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Monday, June 9, 2008
Progress Notes
This week I wanted to return to the caves of Miller County and discuss Stark Caverns,
the largest cave in Miller County and one which had an early history of public awareness
and popularity. The best discussion of the history of the cave, I think, is that written
by Dwight Weaver in his book, History and Geography of Lake of the Ozarks. Dwight,
as I have written before, is a member of the Miller County Historical Society as well as a
member of our museum committee. He is recognized nationally as one of the true experts on
caves and geological formations, primitive cultures, and more recently, as a historian
regarding his three books about the Lake of the Ozarks area. His last book, Missouri
Caves In History And Legend, returns to the subject of caves and is particularly
interesting as Dwight weaves anecdotes and history together which makes for entertaining
reading. Dwight's books can be bought online from sources such as Amazon.com or or you can
purchase directly from him at:
Phone: 573 365 1171
Email: dweaver@socket.net
But now I will copy what Dwight has to say about Stark Cave/Caverns of Miller County:
Stark Caverns
Dwight Weaver
Stark Caverns/Fantasy World Caverns near Eldon
(photo 01) was opened to the public in 1950 and was in continuous
operation until recently. The cave is privately owned.
01 Stark Caverns Entrance
Very few caves have had as many names as this
cave. It's most recent names…Stark Caverns, Enchanted Caverns and Fantasy World
caverns…have all been promoted since it was opened to the public 55 years ago. But
even in its pre- commercial years, it had more than one name. It was also Aurora Cave,
Aurora Springs Cave, Aurora Caverns, Miller County Cave, and the Mammoth Cave of Miller
County. Old newspaper articles and postcards published between 1886 and 1950 document all
of these names (photo 02 and photo
03).
02 Stark Caverns Fountain of Youth
03 Stark Caverns
The road to Fantasy World Caverns is located
about one mile southwest of the junction of Highways 54 and 52 south of Eldon. The cave
can be found near the bottom of a steep hill at the end of Cave Road. The entrance, 55
feet wide and 8 to 14 feet high, is in an outcrop of rock at the head of a small valley.
One thousand to 2000 years ago, the cave was a
burial site and frequent camping area for Late Woodland Indians. When it was first seen by
European and American settlers isn't known but the presence of the cave became well known
locally after the property was purchased around 1836 by William Bunker, a veteran of the
War of 1812. He lived above the cave in a log cabin with his six children. Here his
children grew up and he died in 1869. The property was later bought by Elisha V. Stark,
whose name became permanently associated with the cave.
(Note: The genealogy website listed below as well as the newspaper article cited
later indicates that Elisha's father, Charles, was the purchaser of the farm which had the
cave.)
It was generally spoken of as "Stark's
Cave," which inspired the men who opened the cave to the public years later to name
it Stark Caverns. Although the words "cave" and "caverns" are synonyms
of one another, the public tends to regard a cavern as being larger than a cave, so the
developers used the word caverns to give it greater consumer appeal.
The cave's late nineteenth century and early
twentieth century history is intimately associated with the history of Aurora Springs.
One of the very first news stories about the cave
appeared November 11, 1886, in the Jefferson City Daily Tribune. In the article, the cave
was called "Miller County's Mammoth Cave." The story was quite fanciful and the
cave's length, grandeur and size exaggerated, but the story reveals that at that time the
cave still possessed much of it secondary beauty in the form of stalactites and
stalagmites.
What is significant here is that between 1886 and
1950, a great many of these natural adornments were broken and removed from the cave by
visitors, souvenir hunters and vandals. The scars of this damage are still visible in the
cave. This sad fact was alluded to in 1932 when Flanders Cave, less than one mile
southwest of Stark Caverns, was being opened to the public.
"Flanders Cave," said the newspaper
story, "is in its natural state within and the management will have the beautiful
display of stalagmites and stalactites protected so that they cannot be broken off and
carried away as has been done in Aurora Cave."
In Aurora Springs boom days, large parties of
people would leave Aurora Springs following an old wagon road that led south two miles to
the cave, and there spend a day picnicking and exploring the cave or attending a dance.
