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UID:pretalx-nss-convention-2026-ZBB3WN@talks.caving.dev
DTSTART;TZID=EST:20260709T091500
DTEND;TZID=EST:20260709T094000
DESCRIPTION:Native Americans were the first important Indiana cavers\, expl
 oring deep into Wyandotte Cave as far back as 200 BC. Serious European exp
 loration in Indiana started around 1850. Mud\, Water\, & Guts\, a recent b
 ook by Gary Roberson\, chronicles many significant contributors over the l
 ast 175 years.\n\nIndiana cavers have played an outsized role in American 
 caving beginning with Horace Hovey in the mid 1800's. Hovey\, born in Rob 
 Roy\, is considered by many the father of American speleology. Bill Clifto
 n\, longtime guide at Marengo Cave may have been first modern caver. Georg
 e Jackson\, the earliest Indiana member of the NSS\, caved around Wyandott
 e\, next came Lewis D. Lamon\, the expert on the sinkhole plain\, followed
  by Leo Schotter\, the last of the early leaders.\n\nThe truly modern era 
 began with the formation of the NSS grottos in Indianapolis and Bloomingto
 n in the 1950's and the first major survey projects in Sullivan's\, Binkle
 y\, and Bluespring caves. The leader of the transition to the grotto cavin
 g was Richard L. Powell.\n\nThe big bang of Indiana caving began in the la
 te 50's and lasted until around 1975. The center of this caving boom was I
 ndiana University\, its spelunking club\, and the Bloomington Indiana Grot
 to. This era created a prodigious number of important cavers. Many of thes
 e caving greats stayed home\, but Indiana exported others to futures of gr
 eat influence elsewhere.\n\nIndiana caving continued growing through the 8
 0's and into the 90's. However\, as the Boomer generation aged the wave be
 gan to recede. After the White Nose epidemic closed many great Indiana cav
 es in 2011\, the decline accelerated. Once the Covid epidemic hit\, Indian
 a's grottos became shells of what they had once been. Fortunately\, Covid 
 got young Americans off their butts and out into nature. By 2023\, Indiana
  grottos were once again growing rapidly.
DTSTAMP:20260826T232143Z
LOCATION:205
SUMMARY:A Brief Overview of the Significant Hoosier Cavers 1850-2025 - 
URL:https://talks.caving.dev/nss-convention-2026/talk/ZBB3WN/
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