Editor’s Note: This is a story from the Sunday edition The Daily Editor of Cobleskill, which I edited for five years in the late 1980s-early1990s. I sent our lead reporter out into the Cave Country to ask, “Who’s painting those signs at Secret Caverns. From Nov. 7, 1993
By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, Staff Reporter
Those who come to Schoharie County to see Howe Caverns leave with knowledge of Secret Caverns even if they never went there.
A drive down Caverns Road in Howes Cave is a drive past sign after sign for Secret Caverns, each one a complex and unique piece of art. Most showoff the “Caveman,” the caverns’ semi- official mascot. All boast the 100-foor underground waterfall at the culmination of the tour.
THE CAVEMAN, A BILLBOARD FAVORITE POINTS THE WAY TO THE SECRET CAVERNS’ ENTRANCE LODGE.
The signs are not the production of professional artists, but a group of tour guides at the caverns, led by long-time guide and artist, Kurt Pillar.
Pillar has been a guide at Secret Caverns for eight years and doing signs for about as long. The 23-year-old college graduate has no formal training in art, let alone in art on such a grand scale.
“Nothing can really prepare you to draw and paint something as large as a billboard,” Pillar said while standing in front of his works on Route 7. “You just have to wing it until it’s right.”
The signs are eccentric and complex in content and language, almost making fun of themselves.
The jokes can be decidedly cerebral, and the puns can get quite bad, Pillar said.
“We sometimes look up at the sign, and say, ‘God, that’s a really bad pun,’ but that’s the fun of it,” Pillar said.
Pillar, along with fellow artists Tyrone Donnelly and Todd Delmarty have been responsible for all of Secret Caverns’ cartoon signs. Their most recent accomplishment was a new facade for the Secret Caverns building, which turned the front of the lodge into a leering bat for Halloween.
WHIRLWIND START
Pillar’s art career on the billboard palette started when a tornado came through the area years ago1, knocking down many of the Secret Caverns’ signs throughout the county. “Sign painting used to be really boring, sort of at the bottom of the list of things that tour guides wanted to do,” Pillar said. “Then, a whole bunch of us got together and put our devious little minds to work.”
Caverns manager R.J. Mallery was at first skeptical, Pillar said, but was soon persuaded into allowing the guides-turned-sign painters to let loose their creativity. “Painting those signs was a really unique opportunity,” Pillar said. “I don’t think R.J. realizes what it did for us.”
It takes about a week for Pillar and crew to paint a sign. Sketches are drawn on paper and shared with Mallery for approval. Pillar then translates the sketches onto the blank sign before painting. “It involves a lot of stepping back and looking, lots of double-checking and lots of up and down on the ladder,” said Pillar.
The signs have become locally famous, and rumor has it that some of them contain subliminal messages of sorts, something that Pillar denies.
About five years ago I did put in a few messages like ‘Drink Milk’ or ‘Brush Your Teeth,’ but nothing really satanic or anything,” Pillar said. “Now I just paint a few squiggles to throw people off. All of the ones with messages have been painted over a long time ago.”
Pillar’s favorite rumor came from a person in Schoharie who believed that the guides had used special paint that only showed up under car headlights to create the messages in the signs.
“I could just see us walking into Selkirk’s Hardware Store2 asking for that,” Pilar said with a laugh. “I think that rumor started because we were really behind and decided to paint at night. We lit the sign up with floodlights and some car headlights and I think that person probably drove by, wondering what was going on.”
Pillar recently graduated from Hobart and William Smith College with a degree in medieval studies. He has just finished his eighth season as a tour guide—painter—for Secret Caverns. He is a little unsure of what the future holds but he is certain that sign painting is not in that future.
“I couldn’t stand painting signs for businesses, especially if they wouldn’t let me be creative as Secret Caverns did,” Pillar said.
There was considerable interest in the caves of Schoharie County in the 1830s, led by John Gebhard, Sr. (1782-1854), who retired from his profitable law practice in his early 40s to devote his interests to the natural world around him.
