Nutty Putty cave

The discovery of Nutty Putty cave

In 1960, a boy named Dale Green and his friends were exploring in the area when they decided to explore a unnamed cave. They explored the narrow turns and passages which were lined with a soft, brown clay - They noticed the hard clay changed into an elastic putty when squeezed. The group originally chose to name the cave silly putty cave but later decided on Nutty Putty cave and the name ultimately stuck, Green probably did not think about how famous the cave would eventually become and how many people would visit the cave.

What type of Cave was Nutty Putty and where is it?

Nutty Putty cave comes under the category of ‘Solutional caves’ also known as Karst caves, however it isn’t that simple. Solution caves are the most common type of caves in the world, they are naturally formed of soluble rocks such as limestone or gypsum. These caves form when rainwater absorbs CO2 from the air which then seeps into soils and percolates into bedrock which ultimately begins to dissolve the rock, this process occurs over hundreds of years until a cave eventually forms.

What makes Nutty Putty cave different from other solution caves is the forms of the cave starts at the bottom, usually a limestone cave will start forming when the water starts dissolving the rock at the top. Nutty Putty cave is also the result of hydrothermal activity at the very bottom of the cave, these caves are called Hypogenic caves. Hypogenic caves are a result of extremely hot water from deep in the earth being forced upwards into the limestone making a cave like structure. This makes Nutty Putty cave truly unique as it is both a Solution cave and a Hypogenic cave.

Nutty Putty cave is situated in Utah, southwest of Salt Lake City. The entrance sits on a peak known as Blowhole Hill and has an elevation of around 5,400 feet, Blowhole Hill is located nearby to a ranch. The coordinates from the entrance are 40°05′51″N 112°02′13″W. The opening to the cave spans six feet wide and has an initial drop of 15 feet. Once you have made the descent you have two options; you could descend the “Big Slide” or go to the left towards a section known as “The Maze”. The tightest passages of the cave were named “The Helmet Eater”, “The Scout Eater” and most famously “The Birth Canal”.

Previous accidents

Between 1999 and 2004, a total of six incidents of people becoming trapped in different tight passages of the cave occurred. All six people made it out alive, local rescue teams and authorities grew concerned the next incident would be fatal as more visitors would venture into the cave. In 2006 authorities closed the cave to avoid more incidents although in 2009 they would reopen the cave to public when an agreement was made with the Timpanogos Grotto where groups could make reservations to enter one group at a time, it was also taken into consideration to lock the entrance during the night. Unfortunately, just months after reopening to the public a tragedy struck.

The death of John Edward Jones

John Edward Johns was visiting his family for Thanksgiving when they decided to have a expedition to a local cave, they wanted to reconnect and have some fun Spelunking. At the time John was a 26 year old medical student, married and a father of a one-year-old daughter, as a child his father took John and his brother on caving expeditions around Utah. Although he had not been on a expedition in quite a long time, it was John’s first expedition into Nutty Putty cave - unfortunately it would turn out to be his last.

On November 24th, 2009, a few days before Thanksgiving. John, his brother and nine other friends arrived at Nutty putty cave in good spirits. They descended the 15 feet drop at around 8pm, around an hour into the expedition John decided he wanted to find and explore the narrowest passage of Nutty Putty cave known as “The Birth Canal”. John took a wrong turn believing he had found the passage but had found himself in an unmapped tunnel near Ed’s Push. John kept crawling head first, inching himself through the narrow entrance to the tunnel - within minutes John had realised he had made a very serious mistake, one that would cost him his live.

John had become stuck in an inverted 70 degree angle. John attempted to exhale the air in his chest so he could fit through a space of around 10 inches across and 18 inches high, John was six feet tall and 200 pounds so it wasn’t an easy task. John inhaled again causing his chest to puff back out which he got stuck for good.

His brother was the first to find him and tried to pull at his brother’a claves in the hope to free him, this caused John to slide into the passage further becoming more trapped as his arms were now pinned beneath his chest. After a moment of praying, his brother headed towards the exit to get help leaving his brother trapped 400 feet into the cave and almost 100 feet below the earth’s surface.

Susie Motola was the first rescuer to reach John’s location at around 12:30 AM on November 25. At this point John had been trapped for three and a half hours, Susie recalled introducing herself to John despite only seeing a pair of running shoes.

“Hi Susie, thanks for coming,” John said, “but I really, really want to get out.”

More than 100 rescue personnel worked over the next 24 hours to free John from Nutty Putty cave, working with a system of pulleys and ropes however the system failed. Rescuers believed that the pulley came loose at the anchor point in the wall of the cave, The rope-and-pulley operation was no more, the rescuers had no other viable plans.

John Edward Jones was pronounced dead of a cardiac arrest as a result of stress of the heart due to the downwards position John was in shortly before Midnight on November 25th, 2009. Rescuers had spent 27 horrific hours trying to save John, despite his heart-breaking death his family thanked rescuers for their help and kindness.

Aftermath of John Jones

After the death of John Edward Jones, Nutty Putty cave was officially sealed off for good using cement. They were never able to recover the body of John Jones, which remains inside of Nutty Putty cave to this day and serves as a Natural memorial and gravesite to John Edward Jones.