Cherokee Cave tour
I got a tour! It was weird.
SECOND DRAFT
This site had been up for years and the caves page was quietly gathering dust when, out of nowhere, I got a message from the (now defunct) feedback page. It simply said:
TRIP TO LEMP OR CHEROKEE CAVE. IF YOU WANT MEET US AT ____ O'CLOCK IN THE ______ PARKING LOT. BRING FLASHLIGHTS AND SOME CASH.
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The message was completely anonymous which made it seem even more like an invitation for a good raping... I was intrigued, though. Getting into Lemp Caverns is a once-in-a-lifetime thing and I'm always up for a fight. So, I said goodbye to all my friends, left a detailed note with IP addresses and showed up in the parking lot with a heavy flashlight and running shoes.
I couldn't believe what I saw as I pulled into the lot that night. A large group of perfectly normal looking people milling about with flashlights and excited looks on their faces. Ten minutes later we were under the streets of St. Louis in a goddamned cave. It was surreal. I still have no idea why I was invited.
Let's have a look at a map of Lemp Caverns and Cherokee Cave (click for
a readable version)
Most of the cave is still intact. A small part near the bottom of the map marked "Bridge" was destroyed and blocked off with concrete walls when they built interstate 55. So, the loop no longer exists. You can access both arms of the loop, though, so the majority of the cave is still there.
Cherokee and Lemp are connected at the middle of the map near the "bone area." Lemp Caverns are to the left, Cherokee cave is the loop on the right. I am not sure if the bone area is part of Lemp, or Cherokee, but I would guess it is part of the Lemp cave. I say that because there is a change in elevation to the right of the Bone Area. You have to climb down a rusty-assed rickety ladder to go from the Bone Area to the "Stairs." As far as I can tell, the "Stairs" no longer exist. They are just rusty ladders.
Notice the "Air Raid Shelter" near the middle of the map. We did not get to that part because that arm of the cave is flooded with a few inches of water. There were little, pale fishes in the water.
The Lemp Caverns
I'm sure you can find plenty of information about the history of the Lemp Caverns, so I'll spare you. I do want to note a few of the features we saw while down there which are highlighted on the map.
Spiral Staircase to the Surface
For me, one of the most interesting things was this gigantic, iron, spiral staircase that led to the surface just behind the theatrical area.
This staircase was used by actors to get back stage during performances. Apparently, there wasn't much room for wardrobe changes behind the tiny stage so they would have to climb 34' to the surface to change their costume and get some air. Now it could only serve as an excellent way to impale yourself and get a nasty case of tetanus.
Theatrical Area
There isn't much left of this after many years of rotting in a wet environment. The stage area was made of plaster and wire. Sadly, it has decomposed into a heap of trash in the middle of the floor. The only thing left that reminds us of its original use are some stage lights hanging from the rocky ceiling.
The Iron Door
I don't have any photos of the iron door, but there is a story about the area. This is the entrance to the Lemp Brewery. When the cave was being used to entertain, this area (marked as "old elevator shaft", "stairs" and "refrigerator door") was decked out with a wood ceiling and wood floors. All the electricity used for the cave came in through this hallway.
The legend says there was a fire one day in the pool area. The st. louis fire department was on the scene and ran hoses down this hallway. The fire got into the ceiling and, before they knew it, the whole thing came down on the fire fighters and killed them all.
Is it true? I didn't research it so I can't say for sure. However, there certainly was a fire there and there is what looks like old, burned fire hoses on the floor. The last photo may or may not be the "refrigerator door."
Vertical Shaft
There is a giant, brick-lined shaft in the ceiling of one of the wide cave areas. It is capped with a brick ceiling, but you can see, from the floor, that there is a passageway at the top. Some people in the group really wanted to know where it led, so they drug a long ladder into the cave. They got up in there only to find out it connected to another shaft which was blocked off with debris and red bricks.
The Cherokee Cave
Since this is just a draft, I'm going to just say three things about cherokee cave and get out of here. 1) It is neat. 2) It is moist. 3) I have 4 photos - The wishing well, some stairs, the "pit of death" and the concrete wall they put up when building hwy 55:
To be continued...
By the way. Please, DO NOT try to get into these caves yourself. You'll get hurt and arrested.
Caves of St. Louis
There are caves. I found some.
(Of course, feel free to Contact me if you know anything about the caves. I'd love to put more information on this portion of the site.)
I have been fascinated with the network of caves that are supposedly under the city of St. Louis ever since I was a little kid. One day, while trying to find a birthday present for my brother, I stumbled upon a book entitled, "Lost Caves of St. Louis."
Written in 1964, it seemed a bit outdated, but I was enthralled. I bought it for him, wrapped it up and gave it away.