Gebhard was joined by other professional men—doctors L. Hubbard and Joel Foster, and John S. Bonny— who discovered several caves in and around Schoharie, often writing of their exploits. Their names are associated with Ball’s Cave, Nethaway’s Cave (VeenFliet’s), Becker’s and Knox Cave in nearby Albany County, described below. There were likely others.
Unfortunately, and times were very different then, the early explorers also collected samples of their finds. Ball’s Cave on Barton Hill, Schoharie, was stripped of nearly all its formations, several weighing several hundred pounds. And, as Dr. Hubbard writes below, a formation more than four feet in length, resembling “a man’s head with a warrior’s helmet” was removed from Knox Cave.
Dr. Hubbard’s full account follows. It was published first in The Schoharie Republican, and then reprint in the Oct. 8, 1835, edition of The Albany Argus. It was simply headlined, “Knox Cave.”
That text follows:
“The difficulties and dangers with which nature has surrounded many of her most magnificent works seem, in the present age, to present no obstacles to the daring enterprise of man—that spirit of inquiry in the cause of natural science, which has presented to the literary world so many illustrations of her wonderful operations of nature in her gloomy solitude, has been recently stimulated by the discovery of objects for new investigations and redoubled efforts.
THE ROTUNDA in Knox Cave, from a 1930s-era brochure. The Cave was opened to the public until about 1960.
“A cavern, situated in the town of Knox, Albany county, on the land of Jacob Van Auker, about 11 miles east of Schoharie Court-house, has been recently explored—first by Mr. Thadeus Chapman, who resides in its vicinity, and subsequently, Sept. 4th. 1835, more particularly, by Mr. Peter Osterhout and Doctor L. Hubbard, of this village [Schoharie], in company with Mr. Chapman.
“The following is given as the result of their discoveries.
“The first depression resembles the section of an inverted cone—three-fourths of the circumference being nearly perpendicular, the remainder gradually sloping until it meets the opposite edge; the distance of this descent is about forty feet. The second descent is perpendicular in the rock, thirty-eight feet. The walls on either side are regular. with the exception of a few slight projections. The opening at the top forms a triangle, the sum of whose sides is not far from 12 feet, three-fifths of which is covered by a large stone that has fallen from the overhanging rock; the opening at the bottom of this passage is about the same as the top. The third passage is sloping (occasionally interrupted by perpendicular space of about three feet) for a distance of about 65 feet; this descent will form an angle of the horizon of not less than seventy degrees and runs directly south. The fourth passage is about six feet in length, inclining to the west, a little sloping through a curiously-wrought hole in the partition wall. This wall separates the two apartments in the cave. Were it not for this provision of nature, what remained below must have forever remained among the hidden secret of its Maker. This bole is nearly round, and just large enough to admit a person, either head- or feet foremost. The filth passage extends both to the north and south of the fourth; running parallel to the second and third; to the north the passage is free for about fifty feet, when it is choked up by clay which has been washed from above; this passage is from three to four feet wide, and probably not less than 100 feet in height.
“To the south it extends about forty feet and terminates in a beautiful colonnade; the columns are arranged in irregular form, including a space of about fifteen feet in circumference; the columns are formed of calcareous spar and are from ten to twenty feet in length, and from 6 to 14 inches in diameter; on the west side the columns are straight and regular, on the east they are interrupted by a mass of spar which has formed under them; this mass has an oval form, six feet in length and ten in height, and three in its greatest diameter, the sides are fluted out and formed into the resemblance of pillars, the whole mass has an appearance of being supported by pillars; the top is flat and circular, resembling a lady’s toilet table; the surface is beautifully cushioned over with an oval burr-like formation, and the bordering edge is hung with numbers of flat stalactites of differing lengths; the edges are notched out so they resemble fringe. The walls rise from the top of this beautiful formation, about fifteen feet, and meet the roof, which is considerably lower than the roof in the fifth passage; the sides of the columns rising from the table are hung with an immense number of stalactite formations; so also the roof above.
