The Cherokee Cave

I expected to find only concrete, wires and pipes and sewers on our fact finding journey. I was pleasantly surprised to learn of Cherokee Cave. Once a booming museum tour exhibit and now a distant memory, the Cherokee cave is still a big part of the history of St. Louis. In 1945 the property above the cave system was bought and a museum building was erected with the entrance to Cherokee Cave below it.

In the library I discovered Adventures Underground in the Caves of Missouri. (Powell, 1953) Powell helps fill us in on some of the history of what's below. In the Cherokee caves she says, more than three thousand prehistoric animal bones have been unearthed. Thought to be the only cave to store such a volume of prehistoric bones anywhere. Bones from a peccary (wild boar) were found that are dated before the last ice age and were a huge attraction to visitors. (seen on the postcard to the left) Some of the other highlights of the cave tour were the Black Dahlia (a spring falling and forming a stalactite) and The Spaghetti Room. (left-has crystals forming shapes like spaghetti drying)

What truly saddens me is the fact that in 1961 the city bought the land that was the entrance to Cherokee Caves, destroyed most of what was left, and filled it in. This was done for using the land for interstate I-55. One reminder remains, Cave Street. But our journey does not stop here.