House sized cave north of town.

Urban exploration in Springfield, Missouri
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dawgchain
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House sized cave north of town.

Post by dawgchain »

During high school, I lived north of town on old U-drive, and the neighborhoodlems (our really dumb name) used to visit a cave nearby. We could make the hike in 15 minutes. It is called keyhole, bear cave, rift cave, and dry well.....I don't know which one is right.

The easiest way to find it is find somewhere nearby to park for one.(not the gravel parking lot for the dog pound) Start out at the Fulbright Pump Station, look towards the water, there is a large 2ft wide pipe crossing the river about 5 ft above the water line. Walk across that and go about 50ft east (towards the pump station) and then head straight up hill. There aren’t really any distinguishing marks to lead the way, and it takes me ½ hr to find it and I have been there a lot.

The entrance is a large hole going nearly straight down. It is 3ft wide by 8ft long. The hole only looks straight down; you can climb down with a little effort. It is maybe 15ft deep, and then it opens into a large cavern about the size of a large house. There are many small crawl holes and stuff all over. Also in the back there is a spot that is like a tiny mountain range, and you walk across the peaks to get to an area that has two tunnels directly on top of each other. They only go back around 20 ft. but the top one has cave crystal walls.




Also note worthy is the creek/river itself. If you hike about 20 minutes away from the pump station, there is a spring that has clean fresh water coming out of it, I am told it is a long narrow cave, but I Haven’t checked it out. The water is not deep maybe knee level in normal weather. And if you watch the left hand bank it has tons of stuff from the old landfill.


You have to be careful going in the river; it is near the police firing range, and the one of the fire stations test burn sites. Only twice in a decade and a half, they have asked me to leave….I walked off and came right back.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by ouvgotmel »

My great great grand parents use to own the land my grand parents use to live there and my dad for a little while.They actually sold the spring to the Fulbrights is what my grandmother said. My dad said when him and his brother were little they went through ever cave out there, he said he got his head hung in the wall in Devils slide he talked about going down in the cave above the spring and there was a big stalagtite or mite but none of the caves go very far. but he said there is a cave real close to Devil's slide that goes straight down the entrance is about six foot long tree foot wide and if you didn't know it was there you could walk right in it. but he said it is just a large room with mud. Have you ever found the old house rock foundation, that was their house. Behind the pump station in the rock bluff you can see a cave room it actually has a door on it or did, just a small room in the bluff. dad use to play in that too when he was a little boy.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by Mindscape »

There are several caves in that area. I used to live up the hill from there. There are a lot of easier ways to get to the area than going in through the firing range or the pump station. One of these days, I'll have to show you guys. While I don't know about the cave you're talking about, I do know of three others and also a really nifty cattail swamp down there. Freakin' awesome place, if you take the time to explore it.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by dawgchain »

I have explored around there a lot.

I have been in 7 different caves out there, but I like it best because all the rest I have ran into other people, and this one seems less disturbed.

One visit following a heavy snow, we dug out a small fire pit, near the entrance; it worked well to keep the smoke out. We camped out one time for two days in there. It was great! Until a branch fell down the hole and hit the fire, sparks went everywhere.


The is a spot about a 1/2 mile along the river, there is a steep hill that levels of to a trail going both ways. If you take off down the hill in high water and jump at the last second ... you come up for air almost 50 ft down. If you do it in low water you get really hurt... I know personally.

Also there are several sturdy vines to swing out on, some to water some to soft water.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by RaccoonCC »

Have any of you been there recently? I went up around fulbright last night just to look around, but the entire area around the water is completely fenced in, not to mention, there was a random attack dog.Is that new or am I just not looking in the right place? PM me if you have specific directions.

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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by pdx_prog »

I lived in that area for some time. Before all the houses were built between Fulbright and the old rendering plant we pretty much had the run of all the wooded areas there. There are plenty of caves of all size around there.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by dawgchain »

the pump station has been fenced in for a while, but this is just past the pump station.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by RaccoonCC »

ok so, coming from the treatment plant/shooting range facing the lake, is it to the right of the fence and up the hill?
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by dawgchain »

Ok from the road leading awa from the pond, look down a the creek between the dog pound and the pump station. there is a pipe going over the creek, easy to spot because there is ussually taller grass next to it. it is up the wooded hill from there.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by Mindscape »

Oh, you're talking about up there. I was talking about down a bit. If our local reliable cave-monkeys want directions, PM me.
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RE: House sized cave north of town.

Post by jgladzz »

This post is 10 years old... But I have no idea what this cave is. Is it real? Does anyone know what this guy is talking about? There is keyhole cave up on the hill behind the pump station, but it is a pretty small cave. Is there a name for this cave? PM me if you have info. Thanks!
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Re: House sized cave north of town.

Post by jammer_smith »

I am almost positive this is talking about Keyhole cave and maybe his memory is exaggerating the size a bit, especially if he is going from childhood memory.
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