“The colonnade opens into a hall (so called to designate it from the room we will presently describe), the floor of which is about 8 feet lower than that of Ihe colonnade; it is about 80 feet long, 15 feet wide and 30 high. These walls are also ornamented with various formations of spar; great numbers of stalactites arc seen pending from the roof and sides; at the southwestern angle of the hall is a crevice extending about 15 feel, at the extremity of which, is a stalactical formation resembling in form and size a large lamp, (such as are used for lighting cities); the bottom is fringed with small, flat stalactites; at the northwestern angle of this hall is a passage, descending to the north; it has been explored for about 30 feet; the mud prevented us going farther. From this we pass into Ihe large room, (or as it was fancifully called by young Chapman) ihe grand saloon. This room is about forty feet long and twenty wide, and from fifteen to twenty (eet in height; the hall and roof are remarkably regular and encrusted with spar on all sides; the roof is pierced with three rows of holes, passing nearly its whole length. These holes are placed at nearly equal distances and have the appearance of being placed there for ornament. At the northern extremity of Ihe room, the roof parts at the center, and forms two large prongs; the one passes to one side of the colonnade and the other to the other side, and apparently resting on columns; about the middle of the western side of this room is a passage extending about 150 feet to the west; this passage varies in width from 6 to 8 feet; in some places the roof is very high, and in others the rocks fall within a few feet of the floor. This passage is lined with sparry incrustations from one end to the other; stalactites, stalagmites and alabaster, of the purest kind, are found here.
“We procured a stalactite from this passage 4 feet 8 inches in length, the top of which very much resembles a man’s head with a warrior’s helmet; here we also procured the fragments of a stalactical formation, about 8 inches in diameter and 8 feet in length, which had fallen from a crevice and broken; other pieces of the same mass were seen lodged in the crevice above; and judging from the piece we have, and those in sight, we should say it could not have been less than 11 or 12 feet in length; this mass is formed of the purest alabaster, except for a streak of about two inches wide and 1½ thick, (which appears to have traversed it whole length) which is formed of the purest kind of satin spar.
“The above is given by the gentlemen from this village, as a very hasty and deficient account of this interesting cavern. Doc. L. Hubbard, who first entered Ball’s Cave in Schoharie, pronounces that much celebrated cavern far inferior in grandeur and appearance to the one above-mentioned, and gives it a preference only in novelty, resulting from its subterranean navigation.
SUGGESTED READING: “The Gebhards of Schoharie,” pages 288-295 in “Underground Empires: Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure * Enterprise in NY’s Cave Country.” Published Aug. 2021 by Black Dome Press, Catskill.
Also, Underground Empires, chapter 7, “The Opening of Secret Caverns and Knox Cave.”
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 counties1. He produced nine maps with surveyor James. F. Loughran, and 40 photos on 4×5” glass-plate negatives, with his brother, Harry C. Cook.
In all, Prof. Cook mentions 19 caves, most of them familiar to cavers of the northeast.
“[Cook’s] 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 for the report’s 1906 publication. “The results have been entirely satisfactory. . .”
SEE THIS SITE’S PHOTO GALLERY FOR COOK’S PHOTOS FROM HOWE’S CAVE
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 entirety. With the report are several photos of the cave’s outstanding features prior to its 1927-29 development and reopening as Howe Caverns, Inc.
Chuck Porter of Troy and the late Jack Middleton saved the photos from Cook’s work from 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.
COOK’S 1905 MAP OF ABOUT 600 FEET OF OLD HOWE’S CAVE. ABOUT 300 FEET (LEFT) HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY QUARRYING.
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.”
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.” This story is told in the February 2024 Cave Country Tales blog post, “Á Century Later, Prof. Cook’s Mystery Caver is Revealed.”
