I noticed this in the paper today, and it brought back some memories of being in Knox Cave, the huge main room, and crawling on my belly through a passage that I think they called the "shotgun",with bats hanging inches from your face, eeewwwww..........................I also went down into Clarksville Cave, the entrance was/is a hole in the ground that you had to carefully lower yourself into..........cool adventures .................
Quoted Text
Caver Dinsmore to be memorialized in August Schenectady man among trio that discovered most of Knox Cave Saturday, August 4, 2012 By Mark Roberts
SCHENECTADY — It’s easy to see how Schenectady’s Roger Dinsmore might have become fascinated with the eerily beautiful Knox Cave.
Dinsmore, who died Sunday at the age of 92, will be memorialized at a rededication ceremony for the Knox Cave Room at the Knox Museum on Aug. 19.
Knox Cave, located in the town of Knox in Albany County, was a big attraction in its heyday, according to William Frueh, vice president of the Knox Historical Society.
“It was a big deal,” Frueh recalled. “They had a roller rink. You could go on a picnic there or take a tour of the cave.”
According to Northeastern Cave Conservancy President Robert Addis, commercial tours of Knox Cave were offered between 1933 and 1958. Pictures from that time of explorers posing together in the caves call to mind archaeologists exploring the ancient pyramids or delving into the hellish depths of a sunken city straight out of a Lovecraft story.
And the stories of the cave’s discoverers are just as impressive as the cave itself. Three men were responsible for discovering a majority of the cave: an enigmatic man known only as “Negley,” Jim Mincher and Dinsmore.
An article by Chuck Porter for the magazine Northeastern Caver in 2011 explained how Dinsmore worked at the cave for owner D.C. Robinson, maintaining, exploring and mapping it out, inch by inch.
“[I started at Knox Cave in] 1954 and left in 1956,” Dinsmore recalled to Porter. “[D.C. Robinson] used to write me to come back. I was just working [at the cave] in the summer.”
When he wasn’t working at the cave, Dinsmore kept busy with other work, one of his many hobbies or with his family. According to his obituary, he worked at General Electric in Schenectady for more than 40 years, testing motors and generators, and was an active small aircraft pilot up until the age of 85.
Nope I like my feet to be on top of the ground not above it or below it
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
Nope I like my feet to be on top of the ground not above it or below it
LOL.........I hear ya Henry.....................I was very adventuresome as a young man, caves, climbing rocks, flying in airplanes, whitewater in a tiny rubber raft..............no more though, I've tempted fate enough, now I'm happy with the memories...
I been to Howes caverns when I was a kid, I was freaked out when they put you on that boat and then lead you towards the waterfall with only a rope blocking you from who knows how far of a drop into complete darkness Another time me and my friend made some homemade torches and decided to go through the Union colleges tunnels, my friend said the tunnel exited on the other side, well 15 minutes of walking and guess what, no light at the end of the tunnel. On the way back our torches died on us and we had to feel our way back .
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
I been to Howes caverns when I was a kid, I was freaked out when they put you on that boat and then lead you towards the waterfall with only a rope blocking you from who knows how far of a drop into complete darkness Another time me and my friend made some homemade torches and decided to go through the Union colleges tunnels, my friend said the tunnel exited on the other side, well 15 minutes of walking and guess what, no light at the end of the tunnel. On the way back our torches died on us and we had to feel our way back .
HEHEHEHE........................Knox and Clarksville caves would definitely not be your cup o' tea...................
I've been to Howe's caverns several times since I was a kid. The last time we went was a few years ago and took some out of town relatives who were here for a visit.
At the end of the boat ride, the crew who pole/push the boats along the trip, have to change places. Our guide, a particularly condescending young man, asked us all to move from the right side of the boat so that he could walk along the edge to the opposite end of the boat. Once he passed, he then told us to take our original seats and he began to push off to start the return trip. He leaned to one side of the boat and pushed... SPLUSHHHHH! He went head first right into the 50degree water! A memorable trip for everyone... especially the guide! He shivered all the way back to the elevator!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
I've been to Howe's caverns several times since I was a kid. The last time we went was a few years ago and took some out of town relatives who were here for a visit.
At the end of the boat ride, the crew who pole/push the boats along the trip, have to change places. Our guide, a particularly condescending young man, asked us all to move from the right side of the boat so that he could walk along the edge to the opposite end of the boat. Once he passed, he then told us to take our original seats and he began to push off to start the return trip. He leaned to one side of the boat and pushed... SPLUSHHHHH! He went head first right into the 50degree water! A memorable trip for everyone... especially the guide! He shivered all the way back to the elevator!
We explored the Church Cave with a boyscout troop years ago. The opening to the cave is across the road from the Knox Reformed Church on Rt 157 where Beaverdam Rd and Thompson Lake Rd cross Rt 157. It's not a real big cave but an interesting one to explore. There were a number of kids in the scout troop that liked to spelunk so we took them to Knox Cave, Clarksville Cave and Church Cave. I have also explored Hales Cave,at the base of the Thatcher Park escarpment, before the state closed it off to the public. Hales Cave went for a long way with some huge rooms and the place was just loaded with bats.
We explored the Church Cave with a boyscout troop years ago. The opening to the cave is across the road from the Knox Reformed Church on Rt 157 where Beaverdam Rd and Thompson Lake Rd cross Rt 157. It's not a real big cave but an interesting one to explore. There were a number of kids in the scout troop that liked to spelunk so we took them to Knox Cave, Clarksville Cave and Church Cave. I have also explored Hales Cave,at the base of the Thatcher Park escarpment, before the state closed it off to the public. Hales Cave went for a long way with some huge rooms and the place was just loaded with bats.
Nice.......................bats finally decided for me it was time to give up caving, hate the little buggers
I don't mind the bats... But wading through the bat crap sucks!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
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Logged
Another time me and my friend made some homemade torches and decided to go through the Union colleges tunnels, my friend said the tunnel exited on the other side, well 15 minutes of walking and guess what, no light at the end of the tunnel. On the way back our torches died on us and we had to feel our way back .
