Quarterly Proceedings of
the Bluegrass Grotto: the North Central Kentucky Area
Chapter of the National Speleological Society

I feel that the circumstances that eventually resulted in a rescue effort at Sloan’s Valley Cave System (SVCS) were typical; they were not in the least bit extraordinary. I am certain that they were totally avoidable. I think that these circumstances were typical in that they were brought about by a string of decisions that seemed minor but nonetheless locked the trip

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Editor's Note: The author made a great presentation at the Bluegrass Grotto's monthly meeting on May 16, 2006. If the text to follow crosses with Wikipedia's content on this subject it is because Mark's current submission and Mark's Wiki page were developed at the same time. A brief bio of Mark follows this article.

by Mark Kidd (U. Kentucky Student, Audiophile).

    When the Smithsonian Institute sent a group to examine Luray Caverns in 1880, ‘cave fever’ was in full-swing in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It was two years after Benton Stebbins and Andrew Campbell discovered the cave; as news of the discovery spread, farmers, entrepreneurs, and adventure-seekers alike were excavating sinkholes with shovels and pickaxes in hopes to change their fortunes in an area that had been in near-constant recession since the Civil War. Some would-be cave tycoons were successful and began to open other show caves around

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