Three years later I borrowed the book from the library and decided to make this site. The goal is to become a central repository of current information about the caves under St. Louis.
There isn't much here because the caves' mystery is only exceeded by their power (HA!) but because of it I was invited to a tour of Lemp and Cherokee.
Here's an unfinished Google map that shows the approximate locations of each cave mentioned in "Lost Caves of St. Louis". A similar map can be found on pages 20 – 24 in the book. Of course, I haven't taken the time to find the coordinates of each location... If you want to help, find a few and send them to me. (please? It isn't hard, just google map the intersections and write down the coordinates... Should take you a half hour, tops.)
- AnheuserBuschCave East side of Carondelet (now s. broadway and arsenal)
- Bremen N. Broadway and Bremen Ave.
- CherokeeBrewery 2726 Cherokee
- CherokeeCave. Cherokee & 7th
- StLouisBrewery. Franklin between 2nd and Broadway
- ConsumersBrewery Cave. 1920 Shenandoah
- EnglishCave. East of Benton Park between Arsenal and Wyoming
- HomeBreweryCave. Corner of miami and wisconsin
- HydePark Salisbury and North Florrisant
- IndianMound Broadway near Brooklyn Ave.
- Kerzingers Southeast Corner of Broadway and Tyler
- KlausmanCave 8639 Broadway
- LayfayetteCave 1714 Cass Ave.
- LempCave South of Cherokee Cave on S. Broadway
- NaturalCaves - 15a. 2005 Benton southwest to Ecoff and Manchester Ave. 15b. Hudler and Hoffman
- PhoenixBreweryCave (old staehlin brewery) 18th and Lafayette
- ShnaidersBreweryCave Chouteau ave. between armstrong and mississippi
- SidneyStreetBreweryCaves (most likely all the same cave) (PUT ON MAP!) -whitteman and rost weiss, 211 anna (now st. george) -theo schwer, 709-15 lynch -pittsburg,rosati (now 12th) and lynch -jackson brewery, same block as above -arsenal 11th and Lynch -suesert and berger, south side of sidney and west of 7th -schlop, sidney street north near buel (now 10th) -gambrinus, sidney and 10th -koch and feldkamp, south sidney -schilling and schneider, south sidney
- UhrigsCave Locust and Washington Ave. beneath 18th street between jefferson and delmar
- WildCaves 20a. North of California and Sidney 20b. East under nebraska near lafayette 20c. 1900 South Compton Ave.
- WinkelmeyerAndExcelsiorCaveStretches between 17th and 18th under Market
The book seems to have been reprinted in 1996 and includes a forward by Ron Elz. he mentions an entrance to the Lemp Caverns through a lidded opening in a parking lot.
He also mentions an entrance to the Cherokee Cave in the basement of the former Cherokee Brewery brew house. It says the building is located just east of Iowa St. on the south side of Cherokee Street.
There seems to be a man-made thing called Glasgow Cavern on teh northwest corner of Cass and Garrison Avenue. (PUT THIS ON THE MAP).
He says the Uhrig Cave is still under the Main Post Office and Union Station. (PUT THIS ON THE MAP)
There seems to be a number of caves between Washington Boulevard and Locust Street on the west side of Jefferson (PUT THIS ON THE MAP)
Some Links
an article about the Lemp caves:
http://bestof.riverfronttimes.com/bestof/award.php?award=30716
Caves Threatened by County Development - link
heres how you get into lemp cave: http://www.missourighosts.net/investigations03e.html
- and "You don't crawl in the expected way, on your tummy, walkie-talkie in hand, wearing a spelunker's helmet, or plot strategies with subterranean maps. You just walk into a building, turn on a few lights and proceed to a cargo elevator that drops you three stories straight down into one part of the cave system. If you want to travel to another leg of the network, you can either wander through the dank, muddy tunnels or you can get back on the elevator, resurface, walk a few hundred yards in the open air, enter another building and submerge again. It's a funny way to spelunk, but it works well for the cowardly and the claustrophobic."
Here is a reader contributed link (thanks!) to a local news show segment called "Places you can't go." They went into a mystery part of the cherokee cave (I don't think this is cherokee cave... it is something different) and rafted around for a bit:
http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=67657&bw=
or, for a direct link to the streaming video:
mms://wm.ksdk.gannett.edgestreams.net/news/013108_underground_ksdk.wmv
Let's get a group together and convince Will Liebermann to give us a key to the pace.
Another link to a video about a cave tour. I love how he says the one ice shaft is in the middle of the intersection of Cherokee and DeMenil Pl.
another entrance bites the dust:
http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/lempdig/history.html
unrelated to caves of st. louis... punks in the "caves" under paris:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2554240.ece\
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?p=60176&sid=81003ef834c9c358b95e174a2c20b798\
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/undergroun_stl.htm