| On a cool March Friday in 1972, John Wallace checked | | | | squeeze through. At the bottom there was a low |
| out his four seat airplane at the Charlie Brown Airport | | | | craw that went to the northeast for about 50 feet and |
| in Atlanta for a flight to Tennessee. The plan was for | | | | then a ledge with a short drop of about 5 feet into a |
| John's wife Youlanda, and their children Paul and Erika | | | | large room sloping downward. I study the floor and |
| along with Art Smith, and Jack Pace to drive up to the | | | | could not make out any tracks. I sat there yelling |
| Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville, | | | | encouragement to the others to come on down. We |
| Tennessee and rent a cabin for the weekend. My | | | | had found something big. |
| wife Kathy, our six-year-old daughter, Deanna and I | | | | I felt like Neil Armstrong on the moon when I made that |
| would fly with John to the Crossville Memorial Airport in | | | | first step on the floor below and left that first foot print |
| Crossville and we would spend a day of caving the | | | | where no one had ever stepped before. The mud had |
| next day. | | | | a black coating on top and when you raised your foot |
| We would alternate driving and flying in order to have | | | | it left a very clear orange print about 1 inch deep. It felt |
| transportation from the airport to the caves we visited | | | | strange to walk down into that huge room and then |
| in the southeast. Half of the group would fly and the | | | | look back at the lonely set of foot prints that would |
| other half would drive. This trip was quite a nice one | | | | soon turn into a well-worn path. |
| along the interstate and then we followed the state | | | | We explored the new extension for the rest of the |
| road into Crossville. It was after dark when we arrived | | | | day finding formations along the west wall and Crystal |
| and the airport's lights were not on. The airport is on | | | | Gypsum Flowers covering the floor as the ceiling |
| top of a mountain and we were a little nervous about | | | | became lower near the end. We crawled through |
| finding a place to land. John's wife was there but could | | | | some breakdown into a much smaller room at the end |
| not contact anyone at the airport. John at last | | | | and could find no way to continue. |
| managed to radio someone and they turned on the | | | | We were all very excited about our new find and |
| lights. | | | | planed to return to map this new section the following |
| It was a large cabin at the park and we settled in for a | | | | month. Unknown to us another caving group had just |
| good night of rest before the trip the next day. We | | | | undertaken a major re-mapping of the cave and were |
| planned to visit Devils Sink Hole with the family and | | | | in the process of publishing their map. When Jack |
| then the four of us would explore Grassy Cove | | | | Pace moved to Nashville and told the caving group |
| Saltpeter Cave on the other side of the mountain. | | | | there about the discovery, they quickly returned to the |
| Kathy and Deanna spent a lovely day hiking around | | | | cave and called it the Nashville Extension. |
| the park while we went caving. | | | | We returned on Saturday, April 22, 1972 with the |
| A few miles southeast of Crossville is located Grassy | | | | additional assistance of my wife's cousin, Bill Meier, and |
| Cove, A depression between two mountains that by | | | | mapped the March 18th Discovery. I was working for |
| all rights should be a big natural lake. The rain water | | | | Eastman Kodak Co. At the time and had access to |
| that falls in the cove runs north into a cave, then | | | | the latest home movie cameras. I was trying out a |
| emerges at the Devils Sink Hole, south of the cove | | | | new model with very low light capability for taking |
| and over the mountain. This long mountain contains | | | | movies in the cave. We used a Coleman Lantern for |
| many caves and a major stream that flow completely | | | | the light source and the shutter speed set slow to |
| under it. Grassy Cove Saltpeter Cave is well known | | | | capture as much light as possible. These short movies |
| for being a dusty cave and dust masks are handy to | | | | can be viewed on my caving web site. |
| avoid histoplasmosis, a lung disease common in dusty | | | | Grassy Cove Saltpeter Cave now ranks eleventh in |
| caves and chicken houses. I did come down with a | | | | the state of Tennessee for the longest cave. I would |
| light case of this later and it could very well have been | | | | like to thank that we made it a little easier for future |
| from this cave. The doctor wanted to know if I had | | | | cavers to discover the miles of cave that followed in |
| been around any chicken houses. | | | | this great cave. |
| We entered the cave and debated about exploring | | | | 1 Blue Spring Cave 33 miles |
| the west dry passages or to venture down the | | | | 2 Cumberland Caverns 27 miles |
| waterfall at the east end of the cave. There were | | | | 3 Xanadu Cave System 23 miles |
| reported to be more caves below the water fall. | | | | 4 Rumbling falls Cave 15 miles |
| However, ropes would be required and we were not | | | | 5 Nunley Mountain Cave System 15 miles |
| prepared for that. The water fall room sounded too | | | | 6 Big Bone Cave 15 miles |
| good to pass up so we opted for going down through | | | | 7 Snail Shell Cave System 9 miles |
| the chasm and to the water fall. | | | | 8 Rice Cave 9 miles |
| The Chasm is a short drop that can be climbed if you | | | | 9 Cuyler Cave 8 miles |
| chimney out to a narrow portion of the drop. We | | | | 10 Dunbar Cave 8 miles |
| however chose to use the rope for the drop. We | | | | 11 Grassy Cove Saltpeter Cave 8 miles |
| continued down to the waterfall room and poked | | | | 12 Wolf River 7 miles |
| around looking for any easy lead to continue on. John | | | | 13 Haws Spring Cave 7 miles |
| was checking behind a large rock on the north side of | | | | 14 Zarathustra 7 miles |
| the passage when he noticed air blowing from the | | | | 15 Camps Gulf Cave 6 miles |
| rocks. We all got excited and started helping with the | | | | This was the first major discovery that I was involved |
| easy dig. | | | | with and I have been more excited about caving than |
| In less than an hour we had a small hole that looked to | | | | ever and the challenge of not only exploring but |
| open up below. I was elected to give it a try, I am not | | | | documenting caves with maps, pictures, movies, and |
| sure why I was first but I was grateful. I went feet first | | | | articles. |
| into the hole removing my hard hat in order to | | | | |