucky Du Pont used the most up-to-date technology available to tum the raw materials into gunpowder Elsewhere the making of gunpowder proceeded with wide variations of technique and equipment from primitive to state-ofshythe-art In large part this seemed to be dependent upon the scale of the operation Small quantities could be made by grinding and mixing the ingredients with a single mortar and pestle running the damp paste through a screen to produce a particular size grain and then sunshydrying the result Larger operations used more and larger equipment such as an entire row of mortarpestles operated by water or animal power and later millstones were used to prepare the ingredients

The primary component of gunpowder is potasshysiu m nitrate naturally occurring in the soil and sandstone rocks of many rockshelters A similar comshypound calcium nitrate may be extracted from the soils of caverns by pouring water through the soil capturing it and boiling it down to a residue The calcium nitrate was mixed with wood ashes and the dousing and evaporation repeated to produce potassium nitrate or saltpeter This importa nt constituent was formerly procured from hundreds of caves and rockshelters in Kentucky and other cavernous states but by the time of


Coopers entry into business was almost entirely imshyported generally from India The other necessary inshygredients were sulfur and charcoal 4

Al though sulfur or Brimstone was available in the United States in very limited quantities from hot springs and other sources by far the sulfur obtained by the powshyder makers was imported from Sicily and was purchased in a finished form or refined after importation Charcoal on the other hand was usually produced locally and its making was a skilled and dangerous undertaking Wood was burnt in covered underground pits and had to be constantly checked and regulated to produce carbon rather than ashes

It has not been established where Cooper might have learned the powder making trade but he certainly must have known the inner workings of the business as only a month separated the purchase of his initial four acres and the announcement that he was ready for busishyness Itseems likely that there may havebeen some stocks on hand as the evidence indicates that the Hope Mills either was or recently had been in business at the time of sale There are however no known prior references to a mill near this location save that of Samuel Trotter Hope Mills if it actually existed and was not a form of pretenshytious advertising hype must have been on a very small scale

In the 1820 Federal Censusof Manufacturers Spenshycer Cooper reported that he had on hand 60000 pounds of saltpeter and 11000 pounds each of Brimstone and Charcoal As he states that he could make much more Powder annually but the [market] do not deem it adshyvisable it seems reasonable to suppose that the resershyves on hand did not constitute much more than a years supply The ratio of the ingredients being approximateshyly 75 saltpeter 13 sulfur12 charcoalapproximateshyly 80000 pounds ofgunpowder could be made Note that the desired ratio is almost exactly proportionate to his supplies5

It is likely that his annual production was someshywhat less judging by the value he placed in sales for the year 1820 The various Kentucky powder makers replied to the census question of selling price in two ways if they answered at all Either they gave their estimated volume of sales or they gave the local price per pound of finished gunpowder In Coopers case he gave a sales volume of $21000 Based on other powder operations listed in the census the going rate for gunpowder in Lexington at the time was 45 cents per pound somewhat less at manufacshytories elsewhere Using this price Reverend Cooper sold just under 50000 pounds of gunpowder in 1820 and this establishes him as a major operation

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century millstones had not yet been widely applied to the making of powder and Spencer Cooper like others used a wooden mortar and pestle system for grinding and mixing At that time his mill had thirty pestles in operashytion heavy wooden pieces that were probably operated by horse power as the business was reported as possessshying two incline wheels Other equipment reported on the

census were a graining machine a glazing machine and a pulverizing machine A Prying House was also on the premises 6

Spencer Cooper amp Cos warranted glazed Gun Powder was thus made in approximately the following fashion The raw materials were brought together at the mill the saltpeter from India sulfur probably from Sicishyly and the charcoal purchased from local burners Each would be broken down to small particles by the pulverizshying machine then mixed with a little water and ground to paste in a series of camshaft-driven pestles The next step would be to press the damp mix through the grainer and then into the glazing machine simply a large wooden barrel in which the grains were tumbled with a quantity of graphite The glazing prevented the powder from packing and caking during storage in containers After this the powder was destined for the Drying House

While the powder was turning in the glazing barshyrel the Drying House was heated by a stove to a high temperature and then the fire carefully and thoroughly extinguished The added heat produced made this step far more dangerous but was much faster than sun-drying the product on long tables an earlier practice of powder makers The damp powder was spread thinly on trays and placed onto shelves in the preheated structure 7

The final procedure was the packaging of the finished gunpowder Storage in wooden barrels was the usual method but such barrels had to be carefully conshystructed to avoid the obvious hazard of leaking powder Sizes used were 25-pound 50-pound and the standard l00-pound keg For smaller quantities and for the pershysonal use of local customers one-fourth to one pound of gunpowder was weighed out on papers which were then folded and sealed It was also common for customers to bring their own containers to be filled

Cooper estimated the worth of the establishment with equipment at $10000

The annual operating expenses of the concern may be partially estimated through 1820 census information

INCOME Sale of Gunpowder

47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000

EXPENDItuRES Materials reqUired to make stated quantity of Powder

35250 lbs Saltpeter $O18lb $ 6345 6110 IbsBlimstone O09 lb 550 5640 lbs Otarcoal O02lb 11~

Other expenses Wages 1000 Other 2QOO

TOTAL Expenses $10007

THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN mSTORY V22 N2 APRIL-JUNE 1988 13

This gave Reverend Cooper an annual income of about $11000 a very comfortable amount for the era8

The making of gunpowder in all its steps was a dangerous business from the grinding at the pestles to the Drying House Anywhere along the way a single spark such as from a stray nail or a bit of chert could produce a holocaust For this reason all of the machinery was crafted of wood including the driving mechanisms Slaves were used as workers at many powder mills inshycluding Coopers to perform the dangerous labors The usual procedure involved setting a particular piece of machinery in operation and then vacating the premises for the duration save for occasional visits to inspeCt the progress or to add water to the mix

Spencer Coopers establishment seemed to have more than its share of bad luck in the form of powder exshyplosions In early May of 1824 the Kentucky Gazette reported that on April 30 over one thousand pounds of powder in Coopers drying house blew up and we regret to state killed one of the laborers and severely wounded two others Several horses were also killed The explosion was tremendous every inhabitant of the town felt it and every building vibrated but none were injured by the shock The immense volume of smoke ascending to the heavens presented a sublime spectacle We undershystand that the building was literally blown into atoms Nine years later in February of 1833 the establishment was again shaken by an explosion and again two years later than that In the latter occurrence in June of 1835 there was again a fatality in the form of a black slave worker Reverend Spencer is here quoted as saying that he had given positive orders to all the hands employed about his works never to enter the mortar room without first stopping the pestles but unfortunately they had not in this case been strictly obeyed9

