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“I just came
from the outlet to Hell …” |
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Ammon Billings 1876 |
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Photo by Allen Cobb |
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Phone: 830.683.BATS 830-683-2287 |
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Link to the
Texas Parks and Wildlife site with more about the
sinkhole Please use
the back arrow of your browser if you wish to return to The Devil’s
Sinkhole Site |
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The Sinkhole
collapsed thousands of years ago and is now geologically stable although
there was a rockfall last winter. The
cavern is larger than a football field, about 450 by 250 feet, but the
opening at the top is only 50-60 feet across. From the edge of the opening to the depth
of the cavern is about 361 feet. The
material from the collapsed dome formed a mound over 200 feet high in the
center of the cavern. There are two
small bodies of pristine water at the base of the mountain. The traditional
story of discovery is that Ammon Billings came across the awesome hole in
1876. He rushed home gasping, “Coney,
I just came from the outlet to Hell, the Devil’s own sinkhole.” Coney Billings lived until 1954 and related
this along with other stories of the Devil’s own sinkhole. There is also a story of a cowboy, Watt
Greenwell, who was lowered into the sinkhole in1880 to get water for his
crew. In 2008 technology caught up with the Sinkhole. Enthusiasts and Cavers came over a period of several years to measure the cavern
and then a crew from Dallas used proprietary techniques to photograph it and overlay the photographs to
the LIDAR measurements. These
combined efforts will produce a 3-D version
of the Sinkhole with
an in-place exhibit at the Rocksprings Tourist Center set to debut in late 2010. |
History of the Sinkhole
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Come See The BATS |
