Henry Rifle Forums

Jamestown Va. back in 2006....
https://youtu.be/xyxWLEbn-3E

Interesting video.

I would have loved being an archaeologist.

Jamestown and its surrounding area has a remarkable history and is a wonderful area to visit

Have a good fried that lives there.

RP

One commenter said that most stuff found in these old wells, other than lost pots or broken bucket parts, happened after they stopped drawing water out (maybe due to salt water contamination) and they started throwing trash in them.

I have to wonder why anybody would throw a pistol or pike away, even if it were damaged. Unless there was a fight happening and somebody like Natty Bumppo disarmed his opponent and tossed his weapon in the hole. That is cool to imagine.

Thanks for posting the video.

John Davies
Spokane WA

My neighbor is a Spelunker. That is his passion is caving. He is a well know expert in the field in fact, and I have even gone down into the underworld with him when I was younger. Here's his web page.

http://www.cavepreserve.com

Anyway, he finds sink hole in farmers fields and excavates them. He used to do it by hand a bucket at a time, but now he has a back hoe that makes it quicker. He has pulled so many artifacts from them that it is astonishing. The old farmers used to throw all their trash and junk in to trying to plug them up, but at the bottom of each is a cave, and the stuff keeps settling in. Scares the heck out of the farmers.

Some of the things he's pulled out include an old Model T, various bottles, ect. I was with him at more than a half mile under ground where we found an old tire. He also found the skull of a Sabre Tooth Tiger which is now on display at the capitol.

Some of his caves are small, but most expand into passages that you could drive a truck through.

Over the years he has purchased farm land that the farmers were afraid of and now owns several hundred acres with caves beneath.

On another side note, he is an explosive expert and is licensed to blow things up.

Caves are cool. I grew up in TN and the limestone around there is absolutely riddled with holes. I rode a national motorcycle enduro NW of Nashville and the course led up a small ledgey stream to a big opening in the base of a sheer rock face. The route went inside the cave for maybe 100 yards, with a couple of nice folks holding up camp lanterns at intervals. At the far end was a steep sinkhole with about a twenty foot climb back into the real world.

Talk about spooky and memorable! This was around 1974. Part of the course went out onto the incomplete and unopened Interstate 24 for a few miles. Things were sure different back then...

John Davies
Spokane WA

Really nice Bellarmine jug. I found a couple Bellarmine jug tops during my river diving years. Never a whole one. Historic artifacts are very cool. Native American artifacts are incredibly cool.

John E Davies wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:51 am

Caves are cool. I grew up in TN and the limestone around there is absolutely riddled with holes. I rode a national motorcycle enduro NW of Nashville and the course led up a small ledgey stream to a big opening in the base of a sheer rock face. The route went inside the cave for maybe 100 yards, with a couple of nice folks holding up camp lanterns at intervals. At the far end was a steep sinkhole with about a twenty foot climb back into the real world.

Talk about spooky and memorable! This was around 1974. Part of the course went out onto the incomplete and unopened Interstate 24 for a few miles. Things were sure different back then...

John Davies
Spokane WA

Lots of caves in TN. Hilly country, mostly limestone, which is ripe for caves. I've been in several back in my younger days, ( too old to be doing that now ). In 1968, I was part of the Westmoreland,TN Civil Defense, and we went into several caves in the hills around there, & mapped them in case someone got lost or trapped in there. Gives us a better understanding of what to expect if we had to go in. There were some very large rooms in one of them, floor was solid rock, where the roof had fell in at some point in time.
Another cave had a long corridor that led to a large hole, straight down. Sent a lantern down on a rope, but it couldn't give enough
light very far down. We didn't have enough rope to reach the bottom. Always wanted to go back & try to find out how deep it was.
Lot of fun, but also dangerous.
Ahh , for the good ole days..........

Small world sometimes. I was working in the yard, (we live way back in the woods), thinking about walking over to see how John, the spelunker was doing, when I turned around he was standing behind me. We go back a long ways, he's kinda like one of my kids, so we get along really well.
He told me that just recently the Science Museum launched a big display about caves and all the wealthy sponsors were there for cocktails and all. At the very start the speaker said that none of this would have possible except for one man and had him stand up. That thrilled him a lot.
He also told me that he's afraid he'll lose his small company due to the virus. His employees are all on Unemployment and he's getting the loan to pay them, but the problem is there is no work even if they could come in. He's afraid when this is over there will be little business either for a long time. They call him crying because they have families and don't know what to do. He doesn't either.
Sad.

Coop, hate to hear that about your friend. Lots of folks in that situation, right now. I can sympathize, as I was in that situation
years ago. Bad, scary feeling, & helpless. Hope when this is all over, he can get his business back up & running normal.
Hang tight up there, brother.

Thanks, he's a really great guy and I hate to see him going through this.