Lithia Springs System?

Does anyone know the story on Lithia Springs in Southeast Hillsborough County? I'm curious if any of the oldtimers (how about it Norm Blitch?) ever dived and possibly mapped the system, if there is one, before the grate was placed over Lithia Major many years ago. Were it not for the grate it certainly appears to be large enough to enter and explore. There has been a pumping station on site for many years that takes suction from right beneath the grate. I'm told this was orginally installed and operated by a local phosphate mine and is now, I believe, used for municipal water supply to a local treatment plant for the County. The property has been a county park for quite a while now.

Just being curious :twisted: I sneaked out of the park area and poked my head into the Lithia Minor entrance which is located about 150 yards from Lithia Major. It has no grate but is hands off per County regs. The entrance is very small and appears to be no mount or possibly side mount. Are these two entrances connected?

This inquiry is just to satisfy my curiosity. I would never, ever attempt a sneak dive on and under County property. Not me. No way...

Come to the T3 meeting tomorrow at Depth Perception. The meeting is at 7 and I am sure you can get your questions answered. Brett Hemphill is going to be there and he is one of the most knowledgable guys around on our systems.

If you ever find out anything, please share it with us here. I have been curious about Lithia myself, as we used to swim there quite often while growing up. I recall stories from back then of someone dying in the smaller cave off the run going to the Alifia. I actually recall there being a couple of vents off the run that looked large enough back then to enter through.

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Originally Posted by CaveDawg

Does anyone know the story on Lithia Springs in Southeast Hillsborough County? I'm curious if any of the oldtimers (how about it Norm Blitch?) ever dived and possibly mapped the system, if there is one, before the grate was placed over Lithia Major many years ago. Were it not for the grate it certainly appears to be large enough to enter and explore. There has been a pumping station on site for many years that takes suction from right beneath the grate. I'm told this was orginally installed and operated by a local phosphate mine and is now, I believe, used for municipal water supply to a local treatment plant for the County. The property has been a county park for quite a while now.

Just being curious :twisted: I sneaked out of the park area and poked my head into the Lithia Minor entrance which is located about 150 yards from Lithia Major. It has no grate but is hands off per County regs. The entrance is very small and appears to be no mount or possibly side mount. Are these two entrances connected?

This inquiry is just to satisfy my curiosity. I would never, ever attempt a sneak dive on and under County property. Not me. No way...

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Sorry, No recollections of Lithia...

As a sidebar, one of the small tasks I undertook in the early '80's WAS being the temporary Conservator of a large cardboard box, which contained the scratch notes made by Exley, Skiles, and many of the original Young Turks. My job was to make a list of what had been done. I don't recall if Lithia was in the mix.

I AM curious as to what became of those records...

Norm