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Spring & Cave Conservation Project After Action Report
Location: Cannonball Cave, on
Wappapello Lake, Greenville, MO Dates: July 5, 2003 To:
Wappapellow Lake Management Office Greetings: Wanted to report to you regarding our clean-up at Blue Springs. We picked up trash at the parking area above the springs, the trail down to it, the shore above it, the road leading from the parking area to the boat ramp---and underwater at the mouth of the cave.
There were seven volunteers (separate sheet with names, age and sex
enclosed). We spent a little more than 3 hours picking up the trash
above and below the water. There was a c. 15 to 20 pounds of refuse.
The main items are listed below in order of bulk amount found:
Most of the metal picked up was of more recent vintage (e.g., aluminum), but a small portion of it was steel and quite rusted. Reason for this is probably that divers have been picking up cans at the mouth of the cave for some years so that only the more recently introduced aluminum cans remain. The only historic item noted is the cannonball at the mouth of the underwater cave. This was probably used by some boater as an anchor before being lost. It is the reason the cave diving community calls the site Cannonball Cave rather than Davidson's Blue Spring. The cannonball is a round, solid shot ball between 12 and 18 pounds. It could possibly be from either the Plains or the Civil War period. The boater who lost it, if still around, might could answer that question. It still has some rusted attachments on one side which could have attached it to a chain or line. Whoever lost it must have been a local since I can't see someone in a modern fiberglass bass boat using a cannonball as an anchor, you might solicit information through a local paper, if it was something in which you were interested. Thanks for allowing us to do this clean-up. We'll likely check with you about doing another one next year. Sincerely,
Douglas Rorex |
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