RE: [Texascavers] RE: New tour at NBC

[Fritz Holt]

In February of 1956, Jimmy Walker, a couple of his caving friends, and
I, were the second group to visit the newly discovered part of Mayfield
Cave. This was after the initial discovery group from Dallas or
someplace had made two or three trips the latter part of 1955. We spent
two full days on the other side of the pit and went quite a distance
into the cave. We all agreed that we had never seen anything to match
the beauty of this cave and its formations. This was basically wild
virgin cave and to this day I have not seen anything  comparable and
consider myself most fortunate to have been in this group of spelunkers.
I don't think that we knew any cavers at that time although many were
quite accomplished. We saw many soda straws in the cave's far reaches
and were amazed at their length and fragile beauty. My memory has dimmed
with time but I would not be surprised if some did not exceed six feet
in length. I relive these nostalgic moments when I read posts such as
this one.

Fritz 

 

  _  

From: Minton, Mark [mailto:mmin...@nmhu.edu] 
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 9:55 AM
To: Texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: [Texascavers] RE: New tour at NBC

 

>The new tour's talking points include its unusually long soda-straw
formations - one of which, at about six feet in length, is the
second-longest in North America.

 

  What a crock!  There are lots of places in North America with soda
straws over 6 feet long.  Maybe that was supposed to say 16 feet, since
on the NBC website
<http://www.naturalbridgecaverns.com/adventureTours.aspx> they claim to
have one 14 feet long, and say it is _one_ of the longest in North
America, rather than second longest.

 

>With bedrock dating back about 140 million years, the cave's interior
is a veritable catalogue of Texas' past, said resident geologist Brian
Vauter.
>"What you're looking at is probably the world's most extensive library
of climatological change," he said.

 

  More BS.  There are lots of caves that go much deeper than Natural
Bridge and cut through more layers of rock with older ages.  I can't
believe a geologist would make that statement.

 

Mark Minton

[Texascavers] Re: New tour at NBC

[Minton, Mark]

Brian,

>So, thanks again for your comments about me, the cave for which I work, and 
>some misquoted comments of an over-zealous reporter.

  Sorry for sounding hard on you.  The reporter did not attribute the soda 
straw comment to you, and I said I couldn't believe a geologist had made the 
climate comment.  Apparently you didn't, so no offense intended.  I should have 
questioned the accuracy of the reporter, not the source.  I too have been 
involved with things reported in the press, and I have learned that about the 
only thing you can really believe is that something vaguely related to what you 
read actually occurred.  Any more than that is a leap of faith.  In spite of 
their notorious lack of accuracy, virtually no reporter will allow the people 
they cover to proofread their work before it is published.  What are they 
afraid of, and why don't they pay more attention?

Mark Minton

Re: [Texascavers] Re: New tour at NBC

[CWAN]

> The press is not interested in facts just sensationalism. Remember the
article about Robber Barron being the longest cave in the world. That
reporter was interviewing George Veni.

Mike Burrell

Wow Mark. Thanks so much for the kind words.
>
>
>
> If I got paid every time I was misquoted by the press, I wouldn't have to
> work for a commercial cave, much less work at all.
>
>
>
> You are correct. That is a crock. There are lots of places in North
> America with soda straws over 6 feet in length. Hell, I've taken pics
> of the straws in La Puenta ... talk about long soda straws!
>
>
>
> Unfortunately, what I told the reporter was that the soda straw he was
> looking at was 6 feet long. He asked if that was the longest, and I
> told him that it was not. We do have a soda straw which is 14 feet in
> length. It's located in the Fault Room. And it's among the longest in
> North America, because to be honest, I haven't made a recent survey of
> long soda straws in North America. I don't really know if ours is still
> the second longest. But saying "among the longest" is honest. So when
> that reporter asked the length of the longest soda straw and then
> misquoted me in the paper, well, that's part and parcel of dealing with
> the press.
>
>
>
> As far as the climate comment, man, you are correct again. That is the
> mother lode of BS!
> But, unfortunately once more, what I did say was that the caverns
> represented AN extensive library of
> climatic data. This has been confirmed by Dr. Jay Banner, of UT Austin,
> (one of those pesky geologists!) whose students have been working in
> our cave, and many others, for over 11 years. Their work has been
> instrumental in understanding what we present to our guests. Dr. Banner
> and I
> have talked at great lengths about the cave, and his work. Since I do not
> possess the scientific resources of a university, I am
> grateful to have a whole team of geologists helping me to further
> understand the place at which I work.
>
>
>
> So, thanks again for your comments about me, the cave for which I work,
> and some misquoted comments of an over-zealous reporter.
>
>
>
> Brian Vauter
>
> Cavern Geologist
>
> Natural Bridge Caverns, Inc.
>



-
Visit our website: http://texascavers.com
To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com
For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com

[Texascavers] Re: New tour at NBC

[vauterb]

Wow Mark. Thanks so much for the kind words.



