ELLISON’S CAVE: THE FIRST EIGHT MILES

Marion O. Smith

Ellison’s Cave, located in Walker County on Pigeon Mountain, is Georgia’s premier spelean system.
It is the only known cave east of the Mississippi River with a depth exceeding a thousand feet. Formed along
a major fault by both vadose and phreatic processes in Mississippian aged Bangor, Monteagle, and Ste. Louis
limestones, the cave literally cuts vertically and horizontally through the mountain. The upper levels connect
to the lower levels via Fantastic Pit and TAG Hall (508-586 feet) and Incredible Pit (440 feet). Three
entrances plus the spring resurgence are on the eastern side of the mountain and one entrance is on the
western side. Up to four separate bottom levels connect the two major domepits, 4600 straight line feet
apart. Some of these levels contain unusual mineral deposits such as moonmilk and epsomite. East from
Fantastic Pit the main stream meanders about a mile, descends a 34 foot pit and finally disappears into
breakdown.

The Historic or Original Entrance, on the eastern side of the mountain, was visited a number of times
in the nineteenth century. Names and dates, as early as 1839, are scratched on the walls, particularly 1379
feet inside at The Junction. The cave was named for Augustus Park Ellison (ca. 1842-1912), a Confederate
veteran who in 1862 lost his left arm in battle. Ellison lived his last twenty-one years on top of Pigeon
Mountain a quarter mile from the cave, which was occasionally used by his family for a storm shelter.

In 1927 some now unknown person or persons traversed downstream from The Junction through the
Agony Crawl and Ecstasy Passage and became perhaps the first to discover what would later be called the
Warm-up Pit (125 feet). The date and a skull and crossbones, now obliterated, were drawn with a carbide
light on a boulder upstream from the pit.

The first known National Speleological Society members to visit Ellison’s were James B. and Shirley
Stephenson on June 30, 1962, with a group of Walker County Civil Defense members. James and others
entered the Agony Crawl, but decided not to go further because it would be "safer to wait until we had a set
of field phones with us to advise us of weather conditions outside."

The “real" exploration of Ellison’s began in 1968 when on March 16 NSS members Richard W.
Schreiber and E. E. "Rick" Foote relocated the cave. From The Junction they too went downstream to but
not through what Richard later named the Agony. The next day they dug open the twenty-five foot entrance
pit of Gross Cave and explored 400 feet of passage to a low wet crawl.

On October 5 and 6, 1968, Schreiber, accompanied by Della McGuffin and Sue Cross the first day
and by Della the second day, mapped 5,631 feet of passage. They rediscovered the 125 foot pit originally
found in 1927, and on the second day made the first descent. They stretched their rope diagonally across the
bottom and rappelled the tail down a muddy climb they named the Rectum and into a twenty foot pit directly
below. They then traversed a damp, muddy fifty foot crawl to a series of three dome rooms connected by
narrow fissures.

The stream left the third dome under a three foot high ledge. Della looked under the ledge and saw a
fourth domepit, which Richard estimated was over sixty feet across. A rock was dropped over the edge, and
took over six seconds to reach the floor! Stunned, they dropped another rock, then another and another until
they were certain of the rock fall time. Ecstatic with joy, they named Della’s discovery Fantastic Pit and left
the cave.

The first descents of Fantastic were made the following November 1. Richard and Della were the
first down, followed in turn by Jim Wilbanks, Mike Lemonds, David Stidham, and Rob Culbertson. During
the day 516 feet were surveyed above and 1127 feet below Fantastic, and the pit was measured with a wire at
S10 feet,

The next day a second group composed of Jay Arnold*, Bill Tozer*, Bill Cuddington, Sara Corrie*,
Dan Hale*, Steve Richard*, Ronnie Aycock*, Diane Cousineau*, John and his sister Janet Cole, Rick* and
Penny Foote toured the known cave, and eight (those marked *) yoyoed Fantastic and then derigged the cave.

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Meanwhile, Schreiber, McGuffin, Stidham, and Lemonds continued exploration of the upper cave and
surveyed 1896 feet, including the 1379 feet from The Junction to the Historic Entrance.