FEATURED IMAGE is of two nearly pure white stalagmites, today known as “the Sentinels.“
1 The Onondaga limestone is found primarily in the Cobleskill area; the Manlius in Howes Cave and the Beacraft in Albany County, most notable in the Thatcher Park area.
The July 1, 1854, death of Prof. Thomas A. McFail in a cave off Lyker’s Road, Carlisle, is relatively well-known among northeastern cavers and Schoharie County history buffs1.
The exact details are less than precise. Exactly which cave he died in is not known, but one—the largest cave in the northeast—is named for him.
Writing on the caves of Schoharie County, a reporter from The New York Sun in December 1886 suggested McFail, a math professor at the Carlisle Seminary School, is forever exploring the underground in which he met his doom.
THE LURE OF CAVES – A 1930S KNOX CAVE, ALBANY COUNTY POSTCARD
According to the anonymous writer: “Not a few credulous natives declare that the lake is haunted, and those who have ventured into its depths say that the weird responses a shout awakens among its damp aisles and openings might easily be taken for the voices of unearthly dwellers.” (Adding to the confusion, there is no lake in the cave named for McFail. – editor)
Ghost Men of the Revolution
While suggesting a connection between VeenFliet’s Cave outside the Village of Schoharie to other caves of Terrace Mountain, Caver Charles J. Hanor shared in 1949 that some believe local Revolutionary War hero Timothy Murphy and Morgan’s Riflemen used the cave network on the mountain to baffle enemies.
“They were called the ‘ghost men’ as Indians following their trail would come to the mouth of a cavern, where they were afraid to follow,” Hanor wrote in the Sept. 9, edition of the Albany CountyPost2.
Giving up the chase, the native warriors were later taken by surprise, seeing Murphy and his men “just appear out of nowhere,” to win the skirmish.
Bottomless Pits
Readers also learned of the dangers of “bottomless pits” in the 1886 New York Sun report.
“A man named Samuel or Lemuel Pool was lost in one of these dangerous hour-glass caverns in 1838. He visited the cave with two companions. They carried five torches, and holding one of these in his hand, Pool crept into one of the narrow and crooked passageways for the purpose of reaching an invisible waterfall, the roar of which could be heard as though just beyond the mouth of the passage.
“His companions saw his torch gradually disappear in the aperture and waited for hours for his return. He never came back, and nothing was ever heard of him again,” according to the Sun newspaper.
These “bottomless pits” were not just dangerous to the men and women of the Cave Country: “The openings of these surface entrances to caverns. . .in some instances [when they are] near the houses of farmers, they are enclosed with strong fences, for many horses and cattle were lost by falling into the pits,” according to the paper. “Some of the openings are seventy-five feet in diameter.”
1“The Caves of Schoharie,” The New York Sun, Dec. 12, 1886, submitted by Chuck Porter and appearing in the Carlisle Historical Society Newsletter volume 2.2, August 2009
2“The Cave with the Tapir Tooth,” By Charles J. Hanor, The Albany County Post, Sept. 9, 1949
See also, “The Mysterious End to Prof. McFail,” by the author, March 2024 blog post, HoweCavernsTales.com
Caves, dark and mysterious, have often provided the perfect setting for writers of fiction. In the U.S., the most well-known example is perhaps that of Simm’s Cave, called that in the 1840s in Hannibal Missouri.
Mark Twain re-named it “McDougal’s Cave,” and used it for a tense, climactic search leading to the rescue of Tom and Becky in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It’s now Mark Twain’s Cave and open to the public as a tourist attraction.
LOCAL CAVES FEATURED
reaching the head of the underground lake
Lesser known is Ball’s Cave overlooking the Village of Schoharie, which according to the 1845 History of Schoharie County and Border Wars, was used as a setting for a romantic novel of the 19th Century, entitled Greyceclear.
The book’s author is recalled only as “Hoffman.” The gods of Google have no record of the publication.
Ball’s Cave, discovered in September 1831, enjoyed a few years of popular interest and attracted many adventurers. The novelist renamed it “Wenonda.”
