RE: [Texascavers] RE: New tour at NBC
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
Re: [Texascavers] Re: New tour at NBC
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
RE: [Texascavers] RE: New tour at NBC
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