The series of powder mill explosions very near the town culminated by the 1839 explosion of stored powshyder at the inactive Trotter mill that killed a prominent citizen led to a controversy in the Lexington press One man wrote to the Observer-Reporter and complained that large amounts of gunpowder were stored in the wholesale mercantile houses of the community and this posed a great danger to the inhabitants This touched off a whole host of replies and accusations among them a representative of the Lexington firefighting force stated that they had no intention of fighting any blaze in an esshytablishment known to contain such quantities of powder He can hardly be blamed for his attitudelO

Despite the explosions Spencer Cooper continued to prosper In 1830 he bought a 28-acre tract along the Woodford Road that gave him considerable frontage and in 1832he purchased 45 acres ofland that directly abutted the farm and mill of Samuel Trotter The Boswells sunk capital into the business by helping finance many of these acquisitions holding them jointly with Cooper but by 1832 Cooper was able to buyout their interest in the properties Twenty years after his purchase of the first four-acre tract he had accumulated 280 acres and marshyried off a daughter l1

In 1833 the town of Lexington was visiteJ by a severe cholera epidemic that devastated the community hundreds died hundreds fled Reminiscent of the Great Plagues of Europe carts made the rounds of the streets accompanied by the cry of Bring out your dead Bodies were buried in maSS graves scarcely a household was unshyaffected Reverend Cooper visited the sick knelt by the bedside of the dying and offered the consolations of the cross to the suffering and bereaved With a seeming inshydifference to his own safety he walked amid the pesshytilence and as an angel of mercy offered the only balm to the sick and the dying and only ceased his labor of love when he was stricken by the fearful disease His chief competitor Samuel Trotter was carried off by the cholera and the rival mill ceased operation12

Cooper never fully recovered from the effects of the near- fatal bout with cholera and in March of 1838 sufshyfered a debilitating stroke Over succeeding months his health further declined and in December he suffered a second attack Two months later on February 81839 the Reverend Spencer Cooper was deadn

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author owes a great debt to Angelo George for freshyquent communication of information and insights into the saltpeter and gunpowder industries of Kentucky and the nashytion Appreciation is also due for the aid of Robert A Howard of the Hagley Museum and of Marion O Smith

REFERENCES 1 Redford Rev A H DO (1870) Th( History uf Methodism in

Kentucky Vol III pp 536-538 2 Fayette County Deed Book R P 50 (1818) Deed for purchase

of land Ly ~pencer Cooper from Thomas Royle and James W McshyConnell The Kentucky Gazette Friday 27March 1818ns Non Vol IV Runs for numerous issues

3 Fayette County Deed Hook 0 pp379-382 (1810) Deeds for purshychase of land by Samuel Trot ter from the heirs of William McConnell various advertisements in Louisville and Cincinnati newspapers of the era

4(~rge Angelo I (1986) Saltpeter and Gunpowder Manufacshyturing in Kentucky The Filson Club Quilrterly602 pp 189-217 personal communication (1988) from Angelo George

5 Howard Robert A and E Alvin Gerhardt Jr (1 980) MIry PQtshyton PowdMlknof the Rroolution Rocky Mount Historical Association

6 Uit(d Silltes 1820 Fed Cmsus uf Mlmurlctum-s Ken tucky Gunpowder Qnd SIlltpeter Compiled by Angelo George The Kentucky Report Monday 3 May 1824

7 Howard and Gerhardt (1980) up cit 8 Federal Census (1820) up cit 9 Kentucky Gazette May 5 1824 Lexington Obstro-Reporier

February 281833 Observ-Reporter June 31835 10 The Kentucky Gazette Thursday 3 October 1839 11 Fayette Coun ty Deed Book 6 P 82 (1830) Deed for purchase

of land bySpencer Cooper from Joseph and George Boswell Deed Book 8 P 125 (1832) Deed for purchase of land by Spencer Cooper from Thomas Royle and James W McConnell Deed Book 8 P 71 (1832) Deed for purchase of interest in three properties by Spencer Cooper from Joseph and George Boswell Directory of th( City uf LexingWrr (1838) Lexshyington ObSUClel Ilnd RqK1Tt Thursday 25 April 1833

12 Baird Nancy D (1974) Asiatic Cholera Kentuckys Rrst Public Health Inslnlctor The Filson Oub Quilrterly 484 pp 327-341 Redford (1870) Leavy William A A Memoir of Lexington and Its Vicinity reprinted in The Register of the Kmtucky Historiclll Society Vol 40(1942)

13 Redford (1870) The Kentucky GiUdf( Thursday 14 Feb 1839


PRE-ISIS DEMISE OF THE DOMESTIC SALTPETER INDUSTRY KENTUCKY

by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT

Not much is known on the demise of the saltpeter industry in Kentucky With the close of the War of 1812 during the early months of 1815 the saltpeter industry died out in Kentucky (Bidermann 1815a and Faust 1967 p 77) Saltpeter mines either closed or scaled back to pre-war levels of production Was the end of the war duty free imports (Meriam 1844) cave closure and or scaled back production really the reason for the end of the domestic saltpeter industry

To help answer these questions digested saltpeter purchase records of the E I du Pont de Nemours Powder Works gives insight into first quarter 19th Century saltpeter mining in Kentucky Missouri Tennessee and Virginia (du Pont 1829) Important obshyservations are the fluctuation in purchase price of saltpeter in response to national and international political climates That promoted widespread investshyment speculation and growth in the short-lived domestic saltpeter industry

Development of the domestic powder industry relied upon the importation of cheap saltpeter from India Increases in price occurred when that internashytional source was cut from the American market in 1808Price increases are related to Embargo Act (Decemshyber 1807) Nonintercourse Act (1809)and the War of 1812 (declared June 18 1812) All of the saltpeter was then domestically produced from caves and rockshelshyters in Kentucky Missouri Virginia and Tennessee There were caves commercially mined prior to 1808 yet the great bulk of hundreds of smaller sites employed from 1808 to early 1815 is the result of these embargoes and war with England

E I du Pont (1829) said the caves of Kentucky which had furnished the principal supply until 1814 were then generally exhausted the richest had been worked and could produce no more the Saltpetre manufacturers had to work caves of an inferior quality and at a greater expenseThis would exp lain why there are so many small saltpeter caves mined Poor manageshyment of this renewable resource exhausted the largest saltpeter sites and prompted the expansion of the minshying industry to the caves of Tennessee and Missouri in 1814 The height of active investment speculative saltpeter mining in Kentucky is bracketed from 1808 thru 1813 With peace restored d u Pont and his comshypetition could again receive cheap saltpeter from India

