It may be nothing more than Victorian Age graffiti, names of people long since gone etched onto a hunk of calcite in an ancient cave more than 150 feet below the earth’s surface. But, for those who will embark on the journey once Howe Caverns opens their newest tour on Sunday, May 3, they will be walking among the ghosts of history.
In a time when people are predominately thought as being acutely conscious of social etiquette, it seems somewhat surprising to witness evidence of what we would now consider vandalism. Nevertheless, it is there, including the name of the man who first discovered the cave nearly two centuries ago.
Lester Howe’s name stands prominently upon Signature Rock, the feature of Howe Caverns’ newest tour, along with scores of others who are assumed to have accompanied him over the years before this particular leg closed in 1900. Many of the names are forgotten figments of the past, but one such person left behind enough of a clue to shed light for people of today to learn who he was.
In 1900, L.L. Boorn etched his name onto the soft mineral rock, along with the Greek letters of the social fraternity Phi Delta Theta.
“When you think of the legacy of Phi Delta Theta, in 1969 Neil Armstrong left his footprints upon the moon’s surface,” said Bob Biggs, executive vice president of Phi Delta Theta international fraternity, headquartered in Oxford, OH. Armstrong, before walking upon the moon, was initiated into the fraternity, one of the oldest in the nation.
When approached of the news of the new exhibit, Biggs was quickly able to sift through the organization’s files on 250,000 members to identify Boorn.
Or, Leland Lowell Boorn, Union College Class of 1900, and brother of Phi Delta Theta.
According to Biggs, Boorn lettered in both track and football at Union College, and served as associate editor for the school’s newspaper, the Concordiensis.
After graduating, Boorn married and later became a clergyman, before he died in 1916.
Despite the fraternity’s wealth of information, there was no record as to how Boorn had died. Having died at a relatively young age, it is possible that Boorn was exposed to the Spanish Flu, which exploded into a pandemic at that time. Other strains of influenza turned deadly shortly afterwards.
— Michael Hallisey
Guy Schiavone has been an employee of Howe Caverns for more than a dozen years, and even he got excited over the prospect of walking through the attraction’s newest tour.
“I really wanted to see what was behind the dam,” said the Howe Caverns’ specialty tour manager, as he recalled making his first approach down Signature Rock Discovery tour. “I finally got to go back there. It’s an entirely untouched section of the cave. Our company hasn’t added anything to it.”
The Signature Rock Discovery tour is slated to be a 2.5 hour jaunt that takes amateur spelunkers behind what was once underground dams, and into sections of Howe’s original discovery.
The leg of the tour, which is set to open on May 3, was once a part of Lester Howe’s original guided tour, when he first entertained guests back in 1843. Cave explorers would arm themselves with a lantern and sensible shows to explore an underground stream and ancient rock formations, perhaps also escaping the summer heat. The end of the journey was marked by a large flowstone foundation of calcite, which visitors took to etching their names upon. According to the attraction’s website, those tours of the past lasted up to ten hours. That’s due in large part to the lack of modern amenities like electric lighting and an elevator, of which present-day visitors now enjoy.
The newest tour, however, lacks such luxuries.
“We’re thrilled to finally be able to introduce our guests to the full story of Lester Howe’s discovery and provide them with additional history of the caverns,” stated Anne-Marie Galasso, COO of Howe Caverns, owned and operated by Emil Galasso and Charles Wright since 2007. “We’ve been developing this project to further commemorate Lester’s remarkable story for many years. We are pleased to finally be able to answer the public’s number one burning question on our traditional tour, ‘What’s behind the dam doors?’ and truly excited to be able to open this portion of the caverns to the public.”
Those who have visited the cavern are familiar with the boat tour that ends abruptly at a manmade waterfall. Later in Howe’s life, he was forced to sell pieces of his land away. Ultimately, the Schoharie man sold a portion that included Signature Rock, and that portion of the tour was closed off to visitors in 1900.
Since that time, the waterfalls have been nothing more than a mysterious place mark to fuel the imagination.
Each year Howe Caverns hosts approximately 200,000 visitors, and is second only to Niagara Falls as the most visited natural attraction in the state of New York. The cave itself is carved into the limestone of a mountainside that overlooks the Helderberg Plateau.
Next week, people will start making reservations to discover for themselves what we’ve been missing all these years.
Schiavone said visitors will be outfitted with equipment to aid them on the new tour: coveralls, rubber boots, gloves and helmets with lamps. “It’s like walking through a stream bed,” he said, with some sections requiring visitors to walk in ankle deep water, and other areas forcing them to walk hunched over. “You should expect it to be a little challenging.”
Due to the challenges of the tour, visitors will have to be at least 14 years old, and ideally in relative good physical condition. Schiavone also said the availability of the tour is dependent upon the weather, as rain can affect the level of the underground stream.
But, for those who take on the challenge, they will be greeted by a number of historical gems left behind. “Elements that Lester Howe added to the cave,” said Schiavone. “There’s an old boat that was once used. There’s an old pipeline he installed to provide water to the [old] hotel.”
In all, the tour spans approximately 1,200 feet underground, where it ends as it did in the past, at Signature Rock. People will again be able to read the names of visitors from the past, incredibly preserved despite the elements. “That rock has been subjected to quite a bit of wear and tear,” said Schiavone, explaining how the rock is often exposed to underground floodwaters, a potential to erode everything away.
Nevertheless, the experience in and of itself helps tie the people of today to those of yesterday, said the veteran tour guide.
“You get a feel of what those people had to go through,” said Schiavone.
