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Ammon Billings 1876 |
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Photo by Allen Cobb |
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Photos by Travis Scott |
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Phone: 830 683-BATS or 830-683-2287
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About the sinkhole |
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The Sinkhole collapsed thousands of years ago and is now geologically stable although there was a rockfall last winter. The cavern is larger than a football field, about 450 by 250 feet, but the opening at the top is only 50-60 feet across. From the edge of the opening to the depth of the cavern is about 361 feet. The material from the collapsed dome formed a mound over 200 feet high in the center of the cavern. There are two small bodies of pristine water at the base of the mountain. The traditional story of discovery is that Ammon Billings came across the awesome hole in 1876. He rushed home gasping, “Coney, I just came from the outlet to Hell, the Devil’s own sinkhole.” Coney Billings lived until 1954 and related this along with other stories of the Devil’s own sinkhole. There is also a story of a cowboy, Watt Greenwell, who was lowered into the sinkhole in1880 to get water for his crew. In 2008 technology caught up with the Sinkhole. Enthusiasts and Cavers came over a period of several years to measure the cavern and then a crew from Dallas used proprietary techniques to photograph it and overlay the photographs to the LIDAR measurements. These combined efforts will produce a 3-D version of the Sinkhole. It should debut in late 2008 with an in-place exhibit at the Rocksprings Tourist Center set for mid 2009.
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History of the Sinkhole |
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“I just came from the outlet to Hell …” |
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Come See The BATS |
