The Caves Beyond: The Story of the Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave Exploration

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Synopsis
THE CAVES BEYOND by Joe Lawrence, Jr. and Roger W. Brucker The Caves Beyond is the classic American caving adventure story. There is no other caving book like it. First published in 1955 in an edition of 10,000 copies, the book was out of print soon afterwards. It is now known among caving enthusiasts as the most stolen book there ever was. You will see it listed in most library catalogs, but will be lucky to find a copy on a library shelf. In February, 1954, under the direction of Joe Lawrence, the National Speleological Society sent the largest, most highly organized, and best-equipped expedition in the history of American cave exploration into Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave, Kentucky. The Caves Beyond is the official NSS account of that expedition. In the short view, the C-3 (Collins' Crystal Cave) expedition was not much of a success, but in the long view it was a major turning point in American speleology. Three cavers- Phil Smith, Roger Brucker, and Roger McClure, emerged from the C-3 expedition to organize the Central Ohio Grotto Flint Ridge Reconnaissance, and then the Cave Research Foundation, to carry on the exploration. Guided by Jim Dyer, Dr. Pohl, and Bill Austin, they molded the most concentrated speleological effort ever undertaken by a large group. Planning for the C-3 expedition had begun in 1952; 20 years later, with no letup in intensity, the big connection between the Flint Ridge Cave System and Mammoth Cave was made. The story told in The Caves Beyond culminated in the integration of the longest cave in the world-the Flint Mammoth Cave System. Roger Brucker's new introduction to the long-awaited reprint edition reveal a number of old secrets, including stories of the politics behind the C-3 expedition and of how the book came to be written in an attic in Brooklyn in two weeks' time. There is also a detailed index, which the first edition lacked.
Copyright:
1975

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
295 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780939748631
Publisher:
Cave Books
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
The National Speleological Society
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Science, Outdoors and Nature, Earth Sciences
Submitted By:
Jim Baugh
Proofread By:
book lover
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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