On the 28th of the same month, Richard, Della, and five others established a new rig point. a ten
foot ledge to the right of the original rig was cleared of several hundred pounds of rock, yielding a crawl to a
twenty by thirty by eighty foot high dome, which became known as the Balcony Room. On the left wall,
facing the pit, two half-inch bolts were installed, which for several years were the main anchors for descents
of Fantastic. The next day, both Richard and Della led survey teams in the lower cave. Richard’s group
mapped downstream 767 feet and explored through breakdown an additional 400 feet. Della’s party went
upstream and then up a lead found by Bennie Sanford. This led through breakdown above the stream to an
extensive dry upper level. They mapped 652 feet, including an enlargement of the passage which was named
the Gypsum Room, and 200 plus foot high Snowball Dome, so named because of a large round white |
formation near its bottom.

On the 30th Richard located on the surface a small opening he had seen from within Ellison’s near the
downstream end of the Agony. This six inch square hole was in the same ravine thirty-eight vertical feet
above Gross Cave. Later that day Richard, Della, and five others dug at the hole but failed to make a human
sized entrance.

The next week Bennie Sanford visited Huntsville, Alabama, and told Bill Torode about the possible
new entrance. On December 7 John Cole led a group to tour Ellison’s, and Torode went along to finish the
dig. He and Jim Turrentine, with an array of tools and explosives, located the hole, and after four hours’
work, got through, creating a bypass to 2690 feet of passage.

By the end of 1968 two miles plus thirty feet had been surveyed. After New Year’s, Richard and
Della continued work in earnest. On January 4 they mapped 443 feet in Gross Cave. A week later, Richard
and Allen Padgett, wearing wet suit tops, mapped downstream 411 feet to a boulder choke, 875 feet below
the Historic Entrance, while Della and two others surveyed 644 feet east from the Snowball Dome. On the
18th and February 4, Richard, Della, Jon Resager, and Kirk Holland began the exploration and survey (3860
feet for both days) of a large upper level, Jon’s Passage, which trended to and beyond the Fault Room. The
Fault Room has the most exposed evidence of the fault along which the lower cave is formed. Slickenslides,
striations showing the east-west slippage, and large amounts of recrystallized calcite are present.

To speed up the exploration and survey of Ellison’s, Richard and Della camped in the Gypsum Room
March 16-22, 1969. David Stidham and Charlie Warren helped them carry equipment into the cave and six
days later Allen Padgett met them at the top of Fantastic Pit. During the interim, Richard and Della, in spite
of having to eat cold food because their stove burst into flames on the second day, had a highly successful
stay. They continued working westward and discovered features which would become landmarks of a
"traditional tour": the Angel’s Paradise, which contains a large display of epsomite needles; the Gnome
Creamery, so named because of extensive accumulations of moonmilk on the walls and huntite (“cottage
cheese") on the floor; the Carbide Dumps, dry calcite on the floor imitating piles of spent carbide; a 300 foot
plus waterfall coming from what they called High Dome; and beyond it, the eighty by three hundred foot
Hall for the Giants. During their camp they mapped 10962.9 feet of passage, and at last reached the western
limit of the cave.

A week later, March 29, Richard and Della led teams composed of seven Indianians and two
Georgians and mapped various side leads near the Gnome Creamery, and eastward in the stream level,
including the B.I.G. (Bloomington Indiana Grotto) Breakdown Room. Survey for the day totaled 2652.9 feet.

After plotting the data from their six-day camp, Richard and Della found that the lower cave had gone
through Pigeon Mountain and under the western slope in a cove known as The Pocket. On April 4 Richard
did a solo search in The Pocket and found an entrance in a steep-sided sink high on the mountain.
Recrystallized calcite was present and airflow was strong. Just inside was an eight foot crawl to a thirteen
foot climbdown and sixty-five foot rope drop, into a room which had a bere waterfall entering from near
the roof.

Richard did the pit solo and explored several hundred feet of passage, which initially led east into a
large dome room with two more waterfalls. Under one of the falls was a northeast trending stream passage,

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and after a couple hundred feet of alternate walking and crawling, Richard reached a second pit.