INTRODUCTION

Not much is known on the demise of the saltpeter industry in Kentucky With the close of the War of 1812 during the early months of 1815 the sal tpeter industry diedoutinKentucky(Bidermann 1815aand Faust 1967 p77) Saltpeter mines either closed or scaled back to preshywar levels of production There is no information as to how many mines closed nor what constituted pre-war levels of production By 1820 only one saltpeter cave was actively being mined in this state (1820 Federal Census) Ebenezer Meriam (1844) pot ash contractor to Mammoth Cave during 1813-1814 laments the death of the Mamshymoth Cave operation and other sites as being directly reshylated to relaxation of goverment import duties He says Government allows saltpetre to be imported duty free and that stops the Mammoth Cave Saltpetre works while at the same time it lays heavy duties on various article for the p rotection of other manufacturers But the government admit[s] it free for the reason that it is made into gun powder Meriam with a lucrative $20000 pot ash contract had every reason to complain Was the end of the war duty free imports cave closure and or scaled back production reaHy the reason for the end of the domestic saltpeter ind ustry Rather the demise of the Kentucky saltpeter industry did not come with ratificashytion of the Treaty of Ghent by Congress on February 15 1815 The Kentucky mining sites by the start of 1814 had been depleted of their saltpeter reserves (du Pont 1829)

At the present time I have not seen any primary documentation from Federal and State Governments powder makers or saltpeter brokers extolling a national shortage of saltpeter supplies There was not the publicity effort put forward by Congress during the Revolutionary War The Colonial Period was a time when considerable effort was put forward on the domesshytic production of saltpeter Through laws of the Conshytinental Congress the manufacture of homespun sal tpeter became a civic duty toward the national defense that lasted through the Revolutionary Nar

Development of the domestic powder industry relied upon the importation of cheap saltpeter from India The successful growth of one company such as the du Pont Powder Works spurred competition to build new gunpowder factories Du Pont was not the first powshyder mill built but it was the largest and most successful powder enterprise In 1810 there were 208 powder mills in America of which Kentucky garnered 63 of these inshystallations (Coxe 1814 p 33) The 1810 Federal Census ranks Kentucky first in the amount of saltpeter mined and in the number of powder mills and was sixed in total

THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY V22 N2 APRIL JUNE 1988 15

production of gunpowder from mills in direct competishytion with the du Pont Powder Works Production figures and number of factories is to be considered a minimum Amount of saltpeter mined may reflect the quantity slated for export in state audited warehouses (George 1986 p 29)

Digested saltpeter purchase records of the du Pont Powder Works gives insight into first quarter 19th Censhytury saltpeter mining in Kentucky Missouri Tennessee and Virginia (du Pont 1829) Important observations are the fluctuation in purchase price of saltpeter in response to national and international political climates thereby promoting widespread investment speculation and growth in the short lived domestic saltpeter industry

REASONS FOR SALTPETER PRICE INCREASE

Correspondence from E I du Pont to LieutenantshyColonel George Bomford U S Ordnance Department in November 171829 gives insight into saltpeter purchases for the du Pont Powder Works between 1804 through 1829 (in Appendix) Twenty five years of digested purshychase figures and some of the reasons for the collapse of the American saltpet-er industry are discussed in this letshyter (Figure 1) Three blocks of time are profiled in detail

40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

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PURCHASE OF SALTPETER DuPONT POWDER WORKS

1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810

1804-1807 Price increases is related to the war in Europe Americas reliance on imported saltpeter few domestic powder mills and no regular commercial supply of saltpeter had been established Saltpeter was imported from Bombay and Calcutta India The US Government had purchased a stock pile of 15 million pounds of saltpeter for emergency use

1808-1814 Price increase related to Embargo Act (December 1807) Nonintercourse Act (March 18(9) and the War of 1812 (declared June 18 1812) Prices raised 5 times over what they should have been during peace times All of the saltpeter was domestically produced from caves and rockshelters in Kentucky Missouri Virshyginia and Tennessee

1815-1829 Peace time national economic recession and depression Resumption of cheap imported saltpeter from India in 1815 Last domestic saltpeter purchased by du Pont in 1817

With a growing number of powder mills in operashytion there was produced a saltpeter supply and demand problem that became acute in 1808 with British hostilities against American merchant seamen Federal legislative action in the form of the Embargo Act and later the Nonshyintercourse Act dealt an end to foreign imports of

-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

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t ~ pound

I I I I I I I I I I I I I L1----L-J 1820 1830

YEAR

FIGURE 1 Graph showing purchase of saltpeter by the du Pont Powder works from 1804 through 1829

IS THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY V22 N2 APRIL-JUNE 1988

saltpeter and other commodities Federal restriction of American trade with English and French held ports is the key reason for fostering the growth of the domestic sal tpeter industry The Federal Government did not need to issue public ~ictsto produce produ~ts having th~ir origin frorrlEuroperath~rI believe the entrepreneur inshystinctively real ized the profits to be maltle from this intershynational event No banner headlines appeared in local papers proclaiming a saltpeter shortage Yet du Pont correspOndences has numerous references to a shortage of raw saltPeter s~pp1ies ne~ed for his fa~tory This shortageJr~nslatesover to the du Pont comPany no will~ ing to pay a premium togef their much needed supplieS

There we~e Cclves commercially mined prior to 1808 yet the great bulk of hundreds of smaller sit~ employed from 1~08 to early1815 is the result of these embargos anq war with England It is curious to note the dendrochronological dating of a vat and leachate tr0llgh in the Red River Gorge of Powell County Kentucky yielded a cut date between 1806-1809 (Coy et al 1984 p 58)

INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE

Anthony Bidermann (office manager) made a visit to Kentucky on a fact finding mission for the du Pont Company Through his industrial spying he relayed inshyformation as he obtained it in the field I am not yet lble to see the total scope of his intelligence on just a few letshyters E du Pont (1815) directed him to see if the purshychases we have ordered are made to urge the delivery so tha t the sal tpetrereaches us as soon as possible and espe- dally take all the instructions possible on the business and manufacture of saltpetre in Kentucky in Tennessee and in West Virginia so that you can procure for us all the knowledge necessary for our stock of saltpetre in the fushyture Also apparent from middotthe totalmiddotcontent of the Bidershymann-du Pont correspordence establishes one other objective for Bidermann to investigate He was to try and establish if the saltpeter mines in Kentucky had been exshyhausted of their raw commodity As a cover for his true motives Bidermann was instructed by du Pont to pose as a wealthy land speculator

