Jones ultimately suffered cardiac arrest due to the strain placed upon his body over several hours by his inverted, compressed position. A large team of rescue workers came to his assistance but were unable to retrieve Jones using a sophisticated rope-and-pulley system after a pulley failed mid-extrication. Whilst exploring with his brother, Jones mistook a narrow tunnel for the similarly tight "Birth Canal" passageway and became stuck upside-down in an area measuring 10 by 18 inches (25 by 46cm), around 400 feet (120m) from the cave's entrance. On November 24, 2009, a man named John Edward Jones died in the cave after being trapped inside for 28 hours. On May 18, 2009, the cave was reopened to the public. In early 2009, proper management was established and an application process was developed to ensure safety precautions were being met. On May 24, 2006, a gate was installed, and the cave was temporarily closed. The cave’s popularity had caused excessive smoothing of the rock inside the cave to the point it was predicted a fatality would occur in one of the cave's more prominent features, a 45-degree room called "The Big Slide". It was estimated the cave was receiving over 5,000 visitors per year, with many visitors often entering the cave late at night and failing to take proper safety precautions. In 2006, an effort was put forth to study and severely limit the number of visitors allowed inside the cave. It contains 1,400 feet (430m) of chutes and tunnels and, prior to closure, had been accessible via a narrow surface hole.īefore 2009 this cave had four separate rescues of cavers and Boy Scouts, who became stuck inside the cave's tight twists, turns, and crawls. The name is believed to relate to the soft, brown, putty-like texture of the clay found by Green in many of its tunnels. The cave, first explored in 1960 by Dale Green, is currently owned by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, and managed by the Utah Timpanogos Grotto.
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