April 20, 1969 – Marion O. Smith and Richard Schreiber began mapping toward the Volcano Hall from the main entrance hall and after 143.71 feet, station G8, the bottom of a 5.2-foot vertical climb, reached the first mile lift. They continued exploring north about twenty meters until they came to a deep chasm that sloped down to the left. About two and a half meters below you can pass into a side passage and continue. The abyss was not mapped. After a short distance uphill, a narrow opening gives access to what I call the Middle Room because it is halfway between the main entrance room and the Volcano Room. The passageway from this room is directly below the Autograph Room and you can easily talk between the two rooms.
The study continued through the Training Room, then down a 14-foot rise at station G31 to another room whose north end was not mapped. They left this room in the southwest corner and went down to a window that overlooked the Volcano Room.
The Volcano Room is shaped like a large funnel with steep sides and leads to the passage of the creek and the sinkhole. For years, the only way to get in was to climb down a vertical wall through a small window above the Volcano Room. I have free climbed the wall, but it is very exposed. In the late 1980’s someone dug a bypass tunnel under and around the vertical rise to the window. To enter this crawl from the Volcano Room side, enter it head first, pushing your team. You work your way up by twisting as you go. Try to stay on your back because you will have to crouch at the end and if your back is not you will not be able to crouch or turn around. If you’re going the other way, you’ll want to go feet first and back. Going down the hill is a bit easier.
The survey crosses the north side of the Volcano Room and over a hidden ledge. They went down through a low room and another hidden ledge and reached the entrance to the Mason – Dixon Passage and the Worm Tube. The study continued southwest through the Mason-Dixon Passage and stopped before entering the access road to the Bridge Room. This survey resulted in 1,100.17 feet of THC (True Horizontal Cave). Total survey length now 6,380.65 feet.
May 18, 1969 – Richard Schreiber, Della McGuffin, Marion O. Smith, Allen Padgett and Bob Watkins entered the Worm Tube, but Allen and Bob had to leave because Bob became claustrophobic. The Worm Tube is 100 feet of very narrow passage and the climb to the Echo Room is very difficult. The survey continued past the tough climb to the Echo Room that was discovered on the survey’s return trip from the far north. The survey continued north to the Mystery Room. This survey resulted in 1,058.13 feet of THC. Total survey is now 7,438.78 feet.
June 10, 1969 – Richard Schreiber, Della McGuffin, Allen Padgett, and Marion O. Smith returned to station G70 from the previous survey and explored a hole that led to the level of a stream. After inspecting this lower level, they found a clue leading up and into the Echo Room. The inspection was carried out around the perimeter of the room with two side passages, one of which led back to the Worm Tube. The survey notes recorded a total of 630.6 feet surveyed, however when I entered the data it turned out to be 1,134.89 feet THC Total survey now 8,573.67 feet.
June 21, 1969 – Richard Schreiber and Della McGuffin Surveyed the last blueprint at the rear of the main entrance hall, then surveyed down through the fault from Station P13 to G12 in the passageway to the Volcano Hall. They then went to the end of the survey at Mason – Dixon Passage to continue the survey towards the Bridge Room. After surveying through the Bridge Room, they continue northwest through a bunch of nice formations and an easy pass to the Over N Under Room. They surveyed the lower section of the Over N Under Room and then north to Five Points. From there it was a short distance to the Chute or Luge, both names.
At the bottom of the Luge there is a current passage. They measured upstream to station G193 and then returned to the Luge and measured downstream to station G205. They reported a total of 1,563.8 feet, but it turns out to be 1,738.10 feet THC Total survey now 10,311.77 feet,
July 12, 1969 – Richard Schreiber and Della McGuffin returned to the upstream passage from the Luge and charted just 262.74 feet reaching the 2-mile mark of Pettyjohn Cave. They may not be aware of the actual distance mapped and continued for a full day of mapping.
The raw survey data for the second mile is available in pdf format on my caving website.