Sinks of Gandy
| Sinks of Gandy | |
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Sinks of Gandy Creek, Upper (upstream) entrance
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| Location | Osceola, West Virginia, USA |
| Coordinates | 38°42′53″N 79°38′33″W / 38.71472°N 79.64250°WCoordinates: 38°42′53″N 79°38′33″W / 38.71472°N 79.64250°W |
| Length | 8,114 feet (2,473 m) |
| Discovery | Before 1830s |
| Geology | Greenbrier Limestone |
| Entrances | 3 |
| Access | Private land; Access generally uncontrolled |
The Sinks of Gandy — also called the Sinks of Gandy Creek, or simply “The Sinks” — are a modestly celebrated cave and underground stream at Osceola in eastern Randolph County, West Virginia, USA. The Sinks are on private property within the Potomac Ranger District of the Monongahela National Forest.
The Sinks are a natural tunnel accommodating Gandy Creek, a tributary of Dry Fork, for about 3,000 feet (915 meters) as it passes under a spur of Yokum Knob to reemerge on the opposite side of Randolph County Route 40 (Dry Fork Road). The southern (upstream) entrance to the Sinks, about 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 15 feet (4.6 m) high, is in a low ledge of limestone in a large depressed meadow. It consists of a simple longitudinal passage, from 4 to 35 feet (11 m) high, with a few minor side passages, not much apparent from the main passage. The main cave passage averages 40 to 60 feet (18 m) wide, but in some places up to 100 feet (30 m) wide. In some sections the stream occupies the entire floor of the passage, but in other sections it is confined to a narrow trench. The northern (downstream) entrance is offset about 100 feet (30 m) to the east of the stream channel, which exits under some boulders, making a second (wet) avenue of egress.
Gandy Creek — and thus the Sinks themselves — were named for Uriah Gandy (or Gandee) who settled in the area around 1781. Local settlers were certainly well aware of the Sinks by the 1830s. The earliest recorded reference to the Sinks may be a November 1833 letter sent by Randolph County physician Benjamin Dolbeare to the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society in Richmond. Dolbeare described several local caves including one as follows (with original spellings).
"Between, what is here called, the Aleghany and Rich Mountains, heads a branch of the dry fork a tributary of Cheat River, a ridge extends itself quiet across, from one mountain to the other, and this branc[h], after keeping its course about 3 miles runs under this ridge which [is] about ¾ of mile wide at its base, and very high."
The Sinks were noted locally as the site of the last known killings of elk by hunters in what is now Randolph County, probably about 1830 and 1835. (The last elk killed in all of West Virginia were shot around 1843 in nearby Canaan Valley.)
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Wikipedia