If I got paid every time I was misquoted by the press, I wouldn't have to work 
for a commercial cave, much less work at all.



You are correct. That is a crock. There are lots of places in North
America with soda straws over 6 feet in length. Hell, I've taken pics
of the straws in La Puenta ... talk about long soda straws! 



Unfortunately, what I told the reporter was that the soda straw he was
looking at was 6 feet long. He asked if that was the longest, and I
told him that it was not. We do have a soda straw which is 14 feet in
length. It's located in the Fault Room. And it's among the longest in
North America, because to be honest, I haven't made a recent survey of
long soda straws in North America. I don't really know if ours is still
the second longest. But saying "among the longest" is honest. So when
that reporter asked the length of the longest soda straw and then
misquoted me in the paper, well, that's part and parcel of dealing with
the press.



As far as the climate comment, man, you are correct again. That is the mother 
lode of BS!
But, unfortunately once more, what I did say was that the caverns represented 
AN extensive library of
climatic data. This has been confirmed by Dr. Jay Banner, of UT Austin,
(one of those pesky geologists!) whose students have been working in
our cave, and many others, for over 11 years. Their work has been
instrumental in understanding what we present to our guests. Dr. Banner and I
have talked at great lengths about the cave, and his work. Since I do not 
possess the scientific resources of a university, I am
grateful to have a whole team of geologists helping me to further
understand the place at which I work. 



So, thanks again for your comments about me, the cave for which I work, and 
some misquoted comments of an over-zealous reporter.



Brian Vauter

Cavern Geologist

Natural Bridge Caverns, Inc. 

RE: [Texascavers] RE: New tour at NBC

[Geary Schindel]

Mark,

 

This reminds me of what the General Manager of the Edwards Aquifer
Authority told me when I first started work down here.

 

I will never hold you accountable for what you said to the press - only
what the press says you said.

 

Geary

 

-Original Message-
From: Minton, Mark [mailto:mmin...@nmhu.edu] 
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 10:55 AM
To: Texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: [Texascavers] RE: New tour at NBC

 

>The new tour's talking points include its unusually long soda-straw
formations - one of which, at about six feet in length, is the
second-longest in North America.

 

  What a crock!  There are lots of places in North America with soda
straws over 6 feet long.  Maybe that was supposed to say 16 feet, since
on the NBC website
<http://www.naturalbridgecaverns.com/adventureTours.aspx> they claim to
have one 14 feet long, and say it is _one_ of the longest in North
America, rather than second longest.

 

>With bedrock dating back about 140 million years, the cave's interior
is a veritable catalogue of Texas' past, said resident geologist Brian
Vauter.
>"What you're looking at is probably the world's most extensive library
of climatological change," he said.

 

  More BS.  There are lots of caves that go much deeper than Natural
Bridge and cut through more layers of rock with older ages.  I can't
believe a geologist would make that statement.

 

Mark Minton

[Texascavers] RE: New tour at NBC

[Minton, Mark]

>The new tour's talking points include its unusually long soda-straw formations 
>- one of which, at about six feet in length, is the second-longest in North 
>America.

  What a crock!  There are lots of places in North America with soda straws 
over 6 feet long.  Maybe that was supposed to say 16 feet, since on the NBC 
website  they claim to 
have one 14 feet long, and say it is _one_ of the longest in North America, 
rather than second longest.

>With bedrock dating back about 140 million years, the cave's interior is a 
>veritable catalogue of Texas' past, said resident geologist Brian Vauter.
>"What you're looking at is probably the world's most extensive library of 
>climatological change," he said.

  More BS.  There are lots of caves that go much deeper than Natural Bridge 
and cut through more layers of rock with older ages.  I can't believe a 
geologist would make that statement.

Mark Minton