Cliff Cave Park is a 525-acre public park located in St. Louis County,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The park is owned and operated by the St. Louis County Department of Parks and Recreation. It is named after Cliff Cave, a natural cave located in the park that is a historical and archaeologic site. The park contains

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s, and rocky hillsides and is adjacent to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. It has three trails: the Mississippi Trail, the Spring Valley Trail, and the River Bluff Trail. The Riverside Shelter overlooks the Mississippi River. An active train track runs through the park. Cliff Cave Park is part of the Mississippi River Greenway. The park won the "Best View of the Mississippi" award in 2009, which it was granted by '' The Riverfront Times''.

History

Native Americans likely were attracted to the area due to the cave, fresh spring water, and the nearby Mississippi River. They regarded the cave as a sacred place. In 1749, Jean Baptiste Gamache first acquired the land through a land grant from the Spanish government. In the 1770s, Cliff Cave was used by the French fur trappers and traders as a riverside

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

for travelers of the Mississippi River. In 1854, Christopher W. Spalding and Henry W. Williams purchased the area. In 1857, they placed boundaries for the Cliff Cave subdivisions, selling lots from 1.7 acres to 24.7 acres. In the 1860s, during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Confederate soldiers were thought to use the cave as a rendezvous point. After the Civil War, Missouri became a center of

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

. In 1866, the Cliff Cave Wine Company was established; in 1868, they purchased the area for $36,176 to use the cave as a natural wine cellar. The company planted twenty-five acres of grapes in the area which produced 3,000 gallons of wine in one year. The company itself had 240 acres of vineyard along the Mississippi River, and by 1870, the cave had a storage capacity of 100,000 gallons of wine. Stonework near the cave entrance added in this time still exists today. In the late 1800s, volunteer soldiers from Jefferson Barracks built a saloon in the cave entrance. In approximately 1910, the cave was leased to

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple glo ...

to store beer, with the company harvesting ice from the river in the winter to keep the beer cool during the summer. Caves in Missouri were sometimes used by criminals and outlaws in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the early 1900s, Cliff Cave was known as Jesse James Cave (a name shared with other caves in Missouri). During the 1920s, the Mob used the cave as a place to discard bodies. A tavern and café called "Girlies" was located in the area. A pool of cold water and a mineral odor, named Sun King Pool, was sourced by a spring, but now is the location of the parking lot. In 1969, after the success of a St. Louis County Bond Issue, the purchase of the Cliff Cave property was initiated. The land was valued at $400,000. The funding was matched with federal acquisition dollars from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other agencies. In the fall of 1972, the property was acquired. In the spring of 1977, Cliff Cave Park was officially opened to the public. In 1986, a referendum was held which designated the park as one of five Natural Heritage Parks in the area, limiting the amount of park construction and development to five percent of the total park area.

Features

Cliff Cave

Cliff Cave, also known as Indian Cave, is a natural cave that is considered the second longest cave in St. Louis County, with 4723 ft (1514 m) of cave passage surveyed. It is found at the head of a ravine, with a stream flowing from the entrance. It is developed in

Mississippian Period The Mississippian ( , also known as Lower Carboniferous or Early Carboniferous) is a subperiod in the geologic timescale or a subsystem of the geologic record. It is the earlier of two subperiods of the Carboniferous period lasting from roughly ...

St. Louis limestone The St. Louis Limestone is a large geologic formation covering a wide area of the midwest of the United States. It is named after an exposure at St. Louis, Missouri. It consists of sedimentary limestone with scattered chert beds, including the ...

. The cave maintains a temperature of all year round. The cave was created from the

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

in the area forming many

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s, dissolving the

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

over time. The cave is connected to a number of these sinkholes, causing the cave to be susceptible to

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

ing. In October 2009, a

cave gate A cave gate is a manmade barricade typically placed at, or just inside, the entrance to a cave in an effort to impede or mitigate human access to a cave's interior. The reason for gating a cave can be varied, but may include protecting sensitive o ...

was installed at the cave entrance to preserve the endangered Indiana bat which resided in the cave, as a joint effort between Saint Louis County Department of Parks, Missouri Department of Conservation, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,

Bat Conservation International Bat Conservation International (BCI) is an international nongovernmental organization working to conserve bats and their habitats through conservation, education, and research efforts. BCI was founded in 1982 by bat biologist Merlin Tuttle, who ...

, the Missouri Karst and Cave Conservancy, and the Meramec Valley Spelunkers. Other fauna of the cave include big brown bats, little brown bats,

eastern pipistrelle The tricolored bat (''Perimyotis subflavus'') is a species of microbat native to eastern North America. Formerly known as the eastern pipistrelle, based on the incorrect belief that it was closely related to European ''Pipistrellus'' species, th ...

s, cave salamanders, and

isopod Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...

s. After the gate was installed, the population of bats has increased.

Mississippi Trail

The Mississippi Trail is a 5.1-mile, flat, paved trail loop accessible to hikers and bikers. It is located in the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

bottoms, and goes through bottomland woodlands and wetlands. It occasionally can undergo periodic flooding from the Mississippi River. The flora include wild grasses and wildflowers, silver maple, sycamore, cottonwood,

black willow ''Salix nigra'', the black willow, is a species of willow native to eastern North America, from New Brunswick and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Texas. Description ''Salix nigra'' is a medium-sized decid ...

and box elder. The fauna include

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

s, migratory waterfowl,

great blue heron The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos ...

s, and

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

Spring Valley Trail

The Spring Valley Trail is a 3-mile natural treadway trail accessible to equestrians, hikers, and mountain bikers. Cliff Cave can be accessed from this trail. The trail goes up a valley, then reaches a karst plateau and forms a loop in the woodlands. The flora include

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...

and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

trees.

River Bluff Trail

The River Bluff Trail is a 1-mile flat, natural treadway trail accessible to equestrians, hikers, and mountain bikers. This trail affords a scenic vantage point to see the Mississippi River from the bluffs. Flora include prairie grasses including the native side-oats grama and little bluestem, wildflowers, and chinkapin oak trees. The fauna is being threatened by invasive species such as

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

Incidents

On July 23, 1993, six people were killed while exploring the cave due to a flash flood. Four counselors and 12 boys from the St. Joseph's Home for Boys, a residential treatment center for abused or troubled youth, were exploring the area. Seven were trapped in the cave when rain caused flash flooding. The bodies of four youths and two adult counselors were later found. One boy survived and was found 18 hours after the flood with mild head trauma and

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...

. On October 5, 2008, an eighteen-year-old high school student slipped and fatally fell from a steep bluff. On November 7, 2016, during a dispute with his wife, a man drove his four- and five-year-old sons to the park, and an AMBER Alert was issued. As law enforcement were approaching, the man fatally shot his two children and then himself.

References

External links

* {{Parks of Greater St. Louis Caves of Missouri Parks in St. Louis 1972 establishments in Missouri Tourist attractions in St. Louis