Bidermann writes a letter to E du Pont on July 11 1815 with a different view on the petering out of the caves Bidermann says no more salt petre is to be had in Kentucky It is not because the caves are exhausted for new ones are found every day but because the price has become so low since the peace that no one will work them it is even said that they stoped before then [the peace] because of the large quantity on the market and that they will not start again until the price is 20 [cents] He saysin another letter on July 13 that now the price is so low that it does not pay to work it or to bring it in (Bidermann 1815b p 103) By the time commissions were paid and the product was delivered at Philadelphia the cost of the saltpeter had risen to 28 centslb Transporting salt~ter from the heartland of America cost more than shipping the same product half way

around the world from India (Calvert 1961 p 20) The du Pont enterprise could get better quality India saltpeter for 25 centslb This makes good business management and promoted the financial growth in the company

On June 16 Bidermann (1815c p 95) pays a visit to General John Wilkins Jr brother to Charles Wilkins Charles Wilkins was part owner of Mammoth Cave and John is known tomiddothave had an active interest in the cave and saltpeter business (Mullins 1986 p12) Bidermann disguised as a real estate speculator says in conversashytion with Mr Wilkins he told me himself that the Kenshytucky caves show signs of exhaustion there must be some truth to the story since he says so himself although

it hurts the value of his land Note also that Charles Wilkins had been one of du Ponts major saltpeter supshypliers from 1808 until contractual differences separated the two in early 1814 (Mullins 1986 p 11-12) Not being able to meet all contract quotas suggest in part that Wilkins had a supply problem very probably connected with saltpeter depletion at Mammoth Cave

By the time Bidermann reached Louisville and had conversation with John Anthony Tarascon and perhaps wholesale merchants in the town (Bidermann 1815 p 96-97) The following July 6 intelligence is repeated It is said here that it is not probable that the caves are giving out and even if they are the banks ofGreen River are full of it and only need to be worked

With the exception of John Wilkins Jr all of Bidermanns intelligence is from middlemen marketers or powder makers who were not connected with the day to dayoperation of saltpeter mines The inexhaustible nashyture of Kentucky saltpeter mining had become legend at this point in time It was unthinkable that the end of saltpeter mining had past un-noticed at the start of 1814 Yet there was this rationalization of optimism embodied that the hiUs were full of saltpeter and one need only to go and d ig it out of numerous caves

My questions on Bidermanns correspondence is why did new saltpeter caves have to be found every day if the old ones were still operational And why find more caves if the market was already glutted And why work these new saltpeter caves knowing their mined comshymodity would find no buyers I have no doubt the same questions floated through the mind of Bidermann and d u Pont

Mammoth and Great Saltpetre caves two of the largest mining and processing sites in Kentucky begun to play out by the start of 1814 John Wilkins Jr probably under stated the degree of saltpeter depletion at Mamshymoth Cave only to protect their investment Craig (1862

p 310) says that MammothCave during the War of 1812

were pretty industriously worked for nitre and it is said in large part exhausted Other than cottage inshydustry industrial mining at Mammoth Cave spans from 1808 to 1814 (Craig 1862 p 310 Binkerd 1869 p 15-16 Meriam 1844 p317)AnumberofotherMammothCave guidebooks give this same date to 1814 The time period of active mining operation at Mammoth Cave ending at the dose of 1813 seems to be a staple ingredient con-


nected with guide patter stemming from that time period And is consistent with Charles Wilkins inability to fill saltpeter contracts in the early part of 1814 And John Wilkins Jr statement that the Kentucky caves show signs of exhaustion Is ample suggestion of a severe saltpeter problem at Mammoth Cave~

No documentation has presently been found to substantiate similar activity at Great Saltpetre Cave Yet on-site observation shows both of the caves have huge saltpeter aprons in the vicinity of each hopper complex Such a physical feature indicates that little effort was exshypended in recycling lixiviated saltpeter earth There are many additional cave sites with large saltpeter aprons in front of the cave entraJ1ce as well as many caves exshycavated from crawlway into large walkway canyon passhySages Some recycling was done in a few of the caves most show little or only a token effort for this activity After Dr Samuel Browns (part owner of Great Saltpetre Cave and a known proponent for recycling) removal to New Orleans in early 1806 (George 1985 p 22) little efshyfort at recycling was obviously employed in the cave

Du Pont (1829) said the caves of Kentucky which had fu rnished the principal supply unti11814 were then generally exhausted the richest had been worked and could produce no more the Saltpetre manufacturers had to work caves of an inferior quality and at a greater exshypense This would explain why there are so many small saltpeter caves mined Many of these caves have damp to wet interiors yet show good physical evidence of saltpeter mining

Carol Hill (1981) proposed the source of cave nitrates is from biological activity in the root zones of forests over a cave passage Vadose groundwater transports nitrates and or nitrobacteria into the cave enshyvironment The root zone forest hypothesis is strengthen by the absence of saltpeter sites under the Sinkhole Plain and Inner Blue Grass Region (George 1986) Removal of the forest from over a saltpeter cave would insure greatshyly limited nitrate transport into the cave passage No saltpeter sites are found in the barrens because the prairie grasslands utilize nitrates before they can be transported into the vadose zone of a cave passage

CONCLUSION

With E I du Ponts 25 years of industry over view and retrospect observations produces the first assessshyment of the national saltpeter infrastructure This does open up a whole new avenue for spelean history research into the final years of the domestic saltpeter industry Poor management of this renewable resource exhausted the largest saltpeter sites and prompted the expansion of the mining industry to more of the caves in Tennessee

and Missouri in 1814 The height of active investment speculative saltpeter mining in Kentucky is bracketed from 1808 thru 1813 With peace restored du Porit and his competition could again receive cheap saltpeter from India By 1817 the price of imported saltpeter had dropped between 16 and 10 centslb Further declines

continued and by 1829 du Pont paid between 714 and 734 centslb

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Hagley Museum and Librry Wilmington Delaware is thanked for permission to quote and reprint from du Pont manuscripts The Manuscript Section Kenshytucky Library Western Kentucky University gave pershymission to view documents from the Burton Faust Collection Marion O Smith provided 1810 Federal Censhysus data Dr Stanley D Sides gave comments on the saltpeter shortage in America and offered his technical overview on historic events at Mammoth Cave Mamshymoth Cave National Park for permission and cooperashytion to study saltpeter activity in Mammoth Cave Stanley and Jeanette Rein gave permission to view minshying activity in Great Saltpetre Cave Cave Research Founshydation and Diana Emerson George provided field assistance during the course of this investigation

