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| 5/5/2009 2:06:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Subterranean Twin Cities author Greg Brick sheds his muddy jacket after exiting a tunnel. |
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| Top, Cary J. Griffith, author of Opening Goliath: Danger and Discovery in Caving. |
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Treasures and Tragedies
Two new books by Minnesota authors shed light on fascinating and dangerous caves and tunnels.
Anne Thillen
Review staff
Greg Brick has been exploring the underground wilderness of the Twin Cities for more two decades. He's familiar with the search for hidden cave entrances, and experienced in slogging through the so-called sanitary sewers with their walls decorated with toilet paper Rorschach "ink" blots. He hasn't found any hidden treasure, but what he has come away with is an arsenal of stories. From riding through the sewers on mountain bikes, to spending New Year's Eve in Carver's Cave, to underground waterfalls, Brick has seen just about everything.
It's not all sewage though. Brick's new book "Subterranean Twin Cities" is a paperback tour of some unique natural and man-made subterranean spaces. Part memoir, part urban studies, part history lesson, the book is the first of its kind for the area. New York, London, Paris - those underground spaces have been thoroughly scoured. After a tour through the geological strata, he brings the reader straight to the caves, opening with Carver's Cave also known as Wakan Tipi, which has been referred to as "the baptismal font of Minnesota caving." Carver's is located in the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary on the East Side of St. Paul near the Mississippi River.
Brick tells the history of the cave, including some low points such as the destruction of petroglyphs inside the caves when the railroad tracks were laid many years ago. He tells of other caves, including the lost Fountain Cave which he and countless unnamed others have sought and failed to find.
From these natural wonders, Brick leads the reader into the caves dug into the sandstone, telling tales of commercial caves constructed for the growing of mushrooms, the aging of cheese and for the cool storerooms of breweries. He guides us through the silica mines below the Ford plant, and tells some of the stories of how these caves have been used over the years, including a nightclub and the Jaycee's Tunnel of Terror.
What Brick also makes abundantly clear about the places he describes is that they're not open to the public. Many of the tunnels and caves have been sealed since his last visit, or the entries otherwise locked and restricted. He believes that part of the reason that these places are no longer accessible is due to websites that made finding and entering these underground spaces much easier - for the would-be urban explorer and for the authorities.
These subterranean spaces aren't for tourists. There are visible and not so visible dangers in any of these places. Sanitary sewers are filled with waste materials and are teeming with bacteria, Brick says. Caves, both wild and man-made can be filled with invisible and harmful gases. Even experienced cavers can be caught unawares if they become too complacent.
Treasure
Cary Griffith, author of "Opening Goliath: Danger and Discovery in Caving", became more interested in caving after taking a tour of Mystery Cave in Forestville. "I didn't think I was claustrophobic until then," Griffith recalls, laughing. The cave tour guide told him about John Ackerman and Spring Valley Cavern. When Griffith learned about Goliath, he knew that there was a story to be told here.
Griffith's book is fast paced, painting with broad strokes that highlight details like particles of quartz sparkling in the bedrock. His writing puts the reader into the cave beside the explorers where flashlights glimmer through the dark. "It's a story about caves; about Goliath, discovery and exploration," Griffith says.
The cave now known as Goliath's Cave was discovered in the 1950s, but was shortly thereafter blocked by "a massive pile of talus." Once explorers got into the cave again and past the problematic sumps in the 1980s, a whole new world was opened up. A world that was inaccessible for most of the year due to portions of the cave that could not be passed when the water was high. After only a few short seasons of exploration, the landowners revoked permissions they had given for anyone to be there.
Soon the land containing the natural entrance to Goliath's Cave came under the ownership of the Department of Natural Resources, more specifically the Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) program. Access to the site was severely and strictly limited, which effectively negated any chance members of the Minnesota Speleological Survey would be able to revisit the cave.
In the meantime, caver John Ackerman acquired the land above and subterranean caving rights to the Spring Valley Caverns some 20 miles northeast of Goliath's Cave. This purchase is the beginning of the Minnesota Karst Preserve that was established in 1989 to preserve and study Minnesota's unique underground wilderness.
In 2004, Ackerman bought a few acres of land over the main passage of the cave, adding this to the Karst Preserve. He had a second entry drilled into Goliath's, allowing year-round access. His actions were controversial, and the whole affair was shrouded in a tangle of politics. With access restored, Goliath's Cave is once again being explored and studied.
The story of Goliath's Cave is rich with the discoveries made by the cavers. In its depths, Goliath holds massive stone formations, an underground waterfall, and more natural treasures that Griffith details in the book's pages.
Caves, Griffith says, "really are the last undiscovered frontier in Minnesota."
Tragedy
In 1992, two young women died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a cave on the river bluffs. A sign was posted in the vicinity of that cave, warning of the danger lurking below the surface. In 2004, a group of teenagers walked right past that sign and found a carbon monoxide filled cave of their own to explore. Of the five that went in, only two came out alive. Both Griffith's book and Brick's mention these accidents, but Griffith provides more detail on the more recent incident, including information on how caves "breathe" and just how concentrated the carbon monoxide can get.
On April 26, 2009, Woodbury resident Ian Talty and his friend Nick Breid went exploring in a graffiti-covered drainage tunnel just south of the Marshall Avenue Bridge in St. Paul. They had gone in to take photographs of the tunnel, but when storm water came racing down the sewer, they were caught up in it and swept out into the Mississippi River. Breid managed to make it to shore, but Talty didn't. He was rescued from the river, but ultimately died. This unfortunate and very recent accident is not detailed in either book, but is a vivid and close-to-home example of the dangers of caving and urban exploration.
The Minnesota Speleological Survey, as reported by Griffith, says, "If there's any indication of bad weather or rain, you do not go underground." Any experienced caver would echo this sentiment. When asked what he would advise would-be explorers, Brick was quick to reply, "Don't go in those tunnels." He elaborates that with trash clinging near the ceiling and the high-water marks, it's fairly clear which tunnels completely fill during storms.
"If you're curious about caves," Griffith offers, "drive down to Forestville (State Park) and take a tour of Mystery Cave." If that doesn't satisfy the craving for exploration, Brick's advice from his introduction is to join a recognized caving club like the Minnesota Speleological Survey. The help of experienced cavers will make your experience safer and more rewarding.
For more information about the Minnesota Speleological Society, visit their website at http://www.mss-caving.org. For more information and videos of Goliath's Cave, visit Cary Griffith's website at http://www.caryjgriffith.com and the Karst Preserve at http://www.karstpreserve.com.
Anne Thillen can be reached at woodbury@lillienews.com
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