Which gets us to Howe’s Cave. Open to the public in its wild state since its discovery in 1842, there are many first-hand accounts of the day-long cave tour that appeared in widely-circulated newspapers and popular magazines. These accounts, even several decades apart, are remarkably similar.
To those very real reports, we can draw new details from a very accurate account in a work of fiction, His Prison Bars and the way of Escape by Alphonso. A. Hopkins. Described as “A Temperance Story,” it was published in 1874 by Rural Home Publishing Co., of Rochester.
The author’s attempts to mask fact as fiction are frankly ludicrous and lazy. Albany, for example, is rearranged to become “Baylan,” Howe’s Cave becomes “Coble’s Cave.” There are many more examples throughout the novel.
The characters of His Prison Bars and the dialogue are both insufferable. A sample, as the group arrives at the small train depot that serves the cave:
“Leaving the cars where neither platform nor depot offered accommodation, they saw, off at their right, twenty rods up the hillside, a long, rambling hotel, and Hull Latimer called out, — “Where on earth does Mr. Coble keep his cave, I wonder?”
Passing through Congress Hall in about 1890
“Change your preposition, Hull,” said John. “Nobody ever saw a cave on earth, did they?”
“Don’t imply that they are running this cave business into the ground,” was Hull’s answer.”
Groan.
We won’t go over the truly nauseating storyline here. Chapter XXIV, “Coble’s Cave,” is all we need to make our point, that while the book is a work of fiction, His Prison Bars contains a valid description of the Howe’s Cave experience in the 1870s – and a new one at that.
As the party of young men and women are led through the cave with their unnamed guide, they remark on numerous points of interest that are factually accurate. The author makes no attempt to create fictional names for the cave’s features. The group is ferried across an underground lake, they climb the Rocky Mountains into Josephat’s Valley, squeeze through the Winding Way, and rest far from daylight in the Rotunda.
One passage, in particular, rings true and adds new color to the more factual descriptions of cave tour of that era.
After a moment of silence in complete darkness in the Rotunda, the exploring party started their way back. Author Hopkins describes a unique, and very likely, event drawn from real-life occurrences. He wrote:
“On the Rocky Mountains the guide stopped. “Go ahead twenty or thirty rods [300 to 400 feet] without me,” he said, “and wait there.” They filed along down the rough descent and paused, as directed.
“By the guide’s torch they could just discern him perched on the rocky height. An instant later he had fired a quantity of red light, and the illumination was wildly, weirdly beautiful. A red, unearthly glow shot far up towards the ceiling above and threw its ray along the entire passage to where they stood. Beyond the burning altar, as it seemed, the guide’s figure stood out in bold relief, a presence spectral indeed. When the red light had burned dim, the guide discharged some Roman candles, and their white fireballs, glancing hither and thither through the dark spaces, seemed like meteors shooting through an unknown sky.
“Isn’t it magnificent!” exclaimed Geraldine Faythe. Her expression found numerous echoes, for none of the party had ever beheld anything equal to it in singular beauty of effect. Midway of the Lake another illumination was had, more beautiful still, and more striking. Every stalactite was thrown out in clear relief by the strong light, the clear, unrippled water acting as a reflector; and the party looked on in bewildered amazement until the scene was over.”
What makes this fictional account ring true: It is well-known that Lester Howe used fireworks underground on numerous occasions, just not at the location author Hoffman describes. Howe and his guides sent Roman candles up into the Rotunda to demonstrate its highest reaches, and bridal parties in the cave were treated to brilliant fireworks displays. To Hopkins credit, he has likely and accurately captured the reactions and amazement that 19th Century visitors had to the wonders of Howe’s Cave.
The full text of His Prison Bars and the Way of Escape by Alphonso. A. Hopkins is available to download as a PDF through the Library of Congress at LOC: His Prison Bars and The Way of Escape.
The funeral of the late John Gebhard, Jr., at Schoharie yesterday was one of the largest ever held in the county. The remains lay in state at the courthouse on Saturday and were viewed by hundreds.
