Cass Cave
The Big Room
LocationPocahontas County, West Virginia, United States
LightingNone
VisitorsClosed to the public

Cass Cave is a cave located in Cass, West Virginia,[1] on Cheat Mountain. Cass Cave has the highest subterranean waterfall in West Virginia and Virginia, Lacy Suicide Falls, with a height of 139 ft. This high waterfall was misnamed; a suicide did occur but it was at a small drop very near the entrance. The cave is not open to the general public.[2]

One of the rooms in the cave (the "Big Room") is 800 ft long, 180 ft high and 75 ft wide.[3]

The June 1964 Issue of National Geographic featured a two-page fold-out color photograph by Huntley Ingalls of a caver climbing a wire ladder adjacent to the waterfall.[4] The photo was illuminated by a series of #2 Press photo flashbulbs laid over an aluminum foil reflector spread on the slope below..

Cave rescues and deaths

On March 16, 1968, eight people were trapped and later rescued in the cave.[5][6] In 1976, an amateur caver was trapped in the cave for more than 15 hours, falling 40 feet to the cave floor after an equipment malfunction.[7] In 1977, a climber was trapped in the waterfall and died of hypothermia due to being drenched by falling water.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bulletin of the National Speleological Society. National Speleological Society. 1966.
  2. ↑ Kevin Adams (1 June 2002). Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia: A Hiking and Photography Guide. Menasha Ridge Press. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-0-89732-414-4.
  3. ↑ John Hodel (30 Jun 1963). "Features of Cass Cave". Beckley Post-Herald. Beckley, West Virginia. p. 17. Retrieved 24 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "WV Tourist Interest Is On Increase". Cumberland Evening Times. Cumberland, Maryland. 17 August 1964. p. 7. Retrieved 24 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "ER-NCRC - Cave Rescue, March 16, 1968, Cass Cave, WV". Caves.org. 1968. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  6. ↑ "Spelunker Rescued". The Raleigh Register. Beckley, West Virginia. 18 Mar 1968. p. 2. Retrieved 24 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Man rescued from cave". The News. Frederick, Maryland. 1 Sep 1976. p. 16. Retrieved 24 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Climbing Accident Is Fatal". The Times Recorder. Zanesville, Ohio. 31 Aug 1977. p. 2. Retrieved 24 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

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