Fritz, In my view, trips reports about actual caving are always welcome and never boring—even if the trip happened a few years ago. Thank you for sharing.
By the way, I measured the distance of the drop to the floor from the ledge while sketching the cave. I don’t recall the exact depth without checking my notes, but in any case it has changed and needs to be remeasured. During the cutting of tourist trails, a lot of rumble got dumped down the pit, raising the floor more than 2 m in some places. That rubble was still there when I measured the depth, but the restoration projects at the cave have since restored the floor to its natural condition and elevation. George ******************** George Veni, PhD Executive Director, National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) and President, International Union of Speleology (UIS) NCKRI address (primary) 400-1 Cascades Avenue Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220 USA Office: +575-887-5517 Mobile: +210-863-5919 Fax: +575-887-5523 gv...@nckri.org<mailto:gv...@nckri.org> www.nckri.org<http://www.nckri.org/> UIS address Titov trg 2 Postojna, 6230, Slovenia www.uis-speleo.org<http://www.uis-speleo.org/> From: Texascavers <texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com> On Behalf Of Fritz Holt Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2018 10:16 To: texascavers@texascavers.com Cc: Janice Vieira <janjanj...@aol.com>; June Levy <kittymr...@aol.com>; Frank McAvoy <fr...@iqbr.com>; Jimmy Wagner <j_e_wag...@comcast.net>; Jim Sherwin <jimsherwin2...@yahoo.com>; Mandy Holt <geekazoidman...@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Jack Prince, first person to cross Devil's Delight ledge in Mayfield Cave (Caverns of Sonora) I had not met Jack Prince but knew of his ledge crossing and great discovery. In December of 1955 or January 1956 I was stationed at Ft. Bliss in El Paso and had corresponded with good caving friend Jimmy Walker of Waelder, TX. Jimmy said he was leaving on Friday to check out a cave that a Dallas caving group had just discovered on The Mayfield Ranch near Sonora and invited me to meet him there. Fortunately, I did not have K.P. or guard duty that weekend so I loaded my gear in the car and headed east. I arrived at the ranch house at 2:00 AM Saturday morning and awakened Mr. Mayfield. He advised me that my party was camped under some trees about 500 feet south of his house and near the cave entrance. I slept in my car until first light and then joined the group in building a fire and eating some breakfast. We then descended into what was to be the most beautifully decorated underground wonderland that any of us had seen before or since. By the way, Jimmy’s two friends who accompanied us on this trip were Bob Hudson and his brother-in-law Ralph. Once in the cave, it did not take long to reach the ledge that had been described to Jimmy. The drop to the floor below appeared to be 30 or 40 feet and looked perilous. Jimmy remembers that it was Ralph who crossed the ledge to secure a rope to a distant formation to give us some sense of security. My memory is that there was an existing rope already attached from the previous expedition. Jimmy believed we were the third group to cross the ledge after the Prince group did so in September. 1955. Carl Kunath believes we were the fifth or sixth group to make the crossing. Jimmy told me that he had previously received a call from Prince or a member of his group asking for a recommendation for a cave to visit. Jimmy had a trip planned for that same September, 1955 period and did not want the competition so he told them they might want to check out a cave on the Mayfield Ranch which was some distance from Jimmy’s planned trip. Little did he know what the other group would discover. It goes without saying that the two days spent in Mayfield were the best of all my caving experiences. The formations were and I hope still are the most beautiful anyone could ever hope to see. I have never been back but hope to visit again. Friend Preston McMichael (deceased) and Lyndon TU said the cave office has a picture displayed of 21 year old Fritz Holt looking up at a six foot soda straw. Jimmy Walker took this picture and others on our trip to the cave. I think I have several. I hope I haven’t bored all with my nostalgic recollections. Fritz F. Holt 12737 Silver Creek Rd. Dripping Springs, TX 78620 fritz...@gmail.com<mailto:fritz...@gmail.com> 713-818-2496 Sent from my iPhone On Dec 8, 2018, at 10:30 PM, George Veni <gv...@nckri.org<mailto:gv...@nckri.org>> wrote: Thanks Logan. I’ve forwarded your message to the owners of Caverns of Sonora just in case they didn’t know. I met Jack once there during the 50th anniversary of the ledge crossing. He told me that he and his team didn’t really think of the crossing as a big deal and didn’t rig a safety line for there first few trips, even when they crossed it with duffel bags during a cave camp trip. I crossed the ledge a couple of times while sketching that part of the cave and it looks a lot more treacherous from the tourist trail than from the direction of exploration. There is a frequently distributed photo of someone crossing the ledge and being high up on the slope next to the safety line. Jack and I agreed that the best place to cross is to walk right along the edge of the ledge. The floor is flat with a grippy surface there, making it very easy for much of the traverse. Although I wouldn’t do it without that safety line. Jack also told me the he was elected to cross the ledge first because he was the most experienced, something I’d heard many times. I asked him how experienced and he said, “I think it was my third caving trip.” George ******************** George Veni, PhD Executive Director, National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) and President, International Union of Speleology (UIS) NCKRI address (primary) 400-1 Cascades Avenue Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220 USA Office: +575-887-5517 Mobile: +210-863-5919 Fax: +575-887-5523 gv...@nckri.org<mailto:gv...@nckri.org> www.nckri.org<http://www.nckri.org/> UIS address Titov trg 2 Postojna, 6230, Slovenia www.uis-speleo.org<http://www.uis-speleo.org/> From: Texascavers <texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com<mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com>> On Behalf Of Logan Sent: Saturday, December 8, 2018 20:16 To: texascavers@texascavers.com<mailto:texascavers@texascavers.com> Subject: [Texascavers] Jack Prince, first person to cross Devil's Delight ledge in Mayfield Cave (Caverns of Sonora) Jack Prince passed away on November 19, 2018, one month shy of his 90th birthday. Most of you do not know who he was, or that he made one of the most memorable discoveries in a cave in Texas. Bill Stephenson, founder of the National Speleological Society, described the cave as "the most indescribably beautiful cave in the world." On Sept 24, 1955, Jack was the first person to cross the precipitous narrow sloping ledge in Mayfield Cave (Sutton County, TX) that led into the stunning world-class beauty of what is now known as Caverns of Sonora. The most detailed account of that discovery and the story of the cave is in the 2007 book 50 Years of Texas Caving by Carl Kunath, who interviewed Jack. When it was printed, Carl gave him the very first copy. I met Jack only once, in 2008, thanks to Susan Chelf. He was retired and a volunteer helping people with tax forms. Caves came up in the conversation and she was astounded to hear his story. She told me and I went a few days later. Without explanation, first thing I asked him was "Do you remember where you were on Sept 24, 1955?" He looked at me for a few seconds, thought for a few more seconds, and answered "Well, I probably was in Mayfield Cave, crossing the Devil's Delight ledge." We had a good chat and he autographed my copy of 50 Years below a full page photo on page 417 of him with the awesome Antler Helictites, taken on the discovery trip. Here is the link to his obituary. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?n=clarence-e-prince&pid=190890160 I'm going to attend his memorial 3:00 this Monday Dec 10th at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3208 Exposition Blvd, Austin 78703 He obviously was a man of deep faith and is in Heaven now. But he also had the good fortune to discover a part of Heaven on Earth. Logan McNatt lmcn...@austin.rr.com<mailto:lmcn...@austin.rr.com> 512-462-9581 _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com<mailto:Texascavers@texascavers.com> | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
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