Yesterday morning a special train, which had been provided through the efforts of Hon. Elliot F. Danforth and Prof. James Hall, was run from this city to accommodate friends from this city who desired to attend the services. The party consisted of Prof. James Hall, State geologist; Prof. Charles H. Peck, State botanist; Prof. J. A. Lintner, State entomologist; Prof. Chas. E. Bucher, John D. Clarke and James W. Hall, representing the State department, Hon. Elliot F. Danforth, representing the State officials, and the following: James W. Hutt, general superintendent of the National express; F. G. Babcock, proprietor of the American house; Isaac B. Cross, H. P. Dprr, Frank J. Hildbrant, Sidney S. Mitchell, G. S. Wicks, E. F. Weaver, R. J. Boylan. Jr., I. P. Ladd, Martin C. Sheeny, Aid. Hitt and Dr. S. H Wells.
JOHN GBHARD, JR., ABOUT 1840-50, from painting held at the Old Stone Fort Museum Archive, Schoharie
The services were held at the Lutheran church, and the structure was scarcely adequate to o contain the immense congregation that assembled. An impressive voluntary, by Miss Kittie Boyce, preceded the brief and eloquent sermon by the young- pastor, Rev. Mr. Keller.
In eulogizing the virtues of the deceased, he said; “On October 22, 1802, there was born in this county one of those happy souls who seem destined to carry sunshine wherever they go. As he grew from childhood to manhood, he panoplied himself in the confidence of the people, which brought forth rich fruit in his afterlife. Holding positions of trust and confidence almost continuously from 1832 to the time of his death, he evidenced in all his true manhood.
“Throughout this long and useful life, there was one trait of character always prominent—the kindliness of his heart. No cry of distress ever fell unheeded upon his ears, for his heart answered. Imposed upon by some, he distinguished not between such and heaven-given opportunities, and thus impoverished himself. Believing that all nature is a commentary upon Divine revelation, he forced from the dumb lips of nature many of her secrets, and attained .to no mean eminence in the world of science. Without divorcing nature from science, as so many do, he was an interested hearer of the preached word. He will be missed in this congregation, for whose church he felt almost an idolatrous love, and for which he did many helpful things.”
The Rev. Edwin Vedder offered a feeling prayer, and the congregation sang “Nearer, My God to Thee,” after which the remains were borne to the hearse and consigned to their last resting place in the Lutheran cemetery.
Among the bearers were Judge Mayham and Martin Luther Schaffer. Many of the prominent officials of the county were among the congregation, including Judge Peter S. Danforth, of Middleburgh: Seymour Boughton, Hon. John B. Grant and Hon. Hobart Krum.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Items on John Gebhard Jr. posted this month here, and on the website’s landing page, “Cave Country news, updates, new posts & features,” add new details to the early geologist’s life. The remarkable life is featured in “The Gebhards of Schoharie,” Chapter I, Section IV of Underground Empires: Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure & Enterprise in NY’s Cave Country. The book is available through this website.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We return here to Schoharie’s Cave of the Tapir’s Tooth (see Nov. 1, 2023, post). This account offers numerous new details on the cave’s 1831 discovery, its rich history, and challenging exploration. We meet then-owner and namesake, Richard VeenFliet, and learn he once considered opening his cave along the banks of the Schoharie Creek to the public.VeenFliet’s Cave also figures prominently in Garden of Eden lore. See last month’s post by Bob Addis.
Originally published as “The Tale of an Ancient Tapir and His Abode in the Mysterious Caves of Schoharie,” in The Knickerbocker Press, Sunday, May 1, 1933. By Ray A. Mowers. The photographs used are from that article.
Hunting a title for this unusual story, there is one that seemed perfectly swell: “The Tale of a Tapir’s Tooth.”
There is just one discrepancy while a tapir’s tooth does figure in the tale, the tale itself is not so toothsome—which, if not gaudy, is a pretty fair pun as puns go, in this era of radio comedy.
