Old Elsberry mining caves

[PANIC! on the Titanic]

I did not see any cops when I went on the 12th.

how many?

[PANIC! on the Titanic]

None.

[redox]

How extensive is that room and pillar quarry? That looks awesome!

[SubLunar]

It goes in about 100 yards and it's about 200 yards wide (approximately) with a huge flooded quarry out back.

[crazydrummerdude]

Pfft.. way to make is sound boring.

It's pretty damn big!

[PANIC! on the Titanic]

Yeah, it is pretty big, it goes back about a hundred yards or so like Lunar said, but I think it is quite a bit wider then 200 yards. There is also another set of them down the road, more shrouded in trees and not as well known by the local kids, I haven't been in them yet. You can see them better in winter. And also when a train comes from the south, it has to slow down to enter Elsberry, which makes it a great place to hop a train into town and get a soda at the gas station or something.
But yeah, I think the mines are worth checking out once or twice at least.

[PANIC! on the Titanic]

Bumping this topic because I just dug up a bunch of info answering a long asked question: how old is this mine?

I dug up 2 great sources, the first of which is here and on page 115 gives a great geologic description of the mine but doesn't say when operations were set up. The publishing of this book was in 1904.

Then I found the source here http://home.comcast.net/~neal4/moelsbe3.htm that on page 44 tells us that the Crystal Carbonate Lime Co. leased the land in 1901 to begin the underground quarry. It then was in operation until at least 1955, but how long after that I don't know.

I had no idea that place was that old, I figured 40 maybe 50 years but not 109 years old!

Anyway, thats a small summary of my finds. If you want to learn more about them or the history of Elsberry for those who live close, check out those sites, especially the second one.

[crazydrummerdude]

Excellent!

[Kit]

great work! thanks for sharing!

[Mandi Milenko]

http://www.strangeusa.com/ViewLocation. ... 08:13%20PM

[crazydrummerdude]

Pretty cheesy link.. why do they call it a cave? It's a mine. Was there a cave there once?

[Mandi Milenko]

idk I just thought it was interesting because of the devil worshiping stuff that has happened there.

[PANIC! on the Titanic]

I'd heard of devil worship, rape, suicides, etc. Any creepy thing you can think of was rumor with the local high schoolers who know about the caves, though the veracity of these claims is questionable.
A Couple friends from my high school got busted in there and fined for trespassing, so it just seems like a shitty place to be doing noisy activities and lighting fires (though there are campfire remnants scattered about, and many beer cans).

Not saying these things didn't happen, just that there are better places for sacrificing small mammals in the name of Satan.

Also, that is the first I have ever heard it called "Devil's Cave." We always just called them "those caves by elsberry."

Also Drummer, the mines wouldn't have been a natural cave first, since that would mean the limestone was subject to weathering and solution and would have been shitty rock. It's just a room and pillar mine because the mine designers thought it was the better method over open quarrying or something.

[Cathy]

I just found this place! Absolutely beautiful! And I cannot find any info on the internet about it. When I took pictures my phone gps pinpointed at "hurricane". Do you guys have any new info? Do you know what kind of mining was done there?

Hurricane
Richwoods, MO
United States

[PANIC! on the Titanic]

Hey Cathy,

So, it looks like the links I posted above 6 years ago (!) are now obsolete. From hardcover sources not yet available online, I can tell you the mine was operated by the Crystal Carbonate Lime Co. who leased the land in 1901. By 1904 mining was underway and described in MGS Vol 2 by Buckley and Buehler (1904). Mining was apparently still active by 1955 but ended shortly thereafter, by then it was operated by Columbia quarries. They mined lime (calcium carbonate) and crushed rock (think driveway gravel).

Your GPS is wonky... Hurricane is the name of the township of Lincoln county that includes Elsberry, New Hope, and this mine. As for Richwoods...??? No idea. There's a Richwoods MO down by Hillsboro but that's about it.