No injured cavers recorded.
On June 23, two girls were sitting at the edge of the Blowhole, on the Natural Bridge of the Rogue River north of Medford, Oregon. The Natural Bridge, a tourist attraction, is where the upper Rogue River enters a lava cave for some 225 feet. Even in the summer this cave is completely filled with raging water. The Blowhole is an opening from the surface into the flow of the underground river. It is flat all around the hole, which is some eight feet across, and the water level is only a couple of feet below the edge.
The girls, 12 and 19 years of age, were dangling their feet in the frothing water and remarking how similar it looked to an oversized washing machine, when the 12 year old suddenly fell in. Her companion made a grab for her but fell in also. They were immediately washed into the cave and maintained contact for a moment, then were separated. The older one soon shot out into a still pool about thirty feet away where part of the river emerges and the main bridge ends. The twelve year old came out one-eighth mile downstream in a gorge but was retrieved alive, apparently by tourists. These were the first persons ever to pass through the cave alive.
One must have great respect for churning, heavily flowing water. The survival of these two is a remarkable coincidence.