>From David Locklear
I do not know how this got over-looked, but the landowner of the 3 big
caves out in
Langtry passed away in March of 2016
http://www.gwcoxmemorialfuneralhome.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_
id=3634090&fh_id=14259
In the mid-1980's I was on very good terms with the previous owner of the
ranch. He welcomed
cavers with open-arms. There were many trips by lots of grotto's
probably, but it was the Aggies
place that we focused on.
Sometime around 1989, the ranch was sold to Mr. Hargrove. He was real
nice at first, but cavers
were wanting to come out all the time, and he was not aware of the previous
relationship, nor was
he interested, and was worried about liability and stuff. he let us
come out about 3 times, and then
started asking for $ 100 per person. When I mentioned that at a TSA
event, or through the grapevine,
the attitude was screw him, cavers will just go to other caves like H.T.
Myers Cave or Bustamante, or
even Devil's Sinkhole ( I think ), maybe even to Valdina Farms Sinkhole.
So I was getting into other stuff then, and was more interested in trips to
Midnight Cave and to
The Illusive Pit, in Coahuila. So I blew it off until the 94 NSS
Convention came up. There was
a lot going on back in 94, but I managed to leave the caves rigged thru the
convention for free and
3 trips took place. ( at least 6 cavers got really sick, and I was one of
them. ).
Mr. Hargrove let me take another 2 or 3 trips of small groups of GHG cavers
around 1995 or 1996,
and I never went back.
Joe Ivy had called me the week before he passed away, and asked for the
landowner's info and that
he wanted to re-ignite a project out there. I have no idea if any cavers
have been out there in the last
20 years.
I contacted the landowners's niece on Facebook about 2 years ago, and she
said the caves were open
only to paying customers. I know I shared that info with enough cavers
that someone could have
investigated the matter.
In the so called "Golden Days of Texas Caving," cavers would have been
pall-bearers at his funeral,
or at least done something noteworthy. They would have at least
published an article about him.
Right ??
He has a large family of descendants on Facebook. I sent a note to about
20 of them on behalf of Texas cavers offering our condolences. Two of his
grandkids responded with a thank you.
I had unsubscribed from CaveTex about 6 weeks ago. I needed a hiatus.
The realities of life are
kicking me in the ***. But some of you might have noticed that I just
vented in other places instead.
I have spent most of 2017 in a cheap motel in Houston. For the past
month, it was the Regency
Inn on the northwest side of Houston. I have been affected by Tropical
Storm Harvey due to the
courthouse being closed for 32 plus days, and that is where I work out of
delivering subpoenas for
attorneys. Various storm-related services were worthless, especially the
Red Cross, but I managed to get Bush Beans to
send me 2 large cans of delicious baked beans, and Chicken-of-the-Sea sent
me $ 3.00 worth of
Albacore Tuna. So please buy their products when you go shopping for
groceries.
I am not hurting, but just digging deeper into debt and going stir-crazy
insane from boredom. My recent obsession with Linux computers has helped
me cope.
David Locklear
P.S.
For you newbies, the 3 big caves are Emerald Sink, Langrtry Quarry Cave,
and Langtry Lead Cave.
Emerald Sink has lots of bats and dusty guanos and sections so filled with
bats and guanos, that few cavers
have been in them. The bottom of Emerald Sink seemed to have bad air
when we were there in 1994.
Langtry Quarry Cave has an unstable entrance, but there is a fun climb just
passed the twilight zone. I have
never been down in the Rift Passage, as we always ran out of time, trying
to do the trips on a 2 day weekend.
Langtry Lead Cave has several fun free-climbs, some walking passage, a
small room full of breakdown, a long
crawlway over pepples, and fun climb-down, and then a really cool but tiny
room, "The Hall of Unicorns." Then
it gets vertical with several back to back short 40 foot pits, that seem to
go no where. There are likely lots
of caves out in that area, especially shelter caves along the creek that
runs thru Pandale, just north of Langtry.
I have not been out there in 20 years. There is probably a wi-fi
McDonalds on top of Langtry Quarry Cave, and
a Dollar General Store next door. Right ??
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