JAH 1936
USA 19 USA 19
Figure 60. Type Tour, H wes Gave, New York, 4-bar killer.
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Figure 61. Type Five, Howe's Cave, New York, double circle cancel.
Natural Bridge also has several different types of "precancels" (Figure 64). PSS 473, issued May 1927, is a 25-subject rubber hand stamp with lines and condensed block upper and lowercase letters of 3 mm lines 12 mm apart.
Cave Post Offices
Figure 62. Howe Cave, New York, receiving postmark.
Figure 63. Natural Bridge, New York, double circle with 6-bar killer.
PSS 705, issued in the summer of 1932, is a wide hand electro stamp with condensed font, wide spaces between letters in 2% mm blocked capital letters, and 1 mm between town name and state abbreviation.
Natural Bridge NY
Figure 64. J\&aW.Bn%, Mw W, /,n%%««6 (%S 473, f&S 7&S 4»;/f&S &#j.
New York
PSS 843, issued June 1973, was a new vinyl hand stamp with lines, no punctuation, 2%
mm blocked with upper and lower case letters used, and a two-letter state abbreviation.
There are no known postmarks from Grotto Post Office, which was located 5 miles northwest from West Groton and 5 miles west of the Southern Central Railroad Peru Station.
REFERENCES
Kay, John L., and Chester M. Smith, Jr. New York Postal History: The Post Offices and First Postmasters from 1775 to 1980. State College, Pennsylvania: American Philatelic Society. 1982.
Kaiser, Louis W. A Checklist of the Post Offices of New York State to 1850: With the Names of the First Postmasters. Ithaca, New York: L.W. Kaiser. 1965.
North Carolina Cave Post Offices
City/Town/ZIP Dates of Operation County
Bat Cave (28710) 12/22/1879-Open Henderson
Grotto 3/3/1893-3/31/1905 Moore
Bat Cave Preserve is a designated 93-acre National Natural Landmark near the community of Bat Cave in Henderson County.
The Bat Cave system consists of ten passable and several impassible entrances that lead into a complex underground network. The main chamber is a dark cathedral more than 300 feet long and approximately 85 feet high. Fissure caves like this system are formed by rock splits, boulder movements, and other motions of the earth, while most other caves are formed by water abrading and dissolving rock. A survey in 1984 measured the total length of the passageways at 5,560 feet, making Bat Cave system the second longest known granite fissure cave in the world, and the longest granite cave in North America.
One of The Nature Conservancy's goals in managing this preserve is to reestablish the critically endangered Indiana bat to its former habitat. The cave itself is closed to public visitation at all times, while the preserve is closed from October to mid-April, in an effort to allow the bats to hibernate undisturbed, retaining the stored energy they need to survive the winter.
The Bat Cave Post Office was first located in Rutherford County with Louisa J. Duvall as post mistress, then in Henderson County when county boundaries changed (Figure 65).
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Figure 65. Bat Cave, North Carolina, CDS with target cancel, precancel, andDoane type-2B.
North Carolina
Grotto was located 8/4 miles from Broadway, 6 miles from Lumley, and half a mile east of Mail Route 18363. There are no known postmarks. A site survey completed by Judson C. Thomas on January 25, 1893, stated that mail was carried twice a week on Mail Route 18363 from Broadway to Lumley.
REFERENCES
Helbock, Richard W. United States Post Offices. Lake Oswego, Oregon; La Posta Publications. 1999. Volume VI- The Mid-Atlantic States.
Ohio Cave Post Offices
City/Town/ZIP Dates of Operation County
Ash Cave 6/26/1857-7/19/1866 Hocking
The land that is now Hocking Hills State Park has been traveled and inhabited by American Indians almost continuously for centuries, beginning with the Adena 7,000 years ago, extending to the Wyandot, Delaware, and Shawnee in the 1700s. Over the years, their cooking fires left behind a bed of ash 100 feet long and 6 feet deep in one cave.
