Joplin Exploring? WTF?

[ShadowBearer]

How come we have never heard of or seen all this cool shit we found today from our Joplin posters?

More to come later...I suck at the resize.

[gimpface]

Seriously.... why have we never heard how much this town rocks?

[Johnson]

The govt. likes to keep the town as secret as possible :dunno:

[dawgchain]

Mindscape is a greedy bastich and keeps all these palces for himself..... damn scottsman!

*ducks under whatever is thrown his way from the drunk Irish.*

[Grey]

I am gonna have to agree...I didn't think that there would be much there, but when we got there look what we found...luckly I saw the perfect place to enter the train depot...lol. You joplin guys are greedy for hiding all the glory.

[jessgcmo]

hey are any of you guys familar with the chats in joplin i used to live in webb city and you need a 4 wheeler to back to the cool shit but theres great 4 wheeling, some old random mining shit here and there and then theres the chats itself which u have to be careful around because there are random bottomless open pit mines mine shafts and sinkholes. there used to be alot of mining in joplin, carthage, webb city and oranogo... that might be spelled wrong but its pronounced as i spelled it.

[jessgcmo]

also if i remember correctly there is an explosives plant there that would be interesting to investigate and plenty of diffrent building and such there

[gimpface]

The whole area just looks awesome.

[MOBEERSLAYER]

Hey have you all heard about the crystal cave in joplin. ive heard its huge and full of crystal like rock. They use to hold dances and stuff in there years ago. have heard it is just east of Maiden lane on fourth street

[White Rabbit]

I've heard of Crystal Cave, and I remember a thread on here about it somewhere. It's supposed to completely full of water if I remember right.

[Tabithina]

Hi, newbie here.

I am really interested in learning more about the Crystal Cave! I wonder if the water level would be down some because of the drought going on here. It's be awesome to see something like that. When I was a child, I used to daydream of seeing a cave full of crystals. I'm a rock-hound.

I live less than an hour away from there, but I am a middle-aged pregnant lady, so will only be exploring through the internet. What ya'll are doing is very cool.

I found this link witha small blurb about the place:

http://www.mindat.org/loc-44478.html

Quote:"Crystal Cave, near Joplin, Jasper county, has its entire surface lined with calcite crystals and scalenohedron formations, from 1 to 2 ft. in length."

"The largest vug known, Crystal Cave, lies under 4th Street and Gray Avenue in Joplin. It measures from 10-25 feet high, 20-40 feet wide, and about 225 feet long and is lined with scalenohedral and barrel calcite crystals to nearly 35 cm long. It was operated as a tourist cave for many years."

[BROUSER]

Hi Tabithina. Don't let being pregnant stop you. My wife was 4 months pregnant when we went into Riverbluff Cave, and she wasn't even the first pregnant lady to go in there. I'm curious, though, when middle age starts. I'm afraid I might be there, although every fiber of my being screams no to that idea.

[Tabithina]

Sigh. Googled around some more. Looks like the cave is not reachable anymore at all. A mining pump was needed to keep the water out.:

Quote:
Mining in a thick section of carbonate rocks occasionally encounters mineralized fissures, vugs, and crystal-lined "caves" that yield outstanding mineral specimens. One such feature in the Joplin district was so large and impressive that it was developed as a tour cave called Crystal Cave, which operated until the mines closed. Once the pumps that kept the mines dewatered were turned off, the water table rose and filled the cavity. When other similar cavities are found, mineral specimens are often removed before mining proceeds"

From here:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_53288724

I did find one old picture of it here:

http://www.4statearts.com/historical/or ... tes35.html

Oh, well...would have been cool to see this one.

[Tabithina]

Hello Brouser.

Maybe if I did not have morning sickness, I'd venture out.

My husband would love to explore some of these places, too, if he had more time. When we were in high school and dating, he took me to see the ruins of an old mansion along Lake Michigan, in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago. I can't remember the name of the place--I'll have to ask him later. Apparently it was only lived in for a few weeks. It was fascinating, creepy, and sad. I think the remains of the building are long gone now.

Old buildings and their stories intrigue me.