Sunday, November 29, 2020

Exploring the geology and history of Jollyville Road Cave in Austin, Texas with Michael Mixerr.

Jollyville Road Cave is one of the many caves that are located in North Austin and Travis County. Not much history is known about this cave. Very few people know about Jollyville Road Cave. Only cavers and spelunkers do. The cave seems to have been forgotten. This news article will explore the geology, biology, and history behind Jollyville Road Cave.


 

Now Jollyville Road Cave has only been explored by Michael Mixerr. Nobody else has ever explored this cave.

Michael Mixerr discovered Jollyville Road Cave while attempting to locate Jollyville Jewel Cave during a cave exploration outing on the date of May 7, 2020. They were unable to locate or explore Jollyville Jewel Cave while searching a vacant lot located at the address of 11540 Jollyville Road, Austin, Texas, US 78759.

However he and Michael Mixerr discovered Jollyville Road Cave while exploring the very back of that vacant lot. The cave was narrow to the point where only 2 two people could go in at a time. So Michael Mixerr went in first. However he was only able to go in 10 feet deep as the cave ended just less than 20 feet into a sink breakdown. The inside of Jollyville Road Cave was pitch black and filled with complete darkness. Dark enough to the point where a flash light is required.  


There were no signs of wildlife inhabiting the inside despite signs of vegetation and other nature around the cave area. There were not even any insects or karst features of Jollyville Road Cave when Michael Mixerr and Drake Darrin explored.

Michael Mixerr went back to the cave on November 22, 2020 to find out if there were any karst features. No karst features were found expect for calcite and limestone.


Jollyville Road Cave is a long narrow cave which gets very deep further along on the inside. Most of the cave is filled with rocks, stones, dirt, and darkness. Measurements for the depths of this cave are unknown. Jollyville Road Cave is located on 3 acres of undeveloped land.

Michael Mixerr states, “Jollyville Road Cave is only big enough for 2 people to because this cave is narrow and not very wide. This cave is very dark on the inside. Upon entering, you will notice the cave is pitch black even using a flashlight.”

There is no sense of moisture or humidity inside this cave as is the case with many of the caves in the Austin and Travis County area. The temperature of this cave is mostly dry. Humidity rate is 2% if anything. That is the highest possible rate on the humidity index.

Limestone coagulations and hard rock sediment can be found inside of this cave and all over the surrounding area. Some of the hard rock sediment has formed into possibly whaat is called calcite. Most of the cave is filled rocks and stones. The entrance is composed out of hard rock limestone. Pretty much 100% percent of this cave is composed out of limestone coagulations.




Searching for this cave was a difficult task as overgrown vegetation surrounds the property. Jollyville Road Cave is located southbound in the very back behind an apartment complex and is surrounded by fences. Overgrown vegetation surrounds the property today. That is why finding Jollyville Road Cave can be difficult while navigating your way through tall grass and a set of trees.  

Finding the entrance to access Jollyville Road Cave was difficult as Michael Mixerr discovered the previous owners of this property have filled in this cave with rocks hauled in from somewhere. “Only a narrow crawl space remains as all other entry points and access points have been filled in with rocks. Finding any other entry points was impossible.” says Michael Mixerr.

The entrance is located in the very back of a located southbound in the very back behind an apartment complex and is surrounded by fences adjacent to a field of grass and trees. This entrance leads into a narrow crawl space which drops horizontally into a 10 foot room. Diameter of this entrance is 2 feet. The entrance is the only entry point into this cave remains as all other entry/access points have been filled in with rocks. The geologic rock formation of this entrance is composed out of hard rock limestone.  

Jollyville Road Cave connects to another cave called Can Cave which is located west of Jollyville Jewel Cave on undeveloped land. There is a high possibility that these caves might connect to each other.


Here is the history of Jollyville Road Cave.

Jollyville Road Cave dates back to 10,000 BC when the area along with Texas was all natural and surrounded by vegetation. Overtime limestone coagulations have formed inside of this cave giving the cave a natural look. Hard rock sediment can be found all over.

David L. Tisinger purchased the property where Jollyville Road Cave was located on in 1933. David L. Tisinger owned the property was the person who owned all the land before anyone else did prior to 1935. He claimed nearly all the property around Jollyville Road Cave as his homestead for tax exemption purposes. (Ref: Travis County Public Records, Volume 1993, Pages 157-159)

David was well aware of the caves that surrounded his property. He never filled in any of the caves. Which is ironic because more landowners fill their caves to prevent injury or accidents.

David L. Tisinger later sold the land to J.W. Robertson in 1935. J.W. Robertson would later sell this land property to Barbara Kay Jordan and Dorothea Nell Gibson in 1952. For some reason, however, Barbara Kay Jordan and Dorothea Nell Gibson would sell the land back to J.W. Robertson sometime during the 20th century. Exactly when is unknown.

J.W. Robertson sold the property to a man named Henry M. Streety (Henry Mack Streety, Jr.) on the date of 5/10/1977 through a warranty deed. Henry M. Streety owned this land for several years. (Ref: http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property.aspx?prop_id=160183)

Henry M. Streety filled the entry point and access points to Jollyville Road Cave that were on his property in 1993. He had the entry point filled as a protective measures suggested. This limited harmful activities that could occur to this cave in the future.

City of Austin real estate records from 1993 include dedicating an approximately 60-m by 80-m (about 1.20 acres) conservation easement around the cave entrance and allowing this area to remain undeveloped and in a relatively natural state. This included a 1.474 drainage easement near a gated apartment complex. (Ref: ftp.austintexas.gov/GIS-Data/PWD/RealEstate/3110.150.pdf)


Henry M. Streety owned this land for several years until his death. The land was sold on a death certification to his wife Yvonne W Streety on the date of 2/9/2014. Yvonne W Streety sold this land to Jollyville HQ LLC on a warranty deed in 2019.

As of 2020, Jollyville HQ LLC has put up the property for an undisclosed price on a white billboard facing Jollyville Road. They are currently looking for buyers who are interested in purchasing this land.

However Jollyville HQ LLC has not advertised this land for sale very much though. That is because of the number of caves making the landscape an uneven surface and a safety hazard. Today Jollyville HQ LLC owns the Jollyville Road Cave property while the City of Austin owns the easements. Only a narrow crawl space remains as all other entry points and access points have been filled in with rocks.


Jollyville Road Cave is located at 11540 Jollyville Road, Austin, Texas, US 78759.

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