Salamander Cave

       Salamander Cave is located in the Niagara River Gorge about 1 mile south of the Village of Lewiston, New York. When it was discovered in 1976 the cave was a 6 inch high horizontal crack that went back into the cliff. Peering into the crack you could see it continued at least 15 feet. Below the crack was 1 to 2 feet of fairly loose rock. After prying out a few rocks a salamander was found which lead to the naming of the cave. Over the next year several digging trips slowly enlarged the cave. An animal trap, short length of chain and several animal bones were found about 6 feet in. Sometimes a slight breeze was felt coming from the crack. During times of heavy rain a stream could be heard in the distance.

       Moving some of the rocks proved to be quite a challenge. On the largest ones I used an old car jack to lift the rock, slid a 3 inch diameter log under it, removed the jack and used it to push the rock forward. From the late 1980’s to 2003 I did very little digging at the cave. Then in 2004 Tom A. Maigret renewed my interest in the dig. We spent most of the early summer removing rocks from Salamander Cave.

       On July 17, 2004 Tom entered near by Gorge Cave and made his way towards Salamander Cave. We could easily talk between the two caves and Tom reported that a side passage looked like our best bet for making a connection between the two caves. A little farther on was another side passage that allowed us to make the first visual connection between Salamander and Gorge Caves. We returned on August 07, 2004 and Tom again entered Gorge Cave. We worked on the connection passage from both ends. After about two hours work Tom squeezed through the passage and emerged into Salamander Cave. The connection passage is a little over 4 feet long, 9 to 16 inches wide, and 30 inches in height.

1977 Map	2004 Map	Entrance in 1978	Digging In 1977
Digging In 1977	Digging 06/19/2004	06/19/2004	Digging 07/03/2004
Digging 07/03/2004	Digging 07/03/2004	Connection 08/07/2004	Digging 09/11/2004
Digging 09/11/2004	09/11/2004	Digging 09/11/2004	09/11/2004
09/11/2004	09/11/2004	09/11/2004	11/05/2006
11/05/2006	11/05/2006	07/03/2004	2002

    You can send me e-mail at: falzguy@verizon.net

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