Selfless Dedication:

South Dakota is beautiful in the summer, Florida is ridiculously hot. So, why would two semi-retired gentleman voluntarily get in a truck and drive 2,000 miles from South Dakota to Gainesville, Florida to do hard manual labor for a week, without their family, and without getting paid a single dime.  John P Schelten and David Springhetti did just this thing.

A Little Background:

Warrens Cave can be dangerous, which is why it is gated. The first gate may have been installed around 1890-1910 when Warrens was a show cave.(1) We really have no records of those very early years. In 1955, after a serious fall and rescue, the Florida Speleological Society (FSS) installed their first cave gate. They also gated the road to the cave the same year. The gate on the cave was ripped out soon afterwards. Then two more people fell and were seriously injured. In December 1959 the FSS built a steel gate with concrete anchors, this was ripped out within a month. There were several more gates through the years and a few more injuries. (2) On March 19 1968, Warren Ogletree fell with another large rescue effort. This hit the local papers. A law student fell in almost the same place less than a year later. (3) There was a movement to permanently close the cave. The owner Jim Cox fought the idea and so did the FSS. In the summer of 1969, Bill Oldacre designed a gate to last. Bill, with several FSS members used over a ton of concrete and steel to construct a unbreachable gate. This gate held. At the time the gate was to deter death and injury and was built like a Dungeon door. No one has fallen or has had to be been rescued in the last 50 years-due to that gate.

A Little Side Note:

John Schelten was the NSS president back in 1991. It was during this year that Warrens Cave and 4 acres of property was acquired by the NSS from the Nature Conservancy. John visited the property and saw the 22 year old gate and said it was good to go. John never dreamed he would be back 30 years later to replace that gate.

Times have changed:

A few years ago Buford Pruitt brought up the possibility of redesigning the Warrens Cave Gate to be more environmentally friendly. A gate that would allow bats to enter, allow the cave to breath, and allow rain wash and detritus to enter as is should naturally. Jason Meneely took careful measurements and designed a new gate. The new gate idea met with a lot of resistance within the FSS at the time, and nothing else happened-Until now.

The Process:

STEP 1:

Using Jason Meneely’s measurements and plans, David Springhetti built a gate at his home in North Dakota in preparation for the trip. Dave and John then loaded the gate parts and tools into a pickup truck and started a very long drive to Florida. Dave Lizdas is the chairman of the Warren Cave Committee. Dave and the FSS procured concrete, a mixer, and manpower.

STEP 2:

After David and John arrived they made a plan to remove the old gate and part of the deteriorated structure. They would then set rebar and build a mold to pour additional concrete-reinforcing what was already in place.

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STEP 3:

After the mold was made and things were in place, Dave Lizdas and Natalie Volk put out the call to cavers to come and help during the Weekend of July 17th, 2021. Concrete had to be mixed, hauled down into the sinkhole and poured into the mold before it could dry. This would be a herculean effort with critical timing and coordination.

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John and Dave stayed an extra couple of days to finish up before packing everything back up and returning to South Dakota.

WRAP-UP

John Schelton and David Springhetti are caving superheros! They are more than super-heros, they are awesome! Superheros are nice, but they only react spontaneously and have no follow-through. There is a light (bat signal?) or a cry for help-the superhero drops whatever they are doing and runs off. They do some heroic act and leave. They don’t even wait for someone to show up, normal superheroes have a limited attention span. Our two Caving superheros have planning, and follow through ability!

THANKS!

We are indebted to the National Speleological Society (NSS) for maintaining Warrens Cave and Indebted to David Springhetti and John Schelton for all the work they have done to improve the Warrens Cave Gate. We are also very thankful to everyone who came out to help with this project. Thank you ALL!

If you are interested in learning about the NSS or caving-please visit the NSS website, at: https://caves.org/

Story by Philip Walker

REFERENCES:

(1) “Gainesville Star” March 29, 1904

(1) Louis Hippenmeier, “The Florida Speleologist” (Volume 2, Number 1, December 1959) 18

(2) Dave Reddick, “The Independent Alligator” (April 14, 1969) 2