One such trip was described in the "Versailles Leader" on June 22, 1900, and,
while fun to read, also documents how the cave's beauty was treated. In part the article
said:
"Perusing our course we arrived at 11:00 a.m.
After a short rest, dinner was spread and the feast began…Dinner over, the always
welcome Kodak was brought into requisition and a group picture of the party was taken.
Then the cave, which was found to be the largest and most interesting we've ever seen.
Room after room was visited and many specimens and souvenirs were obtained…"
Lengthy accounts of visits to the cave appear in
early newspapers. In 1901 three local boys, one of whom…E.H. Shepherd…would grow
up to become the publisher of the Eldon Advertiser, got lost in the cave when they lost
their lights. The rescue generated considerable local publicity. The boys were unhurt.
Shepherd never tired of retelling the tale of the rescue and published it several times in
the Eldon Advertiser.
At different times between 1890 and 1920, dance
floors were built in the cave's ballroom about 300 feet inside but the floors never lasted
long due to the humidity of the cave and periodic flooding by the cave stream. The dance
floor was used for both roller skating and square dancing, winter and summer. In the
winter, cold air from the large entrance would often freeze ponded areas of the shallow
cave stream back for 50 yards or more into the cave and local youths would ice skate
inside the cave.
On May 11, 1950, Stark caverns was opened to the
public by Jim Banner and R.L. Wilkerson of Camdenton, who were involved in the development
of Bridal Cave in 1948. Also participating in the development of Stark Caverns was F.L.
Hammitt and Sons of Eldon. The following year F.L. Hammitt purchased the interest of
Banner and Wilkerson, Kenneth B. Sweet of Waynesville, was also instrumental in the cave's
development. Later, the cave was sold to Harvey and Vivian Fry of Eldon.
In 1967, during Fry's ownership, Indian burials
were discovered in the cave by two Eldon boys…Glen Bashore and Kent Buehler…who
were summer guides at the cave. About 1971, the cave's ownership changed and it was
briefly operated as Enchanted Caverns. In the mid 1970's, the cave again changed ownership
when it was purchased by Glen Whitman and David Marose of Osage Beach and their
associates. The cave underwent new interior and exterior development and was reopened in
1975 as Fantasy World Caverns. The cave is currently owned by Curtis Whitman, a son of the
late Glen Whitman.
Thanks Dwight.
One item associated with Stark Cave was an old coal lamp which Dwight Weaver, author of
the narrative above, donated to our museum. This lamp was used as a source of light for
tours of the cave many years ago (photo 04).
04 Stark Caverns Oil Lamp - 1910
Here are a couple of more photos of the cave published by Dwight (photo 05 and photo 06).
05 Inside Stark Cave
Click image for larger view
06 Inside Stark Cave 2
Click image for larger view
Charles Stark, the second owner of the farm which had the cave and whose surname
became associated with the cave for many years, was a member of one of Miller County's
early families. His family tree can be traced back to Scotland to a John Stark I who was
born in 1639. Charles' son, Elisha, was well known around Miller County. An entry in the
Tuscumbia Autogram January 2, 1913 (photo 07)
records the following:
07 Old Article
Click image for larger view
"Uncle Elisha Starks was in our city
Tuesday paying his taxes. Mr. Starks is the youngest son of a family of 19 children, all
of whom, save one, lived long enough to have a family and make a confession of religion.
The noted Starks Cave took the name from Uncle Charley Starks who was the father of this
remarkable family. Mr. Starks (Charley) was twice married, his second wife died at the
home of her son, Elisha Starks, about one year ago at the advanced age of 92 years."
Here is one genealogical window of Charles Stark's immediate family. You can click on
the highlighted areas to go forward or backward as well as get the original website URL:
Charles
STARK
10
Dec 1802 - 22 Jul 1882
ID Number: I54622
- OCCUPATION:
Stark Caverns was located on their land.
