Sink Hole Traditional Cache
Sapience Trek: Hello Ziggy84(Zoggy20) -
As the issues with this cache have not been resolved, I must archive it at this time.
Please note that if geocaches are archived by a reviewer or Geocaching HQ for lack of maintenance, they are not eligible for unarchival.
Sapience Trek
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache will take you behind the smaller sinkhole visible from rt. 20A in Cuylerville, to the larger sinkhole beyond. Park in the Boyd and Parker park on Rt. 20A and start your walk either to the west along a logging trail or the east along the edge of the small sinkhole.
There is no actual path to the cache, just a lot of bushwhacking. It can be a level 3 terrain in the summer when the big sinkhole is dried up. It can be a walk on the beach. During the spring run-offs, when water is being released from the MT. Morris dam, there is a backwards flow from the Genesee River up the creek, filling both sinkholes. Then the terrain can be a level 4 bushwhack around the rim.
Retsof mine was founded in 1885 by William Foster (Retsof is Foster spelled backwards). It was joined with the Sterling Mine in Cuylerville in the 1900's to form International Salt Co. It was the first dry salt mine in NYS and the mining techniques used revolutionized the industry. It became so large, there was a community formed-Retsof, where immigrants who came to work at the mine could buy company-built houses and shop at the company store.
In 1989 the company merged with Diamond Crystal to become AKZO Salt. It was the largest salt producing mine in North America, and the 2nd largest in the world. The underground mine shafts encompassed and area of nearly 10 square miles.
In 1994, area seismographs registered a 3.6 tremor centered in the Cuylerville area. It was discovered that a 500x500 foot ceiling of shale rock had collapsed some 1,200 feet below the surface. Methane and hydrogen gas was escaping and ground water from the aquifer above was flowing into the mine. As the mine flooded, gasses were vented off and burned. These flares could be seen for miles around. As the aquifers were drained of water, the ground above them subsided, cracking roads and bridges and forming sinkholes, the largest of them in Cuylerville. The sinkhole closest to the road measures 200ft wide by 50ft deep. The ground is expected to settle another 8-9 feet over the next century.
Google and Yahoo maps list the area around as state park land. The areas immediatly around the sinkholes belong to the Town of Leicester. The rest is private farm land. Please do not walk across any planted fields.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sbe erny qvssvphygvrf lbh pna pnyy Mbttl20 ng 213-0028
Treasures
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