REFERENCES Bidermanfi A 1815aLetter to E I du Pont dated Lexington July

11 1815 in B G DuPont Life ofEleuthere Ireneedu Pont from Omtnnponuy Coespcmdences University of Delaware Press 1923

1815b Letter to E I du Pont dated Lexington July 131815 inB G DuPont Life of Eleuhm Irenee du Pont from Omtrnrporary ~pcmshydences University of Delaware Press 1923

1815c Letter to E I du Pont dated Pittsburgh June 161815 in B G DuPont Life of E leu there lrenee du Pont from OmtrnrporaryCorrespcmshydences Universlty of Delaware Press 1923

1815d Letter to E I du Pont dated Louisville July 6 1815 in B G DuPont Life of Eleuthm Jrenee du Pont from Qmtrnrporary CorresponshydencesUniversity of Delaware Press 1923

Calvert M A 1961 The Search for a Domestic Source of SaItpdrt fvr use in MIlking Gunpowder 1620-1920 MA Thesis in Burton Faust Collecshytion ManuscriptSection Kentucky Ubrary Western Kentucky Univershysity

Coxe T1814A SIDementofthe Arts IUtdMllnlfoctum of the United SWes of America fvr the Year 1810 Printed by A Cornman Jr Philadelshyphia

Coy F E T Fuller L Meadows D Fig J Rosene and G Dever 1984 Samuel Brown on Saltpeter from Sandstone Oiffs Tenrwisee Anthropologist 9 (1) p 48-65

Craig B F 1862 Report on Nitrification Ann1llll Repor of the ampard of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution p 305- 318

du Pont E I 1815 Unpublished letter to A Bidermann dated June 21815 Hagley Museum and Ubrary Wilmington Delaware Acshycession SOl Vol 5 p 16 No 34

1829 Unpublished letter to Colonel George Bomford dated November 17 1829 Hagley Museum anq Library Wilmington Delaware OSOR Letter Book 1829-1831 p 36-44

George A I 1985 Miscellaneous Notes on Two Prominent New Athens Salt Merchants Part II Samuel Brown and his 1806 Memoir on Saltpeter and Gunpowder The JounuU ofSptleanHistm-y 190) p 20-24

Saltpeter and Gunpowder Manufacturing in Kentucky The Filshyson Club History Quarterly 60 (2) p 189 - 217

1986 Central Kentucky Gunpowder Factories The Jour Speltlln Hist20 (2) p 28-34

Hill C A 1981 Origin of Cave Saltpeter The NSS Bulletin 43 (4) p110-132

Meriam E 1844 Mammoth Cave New York Municipal Gtaette 1 (l7) p 317-324 February 211844 and 1 (8) March 91844 p 328 irt RW-ll H Gurnee OIve Oippings of the Nineteenth Century R H Gurshynee Inc Ooster New Jersey p 46-54


APPENDIX

[E I du Pont to Colonel George Bomford W~hingtonCityNovember 17 1829 Original in Hagley Museum and Library Wilmington Delaware OSOR Letter Book 1829-1831 p 36-44 and typescript in Accesshysion SOl Vol 11 p114 to p123 Condensed typescript in Burton Faust Collection Manuscript Section Kentucky Library Western Kentucky University]

We have received your letter of the 13th and have to express our deep regret for the long time which has elapsed before wecould collect the necessary information to enable us to answer with some satisfaction to ourselshyves the enquiries contained in your letter of the 10th ult shya severe accident which has happened to our Mr E du Pont and from the consequences of which he only lately recovered has been the cause of our delay and we hope will be received as our excuse

We will endeavor to furnish you as far as lay in our power with facts and observations on the different subshyjects of enquiries you have communicated to us and to avoid confusion in our answer we will treat them separately

The most satisfactory infurmation we can give as to the price of Salfpetre and brimstone in time of peace and war is to enclose here aStatemertt taken from our books of the prices paid by ourselves for these materials in each year since the beginning of our establishment

The high prices of Saltpetre and brimstone from 1804 to 1807 were due in part to the general war in Europe and more to the circumstance that at that time the greatest

proportion of Gunpowder used in the country being imshyported and but a few powder mills being in operation no regular commercial supply of materials had yet been esshytablished

The prices from 1808 to 1814 during the embargo non intercourse and war were raised to five times as much as the prices established since the general peace and since a regular supply of Saltpetre from India and of brimstone from Italy is furnished to the manufacturers of Gunpowshyder in this country not only for all the domestic consumpshytion but also for an exportation of American Gunpowder amounting in late years to above a million pounds

It is to be observed that during the Six years of restricshytions on commerce and war the whole supply of saltpetre was furnished from the caves of Kentucky Virginia and Tennessee that although thegreat encreaseof capital and industry which had been directed to the extraction of Saltpetre from the natural caves contributed until 1814 to prevint an extraordinary rise in the value of the article a much greater change would have taken place if the war had continued a year longer - the caves of Kentucky which had furnished the principal supply untiU814 were then generally exhausted the richest had been worked and could produce no more the Saltpetre manufacturers had to work caves of an inferior quality and at a greater expense the supply from Kentucky was rapidly decreasshying and the works for extracting Saltpetre were then exshytended to the caves of Tennessee and Missoury which would soon also have been exhausted forever as the Saltpetre manufacturers of the west would never have taken the trouble to replace the lixiviated earth in the cave

to become there again in course of time impregnated with Saltpetre as it is practiced in the Nitrie1eSllrlificiA1es of france and Switzerland - Until 1814 we received our Supply without much difficulty from Kentucky having established agents there to purchase for our account but in 1814 the Supply from Kentucky having sensibly decreased we had to establish new agents in other places and to send money in advance to secure our purchases a part of which money was lost by the failure of agents which increased the cost ofour materials much more than It appears by the prices in our books - from these cirshycumstances it is our opinion that should the peace had not been made at the time it was a considerable further rise in the price of Saltpetre would inevitably have taken place

In relation to the price of Saltpetre in 1812 1813 and 1814 it is also to be observed that at the time war was declared the government had in store a large quantity of Saltpetre and brimstone say about a million and a half of pounds of Saltpetre at Philadelphia which had been secured under the provident administration ofMr Jeffershyson had it not been for this supply and had the governshyment been under the necessity of hurrying his purchases at the beginning of the War the competition between the agents of the government and the manufacturers would inevitably have caused a considerable difference with market prices