Early settlers first discovered what they later named Ash Cave in the late 1700s. In the 1830s, a powder mill was built within the park near Rockhouse and a gristmill at Cedar Falls. By the early 1900s, Rockhouse had both a hotel and post office, and Ash Cave had become a popular gathering place for churchgoers whose preachers used the large rock near the entrance as a pulpit. In 1924, the state of Ohio purchased the first parcel of 146 acres of what would later become the Hocking Hills State Park, which included Ash Cave. There are no known postmarks from the Ash Cave Post Office.
REFERENCES
Gallagher, John S., and Patera, Alan H. The Post Offices of Ohio. Burtonsville, Maryland:
The Depot. 1979.
Oregon Cave Post Offices
City/Town/ZIP Dates of Operation County
Cave Junction (97523) 1936-Open Josephine
Cave Junction Oregon Caves Rural Station
4/1/1956-9/1/1977 Josephine Cave Junction Takilma
Rural Station
9/2/1958-9/15/1967 Josephine Cave Junction Holland
Rural Station
9/1/1958-12/1/1960 Josephine Cave Junction Kerby Rural
Station
9/1/1958 - Open in summer Josephine
Oregon Caves 1924-1956 Josephine
Cave Junction is a scenic town of about 1,225 residents located just north of California off Highway 199, approximately 30 miles southwest of Grants Pass. It is considered the
"Home of the Oregon Caves," which are located about 20 miles southeast of the town off Highway 46. It serves as a home base for visitors from around the world, many of whom travel to the Illinois Valley specifically to see the caves.
Oregon Caves National Monument was founded in 1874 when Elijah Davidson was chasing his dog Bruno, who in turn was pursuing a bear. The dog followed the bear into a dark hole high on the mountainside, but Davidson stopped at the entrance. He could see nothing, but ventured into the mysterious, pitch dark cave to save his dog when he heard an agonizing howl. Without light or match, he was able to wade down a gurgling, ice-cold stream and eventually find his way back into daylight, Bruno at his heels.
Later, others explored deeper into the cave, returning home to tell of its great beauty and mystery. In 1907, a party of influential men visited the cave, including Joaquin Miller, the
"poet of the Sierras." Charmed by it, Miller wrote of the "Marble Halls of Oregon." The ensuing publicity alerted federal officials to the possibility of preserving the cave, and, in 1909 President William Howard Taft proclaimed a tract of 480 acres as Oregon Caves National Monument. It took until 1922 for an automobile road to reach the park, and another 12 years before a six-story hotel, the Chateau, was constructed. The very same
Cave Post Offices
year, 1934, Oregon Caves National Monument was transferred from the USD A Forest Service to the National Park Service, which still administers it.
Workers blasted tunnels and widened passages in the cave during the 1930s, putting waste rocks in side passages, covering many limestone formations. Changes in airflow patterns altered the growth of formations, caused greater swings in temperature, and freezing water cracked rock layers. Lights in the cave promoted the growth of algae, turning areas of the cave green, while smoke from torches blackened other portions.
Since 1985, the National Park Service has removed more than a thousand tons of rubble in its effort to restore the cave. Transformers, asphalt trails, and cabins were removed to prevent sewage or oils from leaking into the cave from the surface. Thousands of formations previously buried under rubble were uncovered, and some that were broken have been repaired with epoxy and powdered marble. Airlocks have restored natural cave winds by blocking airflow in artificial tunnels. Not everything has been, nor can be, restored; however, one can now see a much-renewed cave.
Cave Junction Post Office was established in 1936 and is still in operation (Figures 66 and 67). There have been four rural stations of Cave Junction. Oregon Cave Rural Station was established April 1, 1956, as a summer month (June-September) post office, and was discontinued on September 1, 1977. Holland Rural Station, named after pioneer James E. Holland, existed from September 1,1958 to December 1, I960, and was located 7 miles east of Cave Junction. Takilma Rural Station was named for the Takilma Indians and was located on the east fork of the Illinois River from September 1, 1958, to September 16, 1967. Kerby Rural Station was opened on July 1, 1965, and is the only rural station still in operation (Figure 68).