Alma Hill Cave

Many, many years ago, before I was "into" caving, I was shown the location of a cave on Alma Hill. I was with members of our cycling club out for a ride. I can't remember exactly who showed me the cave, but maybe it was a guy named Lance (last name escapes me) or perhaps the English brothers (Rich and Dave?) who rode with us.

I was led into the woods a short distance from the road at a point of a very obvious (modern) landmark. When you know the landmark you can't miss the location (this is a hint).

We came to a very small rock outcrop with a small overhang and a fire-pit. It looked like a hunters rest stop or a party place for teens. Not much there except for some rocks and boulders.

Then I was led down into the woods further, into or near a ravine or deep cut in the hill. Near the top of this ravine, what looked to be above a spring or creek was a smaller group of rocks or boulders.

Among the boulders was a small hole. I was told this was a very deep cave. At the time, not being a caver, BUT being afraid of snakes (there were rattle snakes in the area), I chose not to explore any further and made a mental note to come back at a later date! ......WAY LATER !

Now, as fate has it (twenty years later), I'm a leader of cave trips, and after having located and/or explored over 100 "wild" caves, this is right up my alley.

Funny how things change. When I was shown the cave, I wouldn't have gone in it for a million bucks, but now that I'm searching for caves to explore, I'd pay good money to find the exact location of the hole.

Actually, I'm fairly confident I can re-locate the rock out-cropping and the cave entrance. With a "crew" I'm thinking we can re-locate this and explore the cave in one long day.

More often than not, my 20 year old memories are dead on when it comes to directions in the woods.

Note: March 4th 2006 we did in fact locate the cave/lead mine/ice cave thanks to my crack crew, and especially Dave Ray.

Here is something interesting I came across on the internet. I'm quite sure this is talking about the same cave or "mine".

A Seneca Legend

‘Secret’ Mine Still Eludes Allegany Man

(1964)

KEEPS SECRET – Alma Hill, proud summit in southern Allegany county near the Pennsylvania line, still withholds its secret from Elmer LaVern Watson, who has spent most of his 74 years in the valley below.

Others, too, have searched for the ancient lead mine the Seneca’s are believed to have worked there, and some have been at it off and on for years. One man claimed to have stood in the entrance of the mine and seen the dull, heavy metal in seams.

Elmer lives in a weather-beaten little house just south of Pikesville, and the front windows face up to that hemlock-studded, forbidding slope.

INDIAN TALE – As a boy he used to scamper all over the hill, hunting and exploring, but he was a youth before he heard about the legend through Chief White Fox of Salamanca. The latter had been told of the mine through descendants of CORNPLANTER. White Fox said he could lead young Watson to it.

The story was that several times a year a band of Indians, usually several braves and three of four husky squaws, would leave their lands on the present Allegany Reservations, and follow the river eastward for a journey of two days. They’d stop overnight at a tavern in Bloody Corners, near Honeoye, and early the next day resume their trip.

Men used to follow them, hoping to detect their destination, and the Indians would enter Four Mile Woods walking single file.

VANISHING ACT – “Well,” Elmer says, “one by one the Indians would drop off the trail, vanishing and the followers would finally find themselves alone in the woods. A week later the Indians would reappear, each weighted down with slabs of lead on their backs, heading for home.”

No one knows now how the tribesmen utilized the metal, Elmer declares, and later they gave up the trips to the hill.

But some of the younger Indians remembered the mine and talked about it. A doctor in Shongo who had befriended the Seneca’s was asked by the latter what token of appreciation they could give. “Just show me the lead mine,” the physician said promptly and the Seneca’s agreed. They took him there blindfolded, Elmer says, and then revealed the entrance of the mine and the lead deposits. It was night and all the medical man could recall of the surroundings next day was a fringe of pines.

DISBELIEF – Another man, a newcomer, got friendly with an Indian on the train to Salamanca and the Seneca gave him directions for locating the mine. But the stranger thought the whole thing was an invention and didn’t pay any heed.

Elmer himself worked on the oil rigs around Alma Hill and in the sawmills, and then went to Cleveland as a glasscutter before he had the chance to take up aging White Cloud’s offer.

For years he followed his trade to Ohio, and finally returned to the homestead to care for his parents and their small farm.

HUNTS BOULDERS – Between chores he used to search the hill, now much changed form his boyhood. “The thing I looked for was a bed of smooth, round boulders. It covered about as much space as a teepee, and was atop a hogback. When I was a kid, I used to bring pebbles and drop them there. They’d bounced from stone to stone down and down and I’d put my ear to the ground to hear them. Those stones could have hidden the mine.”

Elmer hasn’t found the circle of boulders yet, although he believes it lies not 500 feet from the spring that provides him with water.

According to the old story, the Indians camped near a spring on the hillside and smelted the lead ore in an iron kettle. Then they’d pour it into rough clay molds, bringing home only the refined metal.

PLANS STEPS – A widower, Elmer lives alone, mends clocks and works a small oil lease lower in the valley. His exploration of Alma Hill is less frequent, and he spends more time planning his steps. He believes that erosion or an accumulation of brush may have covered up the pocket of boulders.

Gas from an oil well fires the stove by which he sits, white haired and peering up at the hill through rimless glasses. “I’ll get up there come spring,” he says. “If I ever find those rocks, I’ll hoist them out..”

B.L.

Originally Published in the Buffalo Courier Express - 1/12/1964; Obtained from archives of Catherine Schuyler Chapter D.A. R. and transcribed by Mary Rhodes 3/5/2005)

The Alma Hill Cave

‘Secret’ Mine Still Eludes Allegany Man

Our recent visit to Alma Hill Cave:

Saturday March 4th -