The low price of 1826 is due to the very large importashytionofSaltpetre from India in that year which glutted the market - the small importations of 1827 and 1828had left

the market bare for 1829 from which result the present advance in price to 714 and 8 cents - the regular peace price for Saltpetre may fairly be estimated at from 6 12 to 7 cents the cost to the importers has been for some time past 6 to 6 12 cents shy

The importations of Saltpetre from India are principalshyly made at Boston Salem and Philadelphia we have taken some pains to ascertain from well informed mershychants in the above places the quantity of Saltpetre imshyported annually and to what amount can be estimated the yearly consumption of thisarticle in the United States from the information we have received it appears that at the time the Supply of the country for the manufacture of Gun powder and the Chymicals works require from 18 to 20000 Bags Say from three millions to 3400000 of pounds - We believe this to be a correct estimate as from the Knowledge we have of the powder business there cannot be less than two millions of pounds of Gunpowshyder consumed annually in the country a million to 1200000 Ibs is exported and several hundred thousands weight of saltpetre must be required for the different Chymical preparation shy

As to the price of brimstone you will see by the inshyclosed Statement that in some instances during the war we have paid for that article as high as 11 cents per pound but we must add that we have Known of sales made at a much higher rate- the market price of brimstone in time of peace we consider to be about 2 12 cents pel pound shyThe purest and best kind of Brimstone for the manufacshyture of Gunpowder is produced by the new process of Sublimation established at Marseilles in france this kind is not generally known here and we import it ourselves at a cost of about 2 cents per pound

THE TOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY V22 N2 APRIL TUNE 1988 19

We annex here a Statement of the powder made and remanufactured at our mills for account of the governshyment from 1805 to 1815 we haveexttmded this Statement to all the powder furnished by us to the United States preshyvious to the War because it is very probable that nearly the whole quantity was in the government stores at the time of the declaration of war The whole amount is

Remanufactured 3093501bs New Powder War Dept 902350

Do Navy Dept 22QOO 1236700bs

Of the amount manufactured at other mills we have no positive information but we Suppose that Wheelen amp Rogers near Philadelphia have manufactured for your Department nearly as much new powder as was done by us say 900 000 Ibs we have no data to estimate how much was made by Worrell at frankfort Decature at Belleville orEwell and Williams amp Stall of Georgetown which we believe have all been employed by the governshymentl 000000 Ibs at least were manufactured at Richshymond and a considerable quantity contracted for or purchased in Kentucky - The powder supplied for the Navy previous and during the war was manufactured at the Baltimore mills also by Decatur at frankfort and at Belleville and by orEwell at washington of the amount so manufactured we can not form any idea We should think upon the whole that the quantity of Gunpowder in the service of the United States during the time of the late war exceeded four millions of pounds of which is to be deducted what remained on hand at the close of the war

But in forming an estimate of the materials to be provided in case of a future war it should be observed that the late war has not been an expensive one at least in the article of Gunpowder and that if the country was to be again invoved in war it is not probable that the conshytest could be carried on with as little fighting as the last - another considerable difference in the quantity of gunshypowder which will then be required will result from the extent of fortifications which have been erected since the war and which will have to be provided with an adeshyquate supply of powder as indispensably as with guns

In point of economy and of national Security nothing can be more advisable than to provide at low price in time of peace the materials which are indispensable in war but we think it proper to observe that should Congress pass an appropriation for the purpose the measure may be defeated in part by the government interferring at once in the market and that the competition which the purshychases of the government would c~te in a market supshyplied only for the ordinary wants and the yearly consumption of the country would inevitably raise the market price above what it is now considered the peace price the mode to avoid these consequences would be that the government should contract to import the materials wanted for its supply by which means the amount of Importation would be encreased of the whole quantity wanted by government without interferring with the supply of the market shy

Statement of prices paid for Saltpetre and brimstone from Statement of New powder Manufacturd and of old powder 1804 to 1829 for the Supply of du Ponts Powder Works remanufactured for the U SOrdnance amp Navy Depts at du

Ponts works from 1805 to 1815

~-----______J

SALTPETRE BRIMSTONE ORDNANCE DEPART NAVY DEPT Years Kentucky amp Eastlndia Refined Crrude Roll Refined Years Remanuld Powder New Powder New Powder

Tennessee Crude bv SuDshylimation

1804 20cts 3Octs 4 cIS 1805 75000 1805 20 a 21 26 5-12 1806 67200 1806 18 18 4-14 1807 32950 1807 16 4-12 1808 93900 25000 1808 29 24a30 32a38 5 1809 40300 50000 1809 3Oa38 5a 6 1810 50000 1810 3Oa36 35 5-12 1811 1150 1811 30 4 6a6-112 1812 115800 1812 3Oa33 6-112 a 11 -213 1813 184200 1813 32a38 8-14a9 1814 394000 1814 32a38 9-12al1 1815 106000 1815 27 25 4-112 1816 20 15a 18 4 309350 902350 25000 1817 15-112 a 17 lO a 16 18 3-14a4 1818 10 3-14 1819 8 a 10 2-34 1820 7aB 2-112 a3-12 1821 6-112 a 7 2-314 a 3 1822 - 6-112 a 7 2-314 a 3 1823 6-112 a 7 2-314 1824 6-112 2-314 1825 6-12 2-12 1826 5a 5-314 2-14 2-34 1827 5-112 a 6-314 2-14 2-18 1828 7a 7-12 2-14 1829 7-14 a 7-314 2-14 a 212 2

Imported bv us The last imported bv us


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ABSTRACTS OF SPELEAN HISTORY PAPERS ltrmiddotmiddotlt NSS CONVENTION HOT SPRINGS SOUTH DAKOTA JUNE~_

SPELEAN HISTORY SESSION shy

Session Chairman Angelo I George

ENDLESS CAVERNS VIRGINIA AND THE EXPLORERS CLUB

by

Russ Gurnee

Zirkle Cave New Market Virginia was discovered and developed one year after the discovery of Luray Caverns It was closer to the railroad but lacked good management It was not until the 19205 that the cave atshytracted the interest and investment of one Col E T Brown He was an enterprising business man promoter and his son Major Edward M Brown was a member of The Explorers Club in New York One of the Colonels promotions was to have members of The Explorers Club search for the end of what is now called ENDLESS CAVERNSTh~ expedition was to attract national attenshytion and focus interest on all of the many caves in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia

LEGEND OF THE BOOJUM NORTH CAROLINAS CAVE DWELLING

BIGFOOT

by

Cato Holler Jr and Oliver Holler

Several American caves are associated with stories of Sasquatch or Bigfoot creatures Ape Cave and Bigfoot are two of the better known Not as many cavers are familiar with the Peter Bottom Cave monster of the Ozarks and fewer still with North Carolinas legendary Boojum

