A CENTURY LATER, PROF. COOK’S ‘MYSTERY CAVER’ IS REVEALED

Author Clay Perry, a light bulb moment, and a quick Google search solved cavers’ decades-old mystery, “Who is Professor Cook’s mystery man in several of his 1905 photos?”

19 LIMESTONE CAVES IN EASTERN NY STUDIED

Professor John C. Cook produced “Limestone Caverns of Eastern New York” for the 60th annual report of the New York State Museum. published in 1906. His report documents the karst development of the Onondaga, Becraft and the Manlius limestones in Schoharie and Albany counties. He produced nine maps with surveyor James. F. Loughran, and 40 photos on 4×5” glass-plate negatives1, with his brother, Harry C. Cook.

In all, Prof. Cook mentions 19 caves, most of them familiar to cavers of the northeast.

“The work was prosecuted with vigor though it was arduous and venturesome, involving risks to persons which few would care to take,” wrote Museum Director John M. Clarke. He was evidently pleased with the work of the Cook team: “The results have been entirely satisfactory. . .”

Cook’s work in old Howe’s Cave is particularly noteworthy. His map of the cave’s portions that were lost to quarrying is all historians have to help recreate the famous cave in its entirely. With the report are several photos of the cave’s outstanding features prior to its 1929 development and reopening as Howe Caverns, Inc.

Perhaps the most well-known photo from Cook’s report is of a solitary young man in muddy duck-bibbed coveralls and beaten pork-pie hat, his eyes closed, resting next to a huge and beautiful stalagmite.  Twenty-plus years later, Howe Caverns’ developers placed this formation—nearly 12 feet high—upright on a solid base and named it “The Chinese Pagoda.”

The photo has been well used. I’ve used it in both my books on the cave, and it was turned into an historic souvenir postcard sold in the caverns’ gift shop.

The mystery caver has always been described as “unidentified.” His image shows up in several of the younger Cook’s photos in the report (some with his eyes open).  At various times, it’s been suggested this mystery man was a hired laborer mentioned in a 1906 newspaper account or a knowledgeable local caver acting as a guide, or maybe even a young D.C. Robinson of Knox Cave fame. But who is he?

AHA!

Surveyor James. F. Loughran rests against the ‘Chinese Pagoda’ in Howe Caverns during a surveying trip in 1905. The name of this caver who accompanied Prof. John C. Cook for the State Museum was lost to history, until recently.

I was reading again through Clay Perry’s 1948 Underground Empire2, chapter 10, page 98, and he credits (and names) Prof. Cook, his surveyor Loughran, and photographer Harry Cook.

THE LIGHTBULB MOMENT: The lightbulb went on over my head: The photographer is not taking pictures of himself! My palm hit my face.

And so, a five-minute Google search found James F. Loughran (1884-1954) on the history page of the New York Bridge Authority, here: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=164465

Loughran’s bio notes he was chairman of the state Bridge Authority from 1949 until his death. He was a civil engineering graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a master’s degree in highway engineering from Columbia University.

His bio confirms: “after a brief stint surveying caves for the New York Geologist’s office,” he was appointed Ulster County superintendent of Highways. Loughran held the job for 44 years and became “widely known as an expert on rural roads.”

JAMES LOUGHRAN, about 1950

Our “mystery caver” would have been 21 years old at time of Cook’s survey.  There’s a photo of the older Loughran on the website, and although hard to reproduce, it is clearly one and the same man.

# # #

1 Specials thanks to Chuck Porter of Troy for his work with the Cook photos and invaluable help with this article. Porter and the late Jack Middleton saved the photos from Cook’s work from relative obscurity in the bowels of the NYS Museum and painstakingly reproduced them for the 21st Century. In the mid-1990s, Jack was working with the museum’s Geological Survey and had access to the original 4 x 5-inch glass plate negatives.

Writes Chuck: “Jack and I placed these glass plates on a light table at the museum and took close-up photos with 35mm SLR cameras held on tripods. Attempts to print from these closeups with film techniques at that time were very disappointing, but years later, digitally scanning the filmstrips—and then adjusting with Photoshop—made a huge difference. I processed 40 plates in all.”

2Not to be confused with my book, titled in homage, Underground Empires: (plural) Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure & Enterprise in NY’s Cave Country.

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