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STILLWATER:
Alex drives for half an hour before he sees the sign for the Stillwater Caverns, and according to his GPS, it’s also the road to the Okana ranch, just as the sheriff told him. In the distance are the nearly vertical gray mountains he saw in the pictures and they are even more impressive in real life. Ten minutes later, he sees the turnoff for the cavern visitor center. The clock on the radio shows nine-fifteen, and the funeral service is not until noon, so he pulls onto the shoulder of the road. He grabs his phone and presses the speed dial for Okana.
“Hey, Alex. I heard you made it in pretty late last night.”
“I had to make an unexpected stop on the way. I told the sheriff I’d check on a cave-in at the caverns on the way back from the funeral. I’m at the sign for the entrance right now, and I wondered if you would mind if I stopped here first?”
“No problem. We’re still trying to get organized. Take your time.”
“All right. I’ll see you when I’m finished.”
He can still see the top the gray mountains and is curious how such an unusual formation would rise in the middle of the desert. He reaches over the back seat and grabs his computer. Being a geophysics instructor has its benefits, and all the geologic information he needs is in the cloud. He brings up the information on this section of Wyoming, and learns the mountain is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption, approximately 65-million-years ago. That makes sense. A volcano would have brought gold and other minerals to the surface, but why would the government turn it into a research facility?
He puts the computer away and drives east across the desert. When he arrives at the visitor center, the only vehicles are a small sedan and a green Parks and Recreation pickup. He stops at the front entrance and grabs a flashlight from the back of his SUV before entering.
In the middle of the large circular room is a glass-covered display, and he strolls over for a closer look. Under the glass is a three-dimensional representation of the tunnels and adjoining caverns below. The displays on the walls give a photographic history of the caverns and their discovery during the mining boom of the 1800’s.
There is no one at the front desk, so he walks into the gift shop and grabs a tourist map of the caverns near the doorway. He sees a young girl sitting behind the counter.
Sarah leaps out of her chair when a good-looking man walks in. “What can I do for you, Mister?”
Alex notices her name tag. “Hi, Sarah. I’m looking for Mister Grady.”
“You must be the geology teacher. Philip said you’d be stopping by later this afternoon.”
“I have some extra time so I thought I’d stop by here first. Is that a problem?” He sees the girl shift her gaze to the doorway and turns to look at a man wearing a dark green park service uniform.
Grady reaches out to shake hands. “You must be Mister Cave. The sheriff said you’d be stopping by after the funeral. I was glad to learn there is a geophysicist in Stillwater. I don’t think the damage is too dangerous, but it’s nice to get a second opinion. We’ve never had an earthquake before. Follow me and I’ll take you to the cave-in.”
Alex follows him around a corner and steps into the elevator. According to the control panel, the only stops are at the top and bottom of the shaft.
Grady presses the down arrow. “We’ll be descending seven-hundred-feet below sea-level, so your ears will pop.”
A few moments later, the doors open, and Alex steps out onto a concrete walkway. He follows Grady past several manmade side tunnels, and they stop at a natural opening. It’s nearly eight-feet-high and seems to go on forever.
Grady sees Alex’s amazed expression. “They found this tunnel four years ago, and it’s amazingly straight for something natural. It’s a mile long and ends at the cavern, so we have a long walk to get there.”
Alex can tell that Grady enjoys his job, since he does not stop talking as they continue along the tunnel. He forgets that his tourist is a geologist and explains the different rock formations. The tunnel slopes downhill at a shallow angle and it takes fifteen minutes to reach the end where a large area has been cut out of the rock, and concrete steps continue down to a lower level. The overhead lights are off, but a few battery powered emergency lights dimly illuminate the room and steps.
Alex opens the tourist map and uses his flashlight to show it to Grady. “Where are we exactly?”
Grady looks at the map and points to a spot. “Right about here. The cave-in occurred just around the corner at the bottom of the steps.”
Alex grabs his pen and makes a few notes on the map. “How deep are we?”
“Just under eight-hundred-feet. Carlsbad Caverns are only sixty-feet deeper than us.”
Alex notes the depth on his map before they continue. The ghostly white beams from their flashlights dance around the tunnel, and the air has a familiar musty odor. The steps end at an arched opening, and he follows Grady into a massive, oblong cavern. They step around stalagmites and pieces of stalactites broken loose from the ceiling as they slowly walk down the center toward the opposite end, about one-hundred-feet further.
Alex points his flashlight overhead to study the ceiling. “This isn’t too bad. The damage is mostly superficial.”
On their return, Alex studies the sides of the chamber. “It looks like the worst of the cave-in is over, but I’m worried about these new fractures in the sides of the rock. There must be an aquifer nearby or the water wouldn’t be trickling out from the cracks so fast. You might have a problem with flooding down in these lower sections, so you should keep an eye on this area. You might want to have the engineers install a pumping system.”
“I’ll let my boss know on Monday. Are you ready to head back?”
Alex looks around the cavern one last time. “I’ve seen enough. Let’s go.”
When they arrive at the visitor center, Alex indicates the diorama of the caverns and walks over to look at it with Grady. “What’s the scale of this model?”
“It’s right over here on the placard. It’s five hundred to one.”
Alex knows the spread between the tip of his thumb and the tip of his little finger to be close to nine-inches and uses them to estimate the distance from the cave-in to the outside edge of the diorama.
Grady notices the concerned look in Alex’s eyes. “Is there something wrong with the display?”
“I’m not sure. It’s just that the cavern is only fifteen-miles from the mine the sheriff told me about.”
“Do you think they caused the earthquake?”
“I can’t imagine how.”
“All right. Thanks for checking this out for me.”
“You’re welcome.”
Alex returns to his SUV and climbs into the driver’s seat, but doesn’t start the engine and just leans back to think. According to the diorama, the tunnel to the cavern and the town of Stillwater are in a direct line to the mine.
He saves the location of the cavern in his GPS, and when he starts the engine, the digital clock shows it’s 11:47 AM. “Crap!” He shoves the transmission into drive and races out of the parking lot.