Dahm Spring Cave

This is by far the ‘jewel box’ of recently discovered caves. It was originally found by unknown persons who built a stacked rock wall at the entrance. It was rediscovered by Mike Hanson who, with the help of his brother Greg, dug out a couple of yards of dirt and guano. Beyond was a small room with dried soda straws and a dismaying chisel lead with definite air movement. On a return trip, after a bunch of chiseling. Lottie Hufford and Denis Maynard managed to squeeze through into going cave passage. Encouraged by their success, Greg Hanson managed to follow but nobody else could quite get through. Their reports of the cave beyond urged grotto members to stage a return trip to continue chiseling and admit larger cavers.

The cave consists of the entrance crawls and tight squeezes that emerge at one end of a large room. A large flowstone mound is the highlight of this room with a series of small rimstone dams below it. Above, a series of domes is well decorated with flowstone and draperies. A passage to the right leads down to the Remains To Be Seen Grotto, here a large pool of water is grave to many creatures. A well calcified raccoon skeleton is the star of the grisly array, mostly mice and bats. Beyond the pool is a ledge decorated with soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, columns, draperies, and flowstone. A water mark on the walls indicates a once much higher water level.

Another lead off the big room goes to an upper level with small formation areas, pools, and domes. Air moves through a two inch diameter hole in this area as well as through breakdown in the big room. Access has been limited to this cave due to the delicacy of some of the formations as well as continual breakage of the thin calcite coating on the floor in many areas.