The Boojums Cave is reportedly located atop one of the rocky crags of the Plott Balsam Mountains The creature is said to be related to the Abominable Snow Man of the Himalayas but is different in that it has developed an unusual fondness for certain precious stones of the Carolina mountains

THE HISTORY OF COLD AIR CAVE PENNSYLVANIA

by

Dean H Snyder

Cold Air Cave is a talus cave located just south of Delaware Water Gap in eastern Pennsylvania Long known as a local curiosity because of the strong air flow emerging from its entrance the tiny cave was commershycialized by the tum of the twentieth century

Visitors could escape oppr~ve w~_lgty enjoying the coolness of the cave air CJ I~~_pleasant stroll along the sha~walkw~to cave Old postcards of those early days ~_~

constructed over the entranlOO althou l ~ foundation remains today A general to the Poconos after WorldW~ llled t~~ cave Cold Air Cave is in ~~rtx ff ~~ Water Gap NatiQnalRecreatiofl ~ (

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LINVILLmiddoti ~~~

by t~~J1~gtgt) - bull ~ r

N~~ i ~~ ~~C )~ ~~)1 ~ The caverns pr~n~ was lt r ~~ ~_

native Americans whose artifacts have ~ i~ in rock shelters near the cave mouth It is of the American Revolution visited -~alvQ to the Battle of Kings MOUntainl~Ji~~bullbull ten reference 0 the cave was that C)f ~~tlJ~~ his Letters from the Alleghany MlaquolntainS Henry Colton in writing for the North C4rollna Presshybyterian gave what is perhaps the best arut D)E)st vivid description of the caveSevera1y~ars la_~ W deserters used the caverns as a hideout ~~(middot

Other promin~nt explOleFs Qver ~in~ c1uded Heriot Clarkon who was later -senior justice of the North Carolina Supremt Court and geologist W E Hidden

Following two expeditions led by BiM N~al in 1925 thecavemsreceivedconsiderablepublidtyintlleiaJeigh News and Obseroer In 1937 commercial devel9pRlelt was begun by J Q Gilkey and several others who formed a local corporation Unfortunately a devastating flood hit the area in 1940 closing the cave It was theA lOla to the Collins family who spent considerable effon iIamp cleaning up from the flood and have turned the cave into one of the top tourist attractions in North Carolina

TEMPLE CAVES OF THAILANI)

by

William R Halliday

Unlike the well-publicized temple caves of India and some of those of China which are rnan-~excavashytions the temple caves of Thailand are natuiiJ ~ feashytures A visit to some of these caves ill ~ 1-9amp7 revealed an impressive interface of ~~~ art cave management and conservation biolo8Y and much

~- THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY V22 N2 APRIL-JUNE 1988 21 ~

~~

more with an extraordinary potential for research intershyrelated with Buddhist art Thai history and similar topics

GAGE CAVERN A BRIEF HISTORY

by

Emily Davis Mobley and Thorn Engel

Recently James Gage donated Gage Cavern and forty acres of land to the National Speleological Foundashytion This land will be managed by the Society This is the most recent event in it long chain which started around 1831

Gage Cavern was reportedly first discovered by Peter Ball Since that time it was raped of its formations by John Gebhard Sr John Gebhard Jr and John S Bonnyt was visited heavily in the mid-nineteenth censhytury WilliamH Knopfel even planned tocommerdalize it in the 1850s

Within the twentieth century Gage Cavern has beshycome a very popular sport cave A ladder was placed in the entrance in the mid-1950s by James Gage and a crew from the Schoharie County jail Since then the cave has been visited by thousands of scout and outing groups Although most of the formations were removed in the nineteenth century the cave stiU has challenge and beauty

SHOW CAVE SIGNS A PASSING ART

by

Susan Holler

Public Law 89-285 known as the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 along with the other influenshyces of time education and sophistication are continuing to press into history many of the colorful and interesting signs billboards and barn paintings advertising show caves

-J 1 51 pound ~ I 1~ -( (101111(1 1 ( OllBT If I Ii -1lt

1 r U11I 1111 t ll ll tl 1 IItt S qUII It nIt 111 Ill 11111 I nd i~ dJlI UI 111 oJ 11 1- II 111(111 I fI ol r I

JDHN GEBHARD ESQ amp- JOHN SBON NY 1011 (

~~lti FIOIlIIII1 tnl II I 10 III I 1~llIlId or Ib I d


middot Photographing these advertising media is one way to preserve such passing cave art forms

DEMISE OF THE DOMESTIC SALTPETER INDUSTRY

by Angelo I George

With the close of the War of 1812 dunng the early months of 1815 the saltpeter industry died out in Kenshytucky (Bidermann 1815a and Faust 1967) Saltpeter mines either closed or scaled back to pre- war levels of production Was the end of the war duty free imports (Meriam 1844) cave closure and or scaled back producshytion really the reason for the end of the domestic saltpeter industry

To help answer this question digested saltpeter purchase records of the E I du Pont de Nemours Powshyder Works gives insight into first quarter 19th Century saltpeter mining in Kentucky Missouri Tennessee and Virginia (du Pont 1829) Important observations are the fluctuations in purchase price of saltpeter in response to national and international political climates And that promoted widespread investment speculation and gmwth in the short lived domestic saltpeter industry Development of the domestic powder industry relied upon the importation of cheap saltpeter from India Inshycrease in price occurred when that international source was cut from the American market in 1808 Price inshycreases are related to Embargo Act (December 1807) Nonintercourse Act (1809)and the Warof1812 (declared June 18 1812) All of the saltpeter was then domesticalshyly produced from caves and rockshelters in Kentucky Missouri Virginia and Tennessee There were caves comshymercially mined prior to 1808 yet the great bulk of hundreds of smaller sites employed from 1808 to early

1815 is the result of these embargos and war with England

E I du Pont (1829) said the caves of Kentucky which had furnished the principal supply until 1814 were then generally exhausted the richest had been worked and could produce no more the Saltpetre manufacturers had to work caves of an inferior quality and at a greater expense This would explain why there are so many small saltpeter caves mined Poor cave management of this renewable resource exhausted the largest saltpeter sites and prompted the expansion of the mining industry in 1814 to more of the caves in Tennessee and Missouri The height of active investment speculative saltpeter mining in Kentucky is bracketed from 1808 thru 1813 With peace restored du Pont and his competition could again receive cheap saltpeter from India The last domesshytic produced saltpeter purchased by du Pont was in 1817

