This page has been optimized for printing through your browser.

Meramec Caverns

DESCRIPTION: Located on the Meramec River, Meramec Caverns is the largest single cave formation in the world. It has 26 miles of underground passages on seven stories. All but two of the levels are open to the public. In the Caverns, visitors can see expansive rooms, beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, unusual onyx formations and towering colorful formations.

Meramec Caverns is considered a "show cave" with interior lights and paved paths but it is also a "living" cave with moving and dripping water which continues to alter it with the formation of new passages and the enlargement of old ones. Scientists estimate the cave began developing thousands of years ago. Adjacent to the Caverns is LaJolla Natural Park which offers camping along the Meramec River.

Meramec Caverns is one of several caves open to the public in Missouri which, with more than 5,000 caves, is known as the "Cave State."

SLOGAN: America's Favorite Cave/the Greatest Show Under the Earth

ADDRESS: P. O. Box 948, Stanton, MO 63079; I-44 Exit 230

LOCATION: One hour west of St. Louis.

PHONE: 800-676-6105

WEB SITE: www.americascave.com.

GETTING THERE: From downtown St. Louis, take I-44 West to Exit 230 (Stanton) and follow the signs to the Caverns.

HOURS: Daily, March, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; April, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; May and June, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; July-Labor Day, 8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; September, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; October, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; November, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; December, 9 a.m.-4p.m. Call for January and February hours. Closed Christmas and Thanksgiving.

ADMISSION: $14.00, adults; $7.00, children 5-11; free, under 5

ANNUAL ATTENDANCE: 164,800

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Meramec Caverns was the first major cave discovery on the North American continent.
  • The Caverns has the largest single cave formation in the world.
  • Tours of the cave take 90 minutes and cover about one mile. The cave is lighted and the trails are paved with railings in some areas. The temperature inside the Caverns is a constant 60 degrees year round.
  • The dramatic entrance to the cave is a huge ballroom where dances and parties have been held since the late 1800s.
  • The "Jungle Room" is so named because stone formations in it resemble jungle vegetation.
  • "Stage Curtain" is a 70-million-year-old, 70-foot tall, 60-foot wide and 35-foot deep vertical dripstone wall that resembles the curtain on a massive stage. It is the largest calcite formation in the world. With this backdrop, singer Kate Smith sang a stirring rendition of "God Bless America" some years ago.
  • "Wine Table" is a two-story tall ragonite formation, the largest of its kind in the world. It is so called because formations around it resemble grape clusters. Ragonite is the world's most rare formation.
  • The "Million and One Room" has countless deposits of dripstone in all stages of formation on the vast ceiling.
  • "Onyx Mountain" is a massive onyx formation 500 feet in circumference, 200 feet thick and 33 feet high. It is still growing.
  • The "Mother-in-Law's Tongue" is a long single stalactite that is one of the largest in the cave.
  • Several crystal clear streams flow through the cave. The largest stream "Mirror River" is named for its 18-inch deep pool which reflects the great hollow dome rising 35 feet above. Lighting on the ceiling is mirrored back to the viewer giving the river an appearance of depth with a vast underwater cavern.
  • The movie The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were filmed in part at Meramec Caverns in the 1970s and a segment of the Lassie television show was filmed there in 1966.
  • The Cavern Queen riverboat offers half-hour excursions on the Meramec River April through September leaving from a dock in the Caverns parking lot.
  • Canoe floats on the Meramec River are also available.
  • Adjacent to the Caverns is LaJolla Natural Park with campsites and full RV hookups. A motel offers quiet lodging at a convenient on-site location.
  • The Jesse James Museum three miles from the Caverns documents the life of Jesse James, his gang's use of the cave and the claims of a 102-year-old man in the 1940s that he was, in fact, Jesse James.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS: Children will enjoy "panning" for fool's gold and other gemstones in a 19th century setting at the "Sluicing Operation" and Meramec Mining Company adjacent to the cave entrance. There is also a candy shop and Barney the Dino, a Moonwalk-type activity.

WHAT'S NEW: Meramec Caverns has opened an underground classroom offering students and Scout troops hands-on workshops on such topics as ecology, geology and topography. "Bats of Missouri," "Pre-historic Settlers" and "Fossils" are programs also offered to students.

Also new are Granny's Candy Shop, and a rock shop, both located next to the Sluicing Operation.

Several rooms at the motel at the Caverns have undergone renovation.

ANNUAL SPECIAL EVENTS: Each spring a musical and a dramatic presentation on the death and resurrection of Christ are held in the Caverns. Top southern gospel artists perform in the Fall Festival of Gospel Music every October in the Caverns.