As a matter of cold, dank fact, this story deals with the rediscovery of a cave in the age-old limestone of Schoharie County—a cave found a century ago by John Gebhard Jr. the first geologist New York state ever had1.
The tooth of a tapir was. . . But it’s a little too soon to speak of that.
Now, for at least the third time since its discovery, this cave’s almost wholly virgin area is about to be explored. And this time, perhaps, it may be prepared for public inspection. If so, it will add another to the growing string of underground curiosities in the historic Schoharie Valley2.
One sultry day in the summer of 1831, John Gebhard Jr.3, geologist extraordinaire, allowed his curiosity to get the better of him—a common fault with scientists the world over. He wanted to know where that ice-cold water came from that bubbled ceaselessly from the foot of a rocky ravine on property adjoining has own.
The investigation which he began led to a yawning cavern in the limestone rocks a few hundred feet from his home, then located on the Schoharie river shore. The opening is small but still large enough for him to penetrate within the side of the rocky surface walls.
What he saw that day caused him to take a few friends into his confidence. They accompanied him to the scene. As a consequence, Jr. Gebhard and his companions expended considerable energy in clearing away debris about the mouth of the cavern. They managed to explore back 500 feet before encountering a barrier.
LEFT, The entrance to VeenFliet’s Cave along the Schoharie Creek, east of the Bridge Street, or “Gebhard” Bridge. Center, the tapir’s teeth found in the cave, and finally at right, ownerRichard VeenFliet.
Determined that someday they would blast out this barrier and see what lay beyond, the explorers of a century ago rested on their laurels and the work ended there.
EXPLORATIONS RENEWED
It seemed there had been little descriptive material dealing with the discovery prepared for posterity when Geologist Gebhard and his friends passed on. At any rate, it was not until 1867 that, according to existing records, another attempt was made to open the cavern.
Once more intervening years had clogged the opening, and it again was necessary to ply pick and shovel to provide easy entrance.
On this occasion, the cavern floor was covered with water ranging to varying depths but requiring the use of a boat to get in and about.
Again, the barrier was encountered and like their predecessor, the new set of explorers determined to blast it away and see what lay beyond. This was never done.
More than six decades have passed since this exploring party disintegrated and turned its attention to other things.
At that time, the cave was on property owned by Napoleon Clark and, what had once been locally known as Gebhard’s Cave, became Clark’s Cave for the time being.
PROPERTY CHANGES HANDS
Long before those post-bellum days, the land had been added to the property on the southerly side of the Schoharie-East Cobleskill road, owned for more than a century by a succession of Gebhards.
Several years ago, the last of the Gebhards died and the property came into the possession of Richard Veenfliet, Jr., a man with a strong geological bent who had passed many hours with members of the Gebhard family, collecting valuable paleontological exhibits.
A crude map of the cave frome a 1950s guide to the caves of Schoharie County. The entrance is at the right. an unknown explorer’s handwritten remarks at included.
When the old Gebhard residence overlooking the Schoharie was burned, Mr. Veenfliet built a modern home upon its site. Back of it still stands the original John Gebhard barn of the early 19th Century, held staunch by gigantic handhewn timbers.
Across the highway and back in the ravine, the new owner took his determined way one day about two years ago. There he espied the entrance to the cavern which State Geologist Gebhard had explored almost exactly a century ago.
For a third time shovels and picks were carried to the debris-choked entrance to clear away the deposits of 50 winters.
Finally forcing entrance, Mr. Veenfliet found his labor and time had been profitably spent so far as his concern in geological affairs went. He also discovered an antique lamp within the cavern portal, evidently left behind by Gebhard, the explorer of 1831. He found, too, other evidence of the work done by his successors of 1867.
Equipped with modern electric hand torches, Mr. Veenfliet was easily able to’ overcome the handicap of ineffective illumination from which his predecessors unquestionably had suffered.
