Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills. Luella Agnes Owen
and nearly two-thirds of the balance, native born of parents, one or both of whom were foreign.
Although the Ozark region has not yet received sufficient attention to dull its charm for the explorer, the fact has been established that its earliest sedimentary rocks are of the Cambrian Age and still occupy mainly the position in which they were originally deposited. Therefore we need not be surprised to discover that some, at least, of the excavations are proportionately ancient; and that the Natural Bridges are the last remaining positive evidence of their former existence and final collapse. That the Natural Bridges of Missouri mark the destruction of more ancient caves than the one preserved to geological history by Virginia's grand attraction, seems quite evident. The greater age of the rocks indicates the possibility of earlier excavation while their undisturbed position suggests that destruction resulted, not from violent earth movement, but from the slow action of agencies requiring long periods of time.
Before proceeding to a discussion of the caves visited personally for the gratification of private interest, it is desirable to know what attention has been given to the subject, incidentally, in the course of regular official duty on the Missouri Geological Survey.
CAVES DESCRIBED IN THE STATE REPORTS.
Although many unknown caves must yet be discovered in the imperfectly explored portions of the vast Ozark forests, these finds are already so numerous as to seldom attract attention according to their just desserts.
One of the comparatively recent of these discoveries is Crystal Cave, at Joplin, described on page 566, Vol. VII., Missouri Geological Survey Report 1894.1 It was opened in the lower workings of a shaft of the Empire Zinc Company, and "The entire surface of the cave, top, sides and bottom, is lined with calcite crystals, so closely packed together as to form a continuous sheet and most of them of great size, and well formed faces. Scalenohedra as much as two feet long are sometimes seen, and others a foot or more in length are common. Planes or crystal ghosts, sometimes with pyrite crystals, marking stages of growth in the calcite crystals, are often distinguishable. The entire absence of anything like stalactites is noticeable, and together with the presence of the crystals, show that the cave was completely filled with water during their growth." In the same volume, all those counties in the extreme southwest corner of the state, whose geological age has not heretofore been considered positively determined, are mapped as Lower Carboniferous, and Lower Silurian, with the Coal Measures covering portions of Barton and Jasper and appearing in a few small, scattered spots in Dade, Polk, Green and Christian counties, and some scanty lines of Devonian fringing the edges of the Silurian in Barton and McDonald.
Other State reports make mention of many caves and fine springs, and also several natural bridges worthy of special notice. In Mr. G. C. Broadhead's report for 1873–1874, he gives a short but interesting chapter on caves and water supplies, in which he says that "Caves occur in the Third Magnesian Limestone, Saccharoidal Sandstone, Trenton, Lithographic, Encrinital and St. Louis Limestone."
"In Eastern and Northeast Missouri there have not been found many large caves in the Encrinital Limestone, but the lower beds of this formation in Southwest Missouri often enclose very large caverns; among the latter may be included the caves of Green County with some in Christian and McDonald. Those in McDonald I have not seen, but they are reported to be very extensive and probably are situated in the Encrinital Limestone."
Under the head of "Special Descriptions" he says: "On Sac River, in the north part of Green County, we find a cave with two entrances, one at the foot of a hill, opening toward Sac River, forty-five feet high and eighty feet wide. The other entrance is from the hill-top, one hundred and fifty feet back from the face of the bluff. These two passages unite. The exact dimensions of the cave are not known, but there are several beautiful and large rooms lined with stalactites and stalagmites which often assume both beautiful and grotesque life-like forms. The cave has been explored for several hundred yards, showing the formations to be thick silicious beds of the Lower Carboniferous formations."
"Knox cave, in Green County, is said to be of large dimensions. I have not seen it, but some of its stalactites are quite handsome."
"Wilson's Creek sinks beneath the Limestone and appears again below."
"There are several caves near Ozark, Christian County, which issue from the same formation as those in Green County. On a branch of Finly Creek a stream disappears in a sink, appearing again three-quarters of a mile southeast through an opening sixty feet high by ninety-eight feet wide. Up stream the cave continues this size for a hundred yards and then decreases in size, and for the next quarter of a mile further it is generally ten by fourteen feet wide. A very clear, cool stream passes out, in which by careful search crawfish without eyes can be found."
"There is another cave a few miles south of Ozark, and another ten miles southeast occurs in the Magnesian Limestone."
"In Boone County there are several caves in the Encrinital Limestone. Conner's, the largest, is said to have been explored for a distance of eight miles."
"In Pike and Lincoln there are several small caves occurring in the upper beds of Trenton Limestone, which are often very cavernous. On Sulphur Fork of Cuivre, there is a cave and Natural Bridge, to which parties for pleasure often resort. The bridge is tubular with twenty feet between the walls, and is one hundred feet long."
"At J. P. Fisher's on Spencer Creek, Ralls County, there is a cave having an entrance of ninety feet wide by twenty feet high. The Lower Trenton beds occupy the floor, with the upper cavernous beds above. On the bluff, at a distance of one hundred and fifty yards back, there is a sink-hole which communicates with the cave. Within the cave is a cool, clear spring of water, and Mr. F. said he could keep meat fresh there for six weeks during midsummer."
"The Third Magnesian Limestone which occupies such a large portion of Southwest Missouri, often contains very large caves. One of them, known as Friede's cave, is six or eight miles Northwest of Rolla, on Cave Spring Creek."
"It is said to have been explored for several miles, but I only passed in a few hundred yards. The stalactites here are very beautiful, assuming the structure of satin spar. A very clear stream of water issues out. West of the Gasconade, on Clifty Creek, is a remarkable Natural Bridge which I have elsewhere described in Geological Survey of Missouri, 1855–71, page 16."
"Mr. Meek speaks of a large and interesting cave on Tavern Creek, in Miller County. Dr. Shumard estimates a cave on Bryant's Fork, in Ozark County, to be a mile and a half long."
This description of Dr. Shumard's is in the Geological Survey of Missouri, 1855–71, page 196, where he says:
"The entrance is thirty-five feet wide and thirty feet high, and is situated at the foot of a perpendicular cliff, and far above the water-level of Bryant. Just within the entrance it expands to sixty or seventy feet, with a height of about fifty feet; and this part of the cave has been used by the citizens of the county as a place for holding camp-meeting. I estimated its length at not far short of one mile and a half. The main passage is in general quite spacious, the roof elevated, and the floor tolerably level, but often wet and miry. For some distance beyond the entrance there is not much to attract attention; but as we proceed, at the far extremity the chambers are quite as picturesque as the most noted of the well-known Mammoth Cave. The ceilings, sides and floor are adorned with a multitude of stalactites and stalagmites arranged in fanciful combinations, and assuming a variety of fantastic and beautiful forms."
Many of these caves contain niter, which occurs as a mineral and not as evidence of former animal occupation, it being found in the form of effervescenses on the walls. Dr. Shumard mentions several of this character in Pulaski County, the most noted being Niter Cave, in the Third Magnesian Limestone, with a wide entrance thirty feet above the level of the Gasconade. On page 201, he also gives a charming description of one of the immense springs that are numerous in this region and that I have never seen elsewhere. He says:
"Ozark County is bountifully supplied with springs of the finest water, and some of them of remarkably large size. The largest one is situated near the North Fork, in T. 24, R. 11 W., Sec. 32, and is known under the name of the Double