HISTORY: Jacques Renault, a French miner, discovered Meramec Caverns in 1720. He named it "Saltpeter Cave" because of the vast amount of saltpeter found there. Indian guides led him to the mouth of the cave. Renault mined the saltpeter until 1742.

Spanish miners later used the chamber-like cavern as a base of operations for lead mining.

When the demand for gunpowder escalated during the Civil War, saltpeter mining was revived. Union troops used the cavern as a munitions powder mill from 1862-64 when Quantrill's Irregulars, a guerilla band, destroyed the plant under Confederate orders. Legend also has it that escaped slaves used the cave as a stop on the "Underground Railroad" when they tried to make their way to freedom.

One member of Quantrill's Irregulars was Jesse James who later won infamy as an outlaw gang leader. The familiarity of the passageways James gained in taking part in the destruction of the powder mill helped in later years when he and his gang used the Caverns to escape after robbing a bank at Gads Hill, Missouri, some 75 miles to the southwest of the cave.

Tracked by a posse, James and his gang fled to the cave. Fearing a possible ambush if he rushed the cave, the sheriff decided to starve the gang out. But when gang members did not retreat from the cave after three days, the sheriff went in to find only the James' gang's horses inside the cave. Many years later when another room further back in the cave was uncovered, a strongbox the gang had stolen during the robbery was found proving that they had been there. It is believed they escaped by swimming from the shallow underground river in the cave into the Meramec River outside the cave.

From the 1900s until the mid -1940s, the cavern ballroom was used to host weekend dances because it offered natural relief from the summer heat.

In the 1890s Saltpeter Cave was owned by Charley (C. A.) Rueppele who had acquired it some years earlier from Joseph Schmuke. Schmuke and others had tried unsuccessfully to exploit the cave, but Rueppele was only interested in prospecting it. Local cave enthusiast Lester Dill expressed interest in buying the cave from Rueppele in the 1930s. Though it was the Depression and money was tight, Dill, his wife Mary and business partner Ed Schuler entered into a lease with an option to buy the cave in 1933. Eventually they did buy the property.

Dill renamed the cave "Meramec Caverns," and he and his family personally built the access road and the entrance to the cave. They opened the Caverns to the public in 1935. Since that time, millions of visitors from all over the world have toured the Caverns.

Dill's transformation of the cave into a leading tourist attraction was quite remarkable especially when one considers that he managed to scrape the funds together to buy the cave during the Depression and that his attempts at popularizing the cave predated Route 66, the so-called "Mother Road" highway that brought millions of motorists within three miles of the Caverns.

Dill charted new rooms in the Caverns and uncovered miles of new passages and spectacular views. He was also a master marketer, and Meramec Caverns soon became known far and wide through signs plastered along the roads to attract tourist to the Caverns. Advertisements for the Caverns were also painted on barns in 26 states. Dill also pioneered the use of bumper stickers, then called bumper signs because the vinyl and adhesive used to attach stickers to cars had not yet been developed. While visitors toured the cave, Dill would have his children tie the Meramec Caverns bumper signs on their cars giving him free advertising and visitors a free souvenir.

The James Gang's connection with the cave became the focus of attention in 1948 when a 100-year-old man from Lawton, Oklahoma claimed he was Jesse James. It had been reported that James was killed by a member of his own gang in 1882 but the old man claiming to be James said his "death" had been a hoax and that the dead man was actually someone else.

The man who claimed he had been living under the name J. Frank Dalton returned to the Caverns in 1949 and met with the last living members of the gang who swore to the authenticity of his story. A physician's examination revealed that the old man had eight markings on his body which coincided with those documented by a police exam of Jesse James decades earlier.

Rudy Turilli, son-in-law of the owner of the cave, did extensive research on the old man's claim and was convinced he was indeed Jesse James. A video in the Jesse James Wax Museum three miles from the Caverns tells the story of James and the old man's claim. Scenes from James' life, documents about the man's claim and James memorabilia are also on display at the Museum.

HANDICAPPED ACCESS: Meramec Caverns is handicapped accessible. There is one flight of stairs on the tour but it can be by-passed through use of a nearby ramp. Handicapped visitors are asked to bring their own wheel chairs and someone to push them.

WHERE TO GET LUNCH: Meramec Caverns Restaurant and a snack bar are open every day.

GIFT SHOP: The Meramec Caverns Gift Shop carries t-shirts, caps, post cards, rocks and other items.

WHAT'S NEARBY: The Jesse James Wax Museum and the Meramec River are nearby.

PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: Judy and Les Turilli, owners, 573-468-3166, info@americascave.com.

 

Readers should call 1-800-916-0040 to request a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitor Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis at www.explorestlouis.com