What his lamps disclosed made him hold his breath in astonishment.
Not since Lester Howe took his eccentric self within the portals of his celebrated cave back in 18474 had anyone beheld such an untouched, unmarred display of limestone stalactites and stalagmites. Here, he decided, was something well worthwhile.
ENTER TAPIR’S TOOTH
Returning to the sunshine outside, the new discoverer decided in the way of his predecessor to summon at least one friend upon whom he could depend for personal interest in such a project– Charles Helma, of Schenectady. Together, they set to work to dig away the remainder of the debris at the mouth of the cavern and conduct further exploration. While engaged in this work, they came upon one of the chief discoveries of their enterprise. It was the tooth of a strange animal together with what appeared to be a portion of a vertebrae.
The tooth was without roots. It had a creamy tint of old ivory and a high polish. Dispatched to scientists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and later to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the tooth was pronounced that of a tapir.
The tapir now is confined to a habitat in Central and South America. Once, ft seems, it ranged the glacier-ridden terrains farther north.
The tooth, said the scientists, must have been dropped in the cavern or deposited in one of the strata now forming it not less than 25,000 years ago in what is known as Upper Pleistocene period.
FINDS INNER CHAMBER
Five hundred feet from the entrance, Mr. Veenfliet and Mr. Helma encountered the barrier which had blocked the explorations of both 1831 and 1867. It is of beautiful flowstone, not clay as Gebhard characterized it in the uncertain light of his antique coal-oil lantern.
On either side of the barrier, the new discovers found narrow passageways leading onward. One was found to be narrow and tortuous with a treacherous quicksand floor. The other was negotiable for a slender man lying prone and pulling himself along like a serpent.
Mr. Veenfliet essayed the passage. He discovered at the end of 30 feet that a magnificent stalactite barred egress at the farther end of the rocky tube. It resisted all hie efforts to break ft.
His electric flash lamp’s rays showed he was at the end of the narrow tunnel and beyond lay a gigantic room studded with translucent glories in limestone, never before seen by man. If he could have passed the obstinate stalactite, it would have been possible to turn about and crawl back to daylight head on, just as he had come. As it was, however, he was compelled to retrace his way by laboriously pushing himself feet foremost to where Mr. Helma was waiting eagerly.
One problem had been solved—there was a way to go on regardless of the flowstone barrier. But it left unanswered the question whether the newly explored passage led to the main cavern behind the barrier or to another independent branch of the subterranean mystery.
And so, the matter rests today while Mr. Veenfliet seeks ways and means to develop this thing of an earthly beauty which lies below the surface of his rugged land.
OTHER CAVES NEARBY
This cavern—once Gebhards, then Clarks and now Veenfliets—is the only one ever discovered in West Mountain, the towering limestone tablerock that divides the watersheds of the Schoharie from the Cobleskill Valley all the way from Central Bridge westward, until it loses its identify with mountains of the northernmost Catskills.
Those who would look into this rediscovery of Gebhard’s century-old find should cross the bridge at Schoharie on the road to East Cobleskill. An ancient watering trough will be found beside the highway. It was there the farmers of Cobleskill, Barnerville, and elsewhere on the north side of the divide were wont to let their horses drink on the long ride to and from the county seat.
The water supplying this trough comes from the boiling spring of icy water which John Gebhard traced to the subterranean source within his cave 100 years ago – the cave of the tapir’s tooth.
1 Not exactly. He was the first curator of “Geological Hall” in Albany, which later became the NYS Museum. His field work before that supported the publication of the 1843 New York Geological Survey, Samples from the survey—taken from across the state—figured in the creation of the Hall, originally referred to as the state “cabinet.” See “The Gebhards of Schoharie,” Chapter 1, Section IV of my book, Underground Empires: Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure & Enterprise in NY’s Cave Country. Available here.
2 Howe Caverns and Secret Caverns were open to the public just four years earlier, and a third cave, Schoharie Caverns, was being prepared at around this same time.