Optimistic, on April 12 Richard returned with Della to his discovery, which he was calling “Stairstep
Cave." They surveyed 619.9 feet to the second pit, which they bolted but did not descend. They exited and
left three ropes (100-265 feet) and other equipment, including a wire and hammer, in the cave.

A week later they returned, accompanied by Marion O. Smith, and descended the virgin pit, which
was plumbed at eighty-three feet. There were no obvious passages at the bottom. Della and Marion tried to
climb placed, along the left wall while Richard was on another side of the room moving rocks from a four
inch high opening at the floor level. When Della and Marion gave up they no longer saw Richard in the
room. Within a few moments they found his dig and Marion entered the low crawl and saw Richard twenty
feet away. After some discussion, Marion decided to follow Richard while Della waited.

Immediately ahead, Richard and Marion encountered a pool at a narrow spot. They squeezed by on
their sides while their bodies displaced the water level until it covered half their faces. Beyond this thirty
foot Misery Crawl they explored about 200 feet of uneven sized passage. They again found the stream and
soon Richard, with Marion on his heels, reached the edge of a deep pit. Excitedly, they dropped several
rocks and estimated the fall time at six seconds. Flushed with success, they returned to Della and then all
three surveyed the new passage, plus they plumbed the deep pit with the wire and hammer.

Richard still called the new find "Stairstep Cave," and he named its 440 foot pit Incredible. His
calculations were that they were at least 200 feet from High Dome in Ellison’s. Confirmation or denial
would be proven with the descent.

The first descent of Incredible, May 3, 1969, was by Richard, Della, and Marion, and Indianians
Norbert Welch, Ted Wilson, Steve Gelfius, Bill Steele, and John Bassett. By the time he reached the bottom,
Richard recognized that Incredible Pit was in fact the same as High Dome. The rappel had been wet from
fifty feet below the top.

Richard and Della each led a survey team and mapped various side leads near the B.I.G. Breakdown
Room and Gnome Creamery, for a total of 1547.9 feet. Everyone’s exit from the cave was slow, and
derigging and hauling of gear was unusually laborious. For some it was a 23:15 hour trip.

After the descent of Incredible, Richard and Della thought that all that remained to be done was to
map the side leads in the cave, mostly the bottom levels. Between May 10 and September 27 eleven more
survey or photography trips were made by them to the various levels, and an additional 8795.1 feet were
mapped. During this period, while surveying with Della and Mike Kimball, Marion became the first to see
the beautiful eighteen inch icicle-like epsomite stalactite which Mike named the North Pole, and the first
“through the mountain trip" took place.

A “through the mountain trip" consists of the simultaneous entry of the Stairstep and Dug (Torode)
entrances by two teams, which descend both Incredible and Fantastic Pits, traverse the 4600 foot tourist level
in between, and exit the cave via the opposite entrance. On July 4 Della, Bernie Jackson, John McIntosh,
Ted Petranoff, Ian Drummond, Peter Thompson, and Julian Coward (the last three recent British immigrants
to Canada) entered the Stairstep route, and Richard, Ted Wilson, Marion O. Smith, Steve Gelfius, Bill Steele,
and Norbert Welch entered the Fantastic Pit route. The parties first greeted each other across Incredible Pit,
on the Upper East and West Balconies. Each contingent had a little excitement on the way out. Richard’s
group encountered a copperhead just inside the Stairstep Entrance, and near the top of Fantastic, where the
rope was muddy, Bernie’s prusiks failed to hold and he slid twenty feet onto Ian’s head!

In the fall of 1969, Richard Schreiber published his map of Ellison’s Cave in a special issue of the

ia Underground. He showed a depth of 981 feet, a length of 8.08 miles, and included profiles of both
Fantastic and Incredible Pits. About the same time Richard entered the Air Force for a four year enlistment.

During succeeding years, especially in the mid-1970s, additional passages were explored and surveyed
in Ellison’s, which extended the total length to nearly twelve miles and the depth to 1063 feet. Ellison’s is
currently the seventh deepest U.S. cave, and Fantastic Pit, which was the deepest U.S. pit until 1989, has
fallen to third place by discoveries in Alaska and Hawaii. But, no matter where Ellison’s is found on future
U.S. cave lists it will always be a true TAG classic.