The first discussion of forming a new caving group in the Washington, DC area
occurred at a restaurant in Georgetown after a D.C. Grotto
meeting in the fall of 1957. On December 7, 1957, in Arlington, VA, the Potomac
Speleological Club (PSC) was formed by eight charter members: Grayson
Harding, Elbert Miller, Jerry Nettles, E. Thomas Pierce, Paul Damon, Byron
Cassel, Wayne Bell, and Tom Tucker, to: "further promote general interest in
speleology and its related sciences, and to explore caves for scientific
information and to make known its findings which will be published each month."
The new
group called its newsletter The Potomac Caver.
Early projects included the exploration of caves in Germany Valley, WV
continuing a project started by the Pittsburgh Grotto and the Baldwin's Hill
project in the
Front Royal, VA area (this project included exploration and mapping of caves in
that area).
Original meetings were held in private homes until the club became too large.
In September 1958 the club began to meet at the Arlington County Department of
Parks and Recreation. At that point the club had 21 members. In January 1959,
meetings were moved to that Department's new building on Park Drive (the Lubber
Run Recreation Center) and these meetings have continued there at the same time
and place since then.
When the PSC was formed, it was hoped that the NSS would let the group become a
grotto. The request was turned down because of an NSS policy allowing only
one grotto per city. The PSC sought to become an NSS affiliate in 1958 by
contacting Dr. Oscar Hawksley, NSS Vice-President for Organizations. This is
different
from actual grotto status inasmuch as: "an affiliate of the NSS is another
independent organization whose aims and ambitions parallel those of the NSS."
Most of the membership felt that the affiliation would be a great asset to the
reputation of the PSC which was looked upon at this time by many old-time
NSSers as
an "outlaw" group. Affiliation was granted by Dr. Hawksley, however, the
affiliation was not something PSC was to keep. Sometime later the NSS published
a list of
affiliated organizations, and the PSC was not included. A letter to the NSS
asking why resulted in their name being included on the next published list.
That was the
last time the NSS admitted having granted the PSC affiliate status. For several
years, the PSC was officially ignored by the NSS. Later, when the PSC decided to
settle the issue, the NSS took official Board action to say that it was not
their policy to grant affiliate status to any other American caving
organization. The Board
further stated that Dr. Hawksley had not had the power to grant such a status
in the first place.
Through the years, pride has kept the PSC an independent group, even though it
has supported the NSS and many of its members are also NSS members. The
Virginia Region of the NSS (VAR) voted to grant the PSC membership in 1967.
The PSC took over the responsibility for the cavers' Field House in Riverton,
WV, in 1963 from the Pittsburgh Grotto. The house was run by Jerry Nettles
until this
function was turned over to an official committee of the PSC in the fall of
1969. The PSC Field House in Germany Valley was the focus for caving in
Pendleton and
surrounding counties in West Virginia. People staying at the Field House often
found themselves called out for rescues of various severity. So many people were
pulled out of nearby Hellhole cave that a cartoon appeared in the PSC Caver
suggesting that forms requesting rescues be provided at the bottom of the
entrance
drop.
In 1976, the death of one of the owners of the PSC Field House caused the PSC
to examine what they wanted out of a field house. The families could not agree
on
ownership of the house and forced it to be sold. Whether the club should try to
buy the Germany Valley Field House that had been such a large part of the club,
or
to move operations closer to the active caving areas generated a considerable
amount of controversy, heated discussions and some bad feelings. The controversy
abated when the new owners of the house continued to rent it to the club. The
Field House was the scene of much activity practically every weekend and many
close
associations were formed in the valley, especially with Mrs. Nellie Smith and
Sheriff Estyl Lambert.
The PSC Field House near Riverton, WV continued to be a center for club
activities in particular the survey of Hellhole Cave led by Bob Anderson and
others.