HAROLD ANTHONYS EXPEDITIONS TO THE GREATER ANTILLES

by Fred Gr ady

Between 191 6 and 1920 Herold Anthony a mamshymalogist at the American Museum of Natural History led three expeditions to the Greater Antilles one each to Puerto Rico Cuba and Jamaica Dr Anthony was in ~arch of caves containing living and fossil mammals and was quite successful in finding both From June through July of 1916 he explored some 54 caves in Puerto Rico covering virtually all parts of that islandA trip to Cuba in early 1917 was curtailed due to a revolution and only a few caves were examined Anthonys Jamaican expedishytion from November 1919 to March 1920 was the most ambitious with more than 70 caves visited

Denotes presenter

GEOLOGY - GEOGRAPHY SESSION

SALTPETRE IN FOUR EUROPEAN CAVES CHEMICAL HISTORICAL AND

MINERALOGICAL ASPECTS

by David A Hubbard JrmiddotJanet S Herman

Richard S Mitchell and Elmar Hammerschmidt

Known saltpetre caves in Spain France and West Germany were visited to study the nature of saltpetre ocshycurrences Evidence of mining activity was found in Sophienhohle (West Gennany) which has a saltpetre hisshytory dating to 1490 Fourteen efflorescent wall and floorshycrust samples and nine sediment samples were collected from the four caves Nitrate minerals which are deliquesshycent were not found in any of the crust or sediment samples The nitrate minerals niter [KN03] and

nitromagnesite [MgltN03h 6H201 did form by the evaporation of leachates from the cave sediments of Sophienhohle Leachates from six of the sediment samples including representatives from each of the caves never fu lly evaporated even in relative humidities ranging from 33 to 43 percent Data from chemical analysis of the unconcentrated leachates indicate the five specimens have nitrate (N03) concentrations greater than 500 parts per million (ppm) From cation and anion compositions it can be inferred that with lower humidity five sediment leachates would yield the highly deliquesshycent mineral nitrocalcite [Ca(N03h 4H20]Chemical evidence confirms that Cova del Salnitre (Spain) Grotte dEnfer (France) Grotte Salpetriere (France) and Sophienhohle (West Germany) contain saltpetre

Denotes presenter


THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY The Official Quarterly Publication of the American Spelean History Association

Angelo I George Editor

VOLUME 22 NUMBER 2 APRIL-JUNE 1988

THE ASSOCIATION

The American Spelean History Associatio n (ASHA) is chartered as a non-profit corporation for the study d issemination and interpretation of spelean hisshytory and related purposes All persons who are intershyested middot in those goals are cordially invited to become members Annual membership is $500 family membershyship is $600 and library subscriptions are $400 ASHA is the official History Section of the National Speleologishycal Society

ASHA assumes no responSibility for statements made by contributors to The Journal of Spelean History

THE JOURNAL

The Association publishes the The Journal of Spelean History (ISSN 0022-4693) on a quarterly basis Pertinent articles or reprints are welcomed Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced in English and havesome relationshyship to spelean history Articles written on word processshying systems with 5 14 floppy disk are welcomed and will insure a more timely publication Submissions of rough d rafts for preliminary editing is encouraged All illustrations should be camera ready and prepared with the column width of the Journal in mind If illustrations require special handling arrangements should be made with the editor in advance Photos and illustrations will be returned upon request Submit all articles to Marion O Smith (address givenbelow) for distribution to section editors

BACKISSUES

All copies of back issues of the Journal are presentshyly available Early issues are photocopied Send request to Fred Grady (address given below) Indexes are also available forvolumes 1 2 3 4 and 5 All issuesof volumes 1-72 are available on microfiche from Kraus Reprint Company Route 100 Millwood New York 10546

FRONTCOVER

Interior view of the Peak of Derbyshire engraved from a drawing by Oennell for the Gallery of Nature and Art Published by R Wilks 69 Chancery Lane London July 15 1813 A I George collection

OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSltXIA TION

President Marion 0 Smith PO Box 8276 UT Station Knoxville TN 37996

Vice-President CatoHoller PO Box 100 Old Fort NC 28762

Secretary-Treasurer Fred Grady 1201 South Scott St Apt 123 Arlington V A 22204

TRUSTEES

Russ Gurnee Jack Speece Marion Smith Gary Soule Larry Matthews

JOURNAL STAFF

Editor (this issue) Angelo I George 1869 Trevilian Way Louisville KY 40205

Desk Top Publishing Diana Emerson George

Editors (future issues) Dale Ibberson 445 Hale Ave

oHarrisburg P A 17104 Dean H Snyder 3079 Main St Neffs PA 18065







CONTENTS











by

MARION O SMITH

COPPERAS CAVE






























FRANKS CAVE






ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

















by

Angelo I George





































Nm

[(1

r reg



















































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter







CONTENTS











by

MARION O SMITH

COPPERAS CAVE






























FRANKS CAVE






ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

















by

Angelo I George





































Nm

[(1

r reg



















































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter



by

MARION O SMITH

COPPERAS CAVE






























FRANKS CAVE






ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

















by

Angelo I George





































Nm

[(1

r reg



















































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter















FRANKS CAVE






ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

















by

Angelo I George





































Nm

[(1

r reg



















































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter




FRANKS CAVE






ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

















by

Angelo I George





































Nm

[(1

r reg



















































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter



by

Angelo I George





































Nm

[(1

r reg



















































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter














Nm

[(1

r reg



















































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter













































































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter


















































ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter


























ACKN OWLEDGMENT




1805



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter



GARY A ODELL























47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter















47000 lbs $O45 lb $21000













ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter









ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
















by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter



by

Angelo I George

ABSTRACT





INTRODUCTION









40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter






40-shy

t amp301-shyII)

foo zmiddot W U


2 0 I-- amp

o ~_


10 1-shy


1804-1829

I I I 18 0 0 1810





-

fH SALTPETER

I IMPORT S

bull DOMESTIC

-

amp

t

amp shy

t ~ pound


YEAR






















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter





















CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter






CONCLUSION




ACKNOWLEDGMENT



















APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter


APPENDIX
























~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter










~-----______J











by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter







by

Russ Gurnee



BIGFOOT

by





by

Dean H Snyder











by

William R Halliday



~~



by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter




by






by

Susan Holler









by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter




by Angelo I George






by Fred Gr ady


Denotes presenter








Denotes presenter


Documents

THE JOURNAL OF Spelean Historycaves.org/section/asha/issues/071.pdf · ASHA assumes no responSibility for statements made by contributors to . The Journal of Spelean History