Underground Adventurer: Here's what Kewanee's 'Cave Man' found in Kentucky's Old Salts Cave

Dean Karau
·6 min read
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Author's note: I’ve written before about Russell T. Neville, Kewanee attorney and amateur photographer, known nationally as “the Cave Man.” I promised more stories. Here’s one about another caving adventure in Kentucky.

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On Sunday, July 3, 1927, Russell T. Neville, his daughter Julia, and his sister Hazel, left Kewanee for their yearly adventure to the “caves of old Kentucky.”

Their first day of travel took them 400 miles to Bedford, Indiana, with stops at state parks and other sites along the way.

The next day, they arrived at Wyandotte, Indiana, where they toured the historic Wyandotte cave, followed by a swim in the Blue River. They also met a young cave guide named George Jackson, soon to become a well-known “caver” in his own right.

They reached their destination, Cave City, Kentucky, the following day. Their goal? A three-day, two-night exploration of the Old Salts Cave, believed to be the largest and most extensive cave system in the world. The cave’s name comes from the Epsom salts which impregnate its walls and which “flower” as though a snow-white frost.

Neville chose “Major” Elliott, a good caver, as the main guide for his trip. Neville’s friend Lark Burnett, who reputedly “owned” the entrance to Salt Cave, was also a necessary member. Homer Collins, the brother of Neville’s friend, the deceased and renowned caver Floyd Collins, wanted to accompany Neville. George Jackson from Wyandotte couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Well-known caver and photographer Wade H. Highbaugh joined the group, lugging a heavy knapsack which, the group later discovered, carried special “eats” they would need the last day of their sojourn. Oscar Logsdon, John Tupen, and Virgil Aubrey rounded out the team.

At the time, Salts Cave was believed to be the only Kentucky cave which showed signs of prehistoric human habitation. Neville believed that “it is undoubtedly the largest cavern in the world, and has never been completely explored.”

Neville, Julia, Hazel, and the eight others began their descent into Salts Cave on Monday, July 11, at 11:00 a.m.

Neville had meticulously planned the expedition in the enormous cave for months. They brought two three-gallon cans of water and a two-gallon can of gasoline for their Coleman lanterns. Each member carried a blanket and three strips of oil-cloth around them to spread on the floor of the cave at night. They packed 80 bread-and-butter sandwiches; four cooked chickens, four pounds of beef, two pounds of cheese, two pounds of stick candy in a tin, four dozen boiled eggs, one dozen egg sandwiches, graham crackers, cartons of cookies, olives, a can of meat spread for sandwiches, one dozen oranges, and a generous supply of malted milk tablets for emergency and in between meals.

In addition to personal needs, they also carried a large camera and movie equipment, including magnesium flares for lighting the pitch-black caves for photos and movies. And, each member had to carry a lantern. Many times, they had to pass their stuff along, forming a sort of bucket brigade, to get through narrow passageways and over the many large rocks and boulders.

They stopped to sleep the first night where they thought there was some sand between the rocks for comfort, but comfort eluded them. The cave was a constant 53 degrees, everyone was at best lightly dressed, and thus everyone was soon chilled when they stopped. They got little sleep the first night hundreds of feet below ground. “The cold seemed to strike into our very marrow, and I do not recall ever being so chilled and cold,” reported Neville.

They were up early the next morning, but had no firewood and no hot food or drink to take away the to-the-bone chill. The candy helped, but they were judicious in their use of water and somewhat guarded with their food intake.

Nevertheless, the party was in good spirits, and were rewarded for their hardships: “We prowled around through the rocks, into crevices and strange passage ways looking for prehistoric stuff, and were rewarded by finding a considerable number of pieces of gourds, cloth, and similar material.”

The second night, they turned back toward the entrance, still miles from the outside world. They slept in what eventually became known as “Neville’s bedroom.” The next morning, Wednesday, July 13, they ate a good breakfast, consuming most of their remaining food supply. Along the way back, Highbaugh’s reserve supply was welcomed, “which melted away like snow in July.”

As they reached familiar ground on the way out, they “erected a rude stone monument and upon a large rock leaning against it, wrote the facts of the trip, the names of the party, and other information. ”Emerging from the cave, Neville described the appearance of the group: “We all looked haggard and drawn, and exceedingly ‘hard-boiled.’ As soon as we got accustomed to the heat and the sunlight, we scattered for our respective abodes. Chiggers, encountered before we could enter the cave, had been making life miserable for some of us, and we sought cooling unguents.”

The band of explorers had spent 51 hours and 35 minutes underground, what they believed was a “fine” record. But it was slow-going - one mile an hour was a good time. They had to turn back before they reached the end of the cave, and 16 miles in was the last sign of human existence.

Neville described the expedition as a grand experiment. They used half-minute flares to illuminate the cave for the photos and film, burning “a great deal of money,” with a limited return on the investment. However, he believed they had something “very unique” – “no cave movies have ever been attempted so far as we know, with the exception of a few feet made by the news-reel people at the time of the Collins’ tragedy.”

With respect to the search for prehistoric life, Neville was ecstatic: “We did not discover the extent of this cave. We were not able to penetrate any place where the pre-historic people had not lived, and had their fires. More than ever, I am puzzled as to how they did it. We came to rocks in narrow passage ways, or where it was necessary to slide down, where the limestone was polished slick and smooth by the continuous passage of great numbers of these people. How any people could live in a place like this cave at great distances from the entrance is more than I can figure out.”

Neville then succinctly summarized the adventure: “The Old Salts Cave expedition was an experience we will never forget, and one we will not try to repeat soon! Believe me, a cave is surely one dark place!”

Dean H. Snyder, president of American Spelean History Association, an organization of cavers, i.e., cave explorers (they prefer the term “caver” over “spelunker” when describing themselves) shared photos and information about caving and Neville, and also reviewed my article for accuracy. Dean arguably is the preeminent scholar of Neville, he has hundreds of Neville photos and other memorabilia, and he is planning to publish a book on Neville. Thank you, Dean.

All photographs, except for the camera, are by Russell T. Neville or Hazel Neville if he is in it. All photos were taken in black & white. The author enhanced and colorized them. You can see more of Russell T. Neville’s photographs on my Facebook page, Dusty Roads:®

I’ll be sharing more of my − and Dean’s – Russell T. Neville research in future articles and videos.

This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Here's what Kewanee's 'Cave Man' found in Kentucky's Old Salts Cave