I've been to some of John's caves and watched him use his excavator one day on some sinkholes on his property. John opens up his property to responsible cavers, schools, etc and has probably found more cave than all the other cavers in Minnesota combined. He has been a successful businessman and really has dedicated his life to owning, exploring, and protecting caves. He has tried to obtain access to a number of caves that were closed or restricted access. For example, Goliath Cave in Minnesota was bought by the State on recommendations of cavers and closed to all access (even researchers who wrote letters of support to purchase the land). John knew that most of the cave wasn't on state owned land so, after asking the state if he could enter the cave and they denied him access, he located the cave using drilling and geophysics and drilled his own entrance. He has done the same thing with Cold Water Cave in Iowa, a very long cave that was restricted to only those that were actively exploring it. After being denied access, John bought the adjoining farm which had a well that intersected the cave and drilled his own entrance. Now the cave is open to responsible cavers.
As you can imagine, he is a controversial guy. He is also a prolific writer about caving in the local caving journals. I don't think I have posting rights to SWR Cavers, could one of you post this for me. Thanks, Geary Schindel From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Evelyn Townsend Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 9:59 AM To: Lynda & James Sánchez Cc: SWR Cavers Subject: Re: [SWR] Fw: Cavers up north Yes John Ackerman is the caver we have been helping dig in Fountain Spring Cave Sinkhole this summer. We used electric hoist and very long conveyer to get mud out of sink. Nice article and typical Ackerman sensations. However the 40 miles might be the total of all caves he has put entrances in . ET On Aug 26, 2013 9:46 AM, "Lynda & James Sánchez" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Do any of you know about this fellow? las http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/us/cave-collector-in-minnesota-hunts-for-additions-to-his-empire.html _______________________________________________ SWR mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr _______________________________________________ This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
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