The Jewel Cave Adventure: Fifty Miles of Discovery Under South Dakota

by Herb Conn, Jan Conn

Cover is edge worn and rubbed. Book includes laid in map.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adventure, Nature

238 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1981

Reviews

[Jenna Schauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often when I read a book from a NPS site that I have worked at, I will say that unless you've been there before or unless you've worked there, you won't like this book. That is wholly not the case with this book.

Herb and Jan are excellent storytellers and it is so interesting to hear about the exploration of Jewel Cave from their perspective. The pictures show the details of the cave so well. I also love that they also included some of the songs that Jan wrote while on their cave explorations.

Jan Conn passed away 5 days before I finished this book. She was 99 years old.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First person accounts by the authors of exploration of Jewel Cave in South Dakota. From their initial foray into the cave in 1959 until the late 1970s the couple crawled, inched and mucked their way discovering new rooms within the cave plus surveying and mapping 56.08 miles of passages. From the time this book was written further exploration of Jewel Cave has expanded to slightly over 200 miles. The Conns are skilled at relating their caving experience in a way the casual reader finds informative and entertaining. By the end I knew that I would never have adventured beyond the organized public tour.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a great piece of literature, but a surprisingly interesting account of the explorations in Jewel Cave. Claustrophobic at times!