Elm Cave, Marion County, Arkansas

June 2024

Gate Type: BASIC

Out of the blue, I was contacted by a landowner that wanted to gate his cave. The cave was in a remote rural area, not well known, and had no immediate threats. But he was being proactive, wanting to protect his treasure before it was ruined. So we did. And what a treasure it was! Geologically, hydrologically, historically, and biologically significant. And long, and well decorated, to boot! He even came to visit while we were gating, and we took him on a tour of his cave, using our caver eyes to point out all types of interesting things. Usually we never get to tour the caves we protect, and so we were honored to visit this one. A treasure, indeed! All photos © Jim Kennedy.

The massive entrance to Elm Cave, showing the fog layer at the interface of the cool cave air below with the hot and humid outside air.
A few rocks were moved so that we could place the expanded metal skirting.
Mollie uses the Smallerizer™ to make a particularly troublesome rock go away.
Garrett takes on the hardest job, drilling the anchor pin holes at the top of a column.
At the end of the first day, we’ve made great progress. We’ll anchor the tops of the center two columns after we have attached several bars.
Once the anchors are placed, the bars start going up rather quickly.
Jenna is pursuing a career in cave and karst management, and relishes every gate project she can attend.
Using two welders definitely speeds up the workflow!
We build temporary scaffolding for the high gates. It takes many hands to safely hold those upper bars in place.
We just can’t keep Garrett away from that big hammer drill!
Jenna and Krista made a quick jaunt into the cave. The lack of a helmet is highly unusual and not recommended!
We were too busy to take many photos inside the cave, but we love how this shot of one of the dome rooms turned out!
The intrepid Cave Gater crew proudly representing in front of the newly-completed bat gate.