HISTORY
Maxwelton Sink Cave was originally dug open in the late 1960's
by various groups of cavers. A culvert was placed at this
entrance, the Cove Creek Entrance, which was at the base of a
large cliff near the airport. This entrance provided to
be the main entrance, even after a second entrance was located
very close to the airport. In 1973, the remnants of a large
hurricane swept through West Virginia, filling in the Cove Creek
Entrance with large amounts of debris. This entrance has
not been re-opened, at first due to the extensive dig required
to regain access, and later due to new landowners that preferred
cavers not be on the property. Meanwhile, in the mid-1970s,
the Airport Entrance was closed when development of a warehouse
near the airport covered this entrance. The WVCC had been
in contact with the current owners of the Cove Creek Entrance,
but no deal was ever ultimately agreed upon by both parties,
despite many close calls.
This new dig site is owned by Dave Scott and his associates. Dave,
a long-time caver, had performed a surface survey from the Cove
Creek Entrance to his property to determine whether cave passage
previously mapped existed under his land. Once discovering
that it did, microgravity surveys were conducted to determine
the exact location of the passage. After these tests proved
that the cave did exist there, a dig site was chosen and access
to the cave was again gained via this new entrance. Due
to extremely unstable conditions at and near this entrance, work
is continuing on the stabilization of this entrance.
|
