Saginaw, MO

Urban exploration in Missouri
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urbannatural
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Saginaw, MO

Post by urbannatural »

There are so many stories about a huge underground system underneath this city. The city is ripe with cold water and no body seems to know anything about it. i could have not rained for months and this little town always will have plenty of water, but when it floods drastically (like it just did) it does not flood.
Im wondering if anyone can dig something up (no matter how old) on this town. i know of one of the entrances, exactly where it is but it is on someones property.
This is a project that would love to put some real time into, i just need another entrance or something to go on.
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RedRook
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RE: Saginaw, MO

Post by RedRook »

http://www.historicjoplin.org/?tag=mini ... y-missouri

Well, a start is that it used to be Cornwall, not Saginaw. Like most of southern Missouri, it was extremely rich in lead. Unfortunately, by the time American settlers made their way out here, they found this particular town was not producing enough lead to make the mining useful. The Geostrat overlay isn't showing any mines directly in the town. If there are remnants of a failed mining operation from the period, they likely involved primitive pit mines, and all you will find is a filled in pit and a possible mound of tailings. At best, you'll find a filled in shaft mine, which is a vertical hole that just goes deeper than a pit would.

http://dnr.mo.gov/geostrat/

Around the town, there is an abnormally large amount of underground and shaft mines for lead marked by GeoStrat. They all appear to be on private land, and they don't seem to be active lead producers.

To me the most interesting looking thing in Saginaw is by far Saginaw Spring here:
Map

If you know anything about that spring and whether there is an entrance to anything, let me know. I just learned about it today looking over things. I don't think there is explicitly evidence of this being massive enough to have an entrance, and it looks heavily modified by the owners to help retain the water. It none the less is a place I would check for a more natural unmarked underground.
urbannatural
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RE: Saginaw, MO

Post by urbannatural »

yeah the system is supposed to be natural. the spring is amazing and what i meant by not flooding is the spring never does, ever. while all around it will.
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Nicotti
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Re: Saginaw, MO

Post by Nicotti »

The geology watershed map from the DNR page is helpful.
More online investigation than onsite exploration these days.

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hedlight
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RE: Saginaw, MO

Post by hedlight »

My aunt used to live there right across from the post office (I think it's no longer there). The house just down the street had a huge lake/pond that was fed by very cold spring water.

I remember there lake went partially under the road, and the smaller side was fed by water from the adjoining hill.

I didn't question it too much as a kid, but I think there is probably a nice cave spring feeding into that, and I do remember the water being extremely cold! I uploaded the spot on google maps where the spring empties into the lake.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but if you find any additional info please post it, I have a lot of history growing up in that town.

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