On the prior dig we had difficulty drilling after we lost our original button drill tip. I assumed the problem was the somewhat worn bar tip we were using. Now I believe the problem was the drill motor not the tip. The prior week Danny Schupbach had purchased a button bit and drill stem and loaned it to us. We installed a new drill stem and button bit on the Dave McCool drill. The first driller quickly discovered the drill motor would hammer but not turn under load. Fortunately we had a second drill motor on hand that Danny had loaned to us at the beginning of the dig. Unfortunately we had stolen parts off of it to keep the McCool drill running. We moved the necessary parts from the Dave's drill to Danny's drill and we got back to work. As we drilled we found we had frequent problems with the drill bit getting stuck. The first few times we were able to jerk it free by having four guys bounce up and down pulling on the surface rope (the Carroll dance). But soon our brand new bit was stuck and we could not get it free. We switched to a spare drill stem and a brand new bar tip that John Bowles had brought out for a backup. We competed and loaded a set of holes and blasted to free the bit. Even though we tried to space the holes to protect the drill stem it came out looking more like a boomerang (sorry about that Danny).

Friday as it was getting dark I climbed the tripod to set lights. From that vantage point I saw steam billowing out of the compressor. We shut it down and found the V-belt had broken. Bill Copeland made a run that night to try to purchase a new one but the stores were closed.  Saturday morning Bell Gee purchased two when the auto store opened in Camdenton. As we tested the compressor we found the gas line had also failed and was spraying gas. The gas line had failed before so we had spare ferrules and quickly remedied that problem.

As I was jackhammering at 2:30 AM Sunday morning (about a foot above the ceiling) I got the jackhammer chisel stuck. Even after disconnecting the hammer from the chisel and hammering on the chisel it remained stuck. Seemed like a good time to call it a night.

After a few hours sleep we started trying to figure out how to get the jackhammering going again. We cut an unused section of throttle cable from the compressor and used the coiled sheath to replace the collar retaining spring on the pneumatic chisel. In a parallel effort to get the big jackhammer running I discovered that our 7/8-inch drill stem fit the jackhammer.

We sacrificed a spare drill stem to make a jackhammer chisel. Greg Buckley and Bill Pierce played blacksmith, heating and hammering the drill stem to form a chisel tip. They then arc welded hard facing rod to the tip and heated and hammer some more. The homemade chisel got us through the last foot of rock and into the cave.

Greg Buckley did most of the jackhammering but stopped with only inches to go an allowed me the privilege of breaking through. Thank you Greg! I thinned the bottom of the shaft to a thickness of about 2-3 inches. I could see the debris cone, through the 9" hole, about 4 feet below me. I then punched through a series of holes at the perimeter about every 4 inches. Even at this point the thin shelf of rock would support my weight. Through the jackhammering process our 30 to 36" diameter shaft had narrowed to about 24 inches. This made it convenient to wedge my body in the shaft as I proceeded to jackhammer between the holes and drop the shelf. I called for slack in the belay line and I dropped in to Carroll. I know what Neil A. Armstrong must have felt when he took his "Small Step." One Chapter of Carroll exploration is now closed but volumes are yet to be written.

Following the breakthrough I invited everyone on the surface down for the first "work trip" to assess the cleanup effort that will take place at the T-Junction. I was delight to see Greg Fry, one of the landowners, drop in to Carroll. I am sure he will be back. I am pleased that Jeff Page and Bill Gee (and I assume several others) had the good sense and patience to stay on the surface and help get the rest of us out.

Thanks to Danny Schupbach for purchasing stem and button bit for us to use.

Thanks to Peddgie Heinz for an excellent and plentiful pot roast dinner and breakfast and to Kay Hines for providing fruit and desert to go with the dinner.

Thanks Ron Lather for moving the sky crapper and final clean up around the sinkhole dig.

Thanks to Mark Passerby, founder of Caverdiggers.com, for making the long trip from Lansing, Michigan to help us and help document our work.

Thanks to Bill Copeland for the breakthrough toast champagne.

Thanks to everyone that has helped since the first Carroll sinkhole dig in November of 1995.