T-Junction Dig 21
April 20 - 21, 2002
Disappointing
31.7 feet to Carroll Cave or 86.8 feet below surface
Diggers: John Bowles, Greg Buckley, Bill Gee, Marty Griffin, Rick Hines,
Ron Lather, Dave McCool, Jeff Page, Chris Wolters
We only got in one blast Saturday and pulled only a disappointing 1.2
feet. Based on the weather forecast Saturday night we decided not to
work Sunday. We called John Bowles and he agreed to pick up the
unused explosives Sunday morning. Bill Gee and I spent the night at
the schoolhouse, picked up around the dig Sunday and carried explosives
down to the schoolhouse for John.
Bill Gee camped at the schoolhouse Friday night. He was unable to
get to the dig because the ditch between the gate and the dig was a
40-foot wide roaring river. By Saturday morning when Dave and Marty
arrived with the explosive the water in the ditch was only about 2 feet
deep and we were able to get across in Dave's truck. The total
rainfall for the weekend was 7.5" and most of that came down Friday
night.
The steel plug was in the 9" pilot hole but was not holding water so
it was easily removed. The hole was nicely prepped and the template
fit in easily. A measurement found the hole clear to the cave but
found the bottom of the dig at 85.6 feet below the surface (previously
reported at 86.1 feet).
Marty drilled 8 holes but was only able to drill one hole near the 9-inch
hole due to a wide spot at the top of the pilot hole. Chris Wolters
had modified the template to move the center holes closer to the 9-inch
hole to help insure that they blast to the bottom.
Dave loaded 2.5 power split sausages into each hole. Unfortunately I
dropped the wooden rod, designed to press plastic stem plugs over the
explosives, down into the cave. Dave improvised with a fiberglass
rod but this apparently pushed the plastic plugs in at an angle and in at
least two cases cut the shock tube on the non el dets. Dave knew he
cut one tube when he was loading and loaded an additional sausage on top
to try to detonate the charge below the plastic plug. The tube he
knew he cut was a white zero delay det. After the blast Bill
Gee carefully looked for undetonated explosives and founded 2.5 power
splits and a yellow non el. The one hole drilled near the
pilot hole blew out near the full-drilled depth turning the pilot hole
into an oval. The rest of the surface required a lot of chipping to
eek out the meager gain of 1.2 feet. When we dig next we will have a
large jackhammer to try to chip out the fractured rock a nd get a larger
gain p
Terry DeFraties had provided a new 5-foot section of railroad rail for use
in the 9-inch hole. I cut two holes through the web of the rail and
secured a heavy chain. After the blast we found the chain hanging
free with no rail. When we pulled the chain out we found the loop
end of the chain was still intact. We must have blown the rail in
two along the length of the web.
We well spend the next three weekends preparing for MVOR. The next
dig will be May 25-26, the weekend after MVOR.
There is still a lot of work to do at the MVOR site. We will be
working on the bonfire and other task each of the next three weekends.
Bring a chainsaw and a friend and come help. Please contact Eddie or
me to sign up.
Eddie 417-736 3195
caverebels@prodigy.net
Rick 913 897 4258 rickhines@aol.com
See you at MVOR
Rick