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Spelunkers have revealed the discovery of a never-explored cave near Glenwood Springs, Colorado—right in the path of a proposed limestone mine expansion. While cave discoveries are often kept quiet until protection plans are in place, Colorado Cave Survey members Richard Rhinehart and Robert McFarland have gone public because of the threat the mine expansion poses to the cave.
The cave has been named Witch's Pantry because of the bones that were laying about in the entry, and its discovery close to Halloween last year.
The nearby Mid-Continent limestone quarry has submitted plans to expand from 15.7 acres to 321 acres, despite fierce local opposition. The quarry's parent company, Rocky Mountain Industrials, is owned by the son of lobbyist Norm Brownstein. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was a partner at Brownstein's firm before re-entering the Interior Department, and the firm is representing the quarry in its attempt to get approval from Interior.
“We would really like to as cavers to see what remarkable features it might have, because that’s all relevant as to whether a giant quarry should be built here," Rhinehart told the Aspen Daily News. Rheinhart thinks Witch's Pantry could rival the nearby Fairy Caves, which are a major tourist attraction in Glenwood Springs.
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I was kind of dumbstruck after considering the location. As a caver, I want to find caves everywhere, and I’ve been luckier than most in that regard — but to make a discovery so close to town with such tremendous knowledge to share and the potential to stop that ... quarry is a sort-of caving trifecta!”
