The Carthage Underground is a collection of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

Carthage, Missouri Carthage is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 15,522 as of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Jasper County and is nicknamed "America's Maple Leaf City." History Jasper County was formed in 1841. ...

, most of which is owned by

Americold Americold Realty Trust, Inc. is an American temperature-controlled warehousing and transportation company based in Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County ...

. Americold holds of the quarry, much of which is occupied by warehouses or factories, primarily for food storage. The total area of the underground is difficult to trace, but is rumored to stretch as far as

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jas ...

(roughly 20 miles (30 km) from Carthage). It is frequently visited by

urban explorers Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...

due to the decrepit abandoned quarries mixed seamlessly with working underground factories and warehouses. Many of the local industries rely heavily upon the facilities to store foodstuffs there. It is also oddly present with an

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

of its own, with underground lakes hosting

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

and various other species. This could be seen as remarkable given that the quarries were utterly devoid of life before the

mining industry Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

. The temperature of the underground is frequently quoted as year round, though artificial

refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

has altered the temperature to a range of -30 to . Urban explorers should be extremely cautious exploring the undergrounds—the great amount of them are uninhabited and/or flooded, and wildlife is not rare there. Americold has a policy against photographs. Unauthorized

trespassing Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, ...

in their share of the underground can result in criminal prosecution, and the mostly uncharted abandoned areas are dangerous at best.

References

*http://www.undergroundozarks.com/carthage.html {{coord, 37.192390, -94.325395, display=title Jasper County, Missouri Mines in Missouri