From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Oct. 23, 1971:

Lawrence High School students were heading for a spelunking adventure. Twenty members of the LHS biology club, accompanied by biology teacher Stan Roth, had boarded a bus for the Missouri Ozarks, where they were to spend the night in a “dry cave” (one with no stream) along the Gasconade River. In the morning they planned to head for Bushwacker Cave, a cave with a stream. Students who felt their appetite for caves had been fulfilled at that point could spend the rest of the day taking river samples and observing Ozarkian flora and fauna, but those who craved more spelunking could proceed to Bruce Cave, described this way: “Its entrance is located on a high bluff overlooking the Gasconade River. The students will enter the cave at the bluff and work their way 200 to 300 feet underground to reach their destination.” Roth said that there would be “a long crawl, even some belly crawling, about a fifth of a mile, and some mud-walking before it opens up into a series of large chambers.” There, the students would observe cave life, such as a rare species of blind salamander, as well as rock formations. Roth spoke reassuringly of the trek, saying that on previous trips, they had “always been able to come out with everyone, so we shouldn’t have any problems.”