Following the disastrous flood in November of 1985 the Field House was used to
support relief efforts and many PSC members helped out. In 1986 the owners of
the Field House sold it and evicted the club. Fortunately another house was
located in the Smoke Hole Gorge. The new house was more remote making it ideal
for
parties. The driveway, however, is occasionally impassable to two wheel drive
vehicles in winter.
Through the years the PSC has become legally incorporated, manages the Field
House, and is a member of both the Cave Rescue Network and the Highlands
Conservancy. Members have provided major support for the annual Old Timers'
Reunion over Labor Day and used to be regularly involved in the Treasure
Mountain Festival held in September in Franklin, WV.
A major project of the group was "SIMMER", the 'push' expedition for exploring
the area in and around Simmons-Mingo Cave in West Virginia.
This was a VAR project in the fall of 1973. SIMMER attracted cavers from all
over the region and was probably the most massively organized caving trip ever
seen.
The planning was led by Bob Lutz and it was estimated that time spent on
planning and preparation exceeded time spent underground by a factor of ten to
one.
Teams were set up for exploration, in cave support, surface support,
administration, and work in the Elk River area caves.
On the surface, communications, mess, shower, and camping facilities were
provided. Underground, the exploration teams were provided with pre positioned
supplies, camps, communications with the outside and support teams.
Although the expedition was not successful in that they did not find another
entrance in the Dry Fork area, the cave was pushed further and much was learned
about
how to organize a large group of cavers for an extended period of time
underground. Because the expedition was a Region project, this knowledge was
widely
dispersed among the cavers in the Region.
The PSC continued trying to find the back door to Simmons Mingo until May 1977
when a party finally made the connection to the back of Simmons Mingo cave
from Oil Drum Falls Cave.
In 1982 the Simmons-Mingo Cave survey project was revived under the leadership
of Linda Baker and monthly trips were organized. After a near disaster when
Stan Carts' van overturned on an icy road, Linda decided to forego winter trips
and use those weekends for working on the data. The goal was to resurvey the
entire
cave using old surveys as a guide whenever possible. Several members of the
previous effort became regulars on the new survey including Bob Thrun, Dick
Sanford,
and Stan Carts. Many new members became active in the survey some of whom had
no previous survey experience.
In order to gain easier access to the far back regions of Simmons Mingo a new
entrance was dug at Stan's Blowing Rock. This entrance avoided the extremely
tight
places just inside the Oil Drum Falls entrance, though it wasn't always
pleasant as it frequently blew cold air and dripped water. Indeed! it was
occasionally referred
to as Stan's Sucking Ice Hole.
The remains of the campsite left over from Project SIMMER had never been fully
removed from the cave. During various trips much of the telephone wire was
balled up and removed. However, it took many more trips, including a final
sweep trip led by G. Brace and Lewis Carrol, to remove the bulk of the material
from the
camp and close the final chapter of Project SIMMER.
PSC members have been active in surveying Caves in Pendleton County, WV
including the caves at Trout Rock. PSC members were in a large part responsible
for
the acquisition of the Trout Rock property for the NSS and were mostly opposed
to the NSS's trial closure of Trout Cave which ended in 1991. PSC had many
participants in major cooperative projects to push and survey Friars Hole and
Organ Cave in West Virginia. PSC members also joined in the resurvey of Paxton's
cave in Allegheny County, VA. PSC members have a long tradition of assisting in
Region meetings, the Old Timers Reunion, and also assisted in the 1983 NSS
Convention in Elkins, WV. PSC members have also provided labor for Fred Grady's
paleontology projects in Hamilton Cave, New Trout Cave, Cave Mountain
Cave, and various other sites.
Nationally, PSC members have been significant participants in the survey and
exploration of Roppel Cave, Mammoth Cave, and Fisher Ridge in Kentucky.
Internationally, PSC members have been active in the multi-year Jamaica
Cockpits cave survey expeditions led by Mike DiTonto, in the Costa Rica
project, and in a
survey project in Chiapas, Mexico which has yielded an 8 km cave and many deep
pits so far.
To date more than 600 people have become members of PSC and the club exchanges
newsletters with over forty publications.