Fountain Cave looking out entrance

Fountain Cave

Here’s a free pdf of my 1995 article on Fountain Cave:

Chutes Cave tourist

A Minnesota Show Cave Advertisement from 1876

Chute’s Cave, in Minneapolis, operated as a show cave from 1876 to 1880 (conservatively estimated). A newspaper advertisement for Chute’s Cave, from the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer-Press and Tribune, August 26, 1876, is transcribed below. Although there are earlier newspaper advertisements for Fountain Cave, in St. Paul, dating back to 1852, they are very […]

Fountain Cave tourist

Tourist Accommodations at Fountain Cave

I felt chagrined at one of the NSS conventions a few years ago, when, having just given a slideshow about St. Paul’s Fountain Cave in the Spelean History Session, a well-known speleohistorian (who shall remain nameless) got up to speak at the American Spelean History Association lunch meeting that followed. He referenced, among other things, […]