- RESIDENCE:
of Newberry Dist. SC and Morgan now Miller Co. MO
- BIRTH: 10 Dec 1802, South Carolina
- DEATH: 22 Jul 1882, Miller formerly Morgan Co. Missouri
- RESOURCES:
See: Notes [S1985] [S2809]
Father:
James STARK |
Family 1
: Sally AMOS
- MARRIAGE: 1823, Cole Co. MO
- James STARK
- Benjamin Amos STARK
- Elizabeth STARK
- Rebecca STARK
- Nancy STARK
Family 2
: Elizabeth MANES
- MARRIAGE: 13 Jun 1836, Morgan Co. Missouri
- Mary "Polly STARK
- Sarah STARK
- +Margaret STARK
- Vianna STARK
- Eliza Jane STARK
- Lewis Manes STARK
- Samuel J. STARK
- William Shelton STARK
- Martha E. STARK
- John Daniel STARK
- Permelia Ann STARK
- Elvira STARK
- Elisha Vaughan STARK
Notes
"SECOND GENERATION CHILDREN OF CHARLES AND ELIZABETH (MANES) STARK (#2): see
children's records. She married in Morgan County, Missouri, on June 13, 1836 to Charles
Stark, born December 10, 1802 in South Carolina. Charles was a widower with children (he
had married in 1823 in Cole County, Missouri, to Sally Amos, and had three daughters,
Elizabeth, Rebecca and Nancy). They resided in Morgan County until in 1860 their farm was
incorporated into Miller County. Their farm was in Franklin Township, and the present day
Stark Caverns was located on their land. Charles died in Miller County on July 22, 1882; Elizabeth
died there December 3, 1911. They had fourteen children and one hundred and thirty-one
children, but all the names are not known."
[S1985]
_Thomas STARK I_________+
| (1725 - 1802)
_Jeremiah STARK _____|
| (1749 - 1824) m 1773|
| |_Rachel Couts WILLIAMS _
| (1725 - ....)
_James STARK ________|
| (1785 - ....) |
| | _Charles KING __________+
| | | (1730 - 1789) m 1752
| |_Mary KING __________|
| (1759 - 1831) m 1773|
| |_Charity PENNINGTON ____+
| (1738 - 1776) m 1752
|
|--Charles STARK
| (1802 - 1882)
| ________________________
| |
| _____________________|
| | |
| | |________________________
| |
|_____________________|
|
| ________________________
| |
|_____________________|
|
|________________________
Sources
[S1985]
[S2809]
[S1985]
An even more complete research of the family history of the Starks' is on the internet
at this site:
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~heatonstark/genealog1.html
You will have to scroll down this long list of the Starks family ancestors to get to
the Miller County Starks forebearer, Charles Starks. When you find Charles' name you still
have to scroll a long ways to find Elisha since he was the last of Charles' nineteen
children. This genealogy seems to be very complete and includes a lot of other Miller
County Starks.
Elisha V. Stark passed away in 1940 and was buried in Dooley Cemetery, one of the
oldest cemeteries in Miller County. You can read about this cemetery in Peggy Hake's
article about James Dooley, the first Dooley in the county at this page on our own
website:
http://www.millercountymuseum.org/bios/bio_d.html
You will need to scroll about half way down the page to get to the section on James
Dooley.
No Starks in Miller County these days are associated with the cave which once had their name; however, without wanting to be too facetious, I must mention that I went to see the movie “Iron Man” this last weekend where a new Stark, Tony Stark, has become the next member of the Stark family to have his name associated with a cave. In the movie, Tony is captured by Muslim fanatics in Afghanistan and held prisoner in a cave. But Tony, being the electrical engineer genius that he is, comes bursting out of the cave as “Iron Man” and saves the world from the evil ones who chased him around the world.
In the narrative about Stark Caverns the story of Ed Shepherd and another young boy
getting lost in the cave was recounted. Ed later became editor and owner of the Eldon
Advertiser. The story of the Advertiser was published in the paper a number of years ago
which I found from a newspaper clipping in our files which did not have the exact date
although I estimate it was in the 1990's. I thought the mention of Ed in the Cave story
made an easy segue to the story of the Advertiser which is copied below:
Eldon Advertiser
The first issue of The Eldon Advertiser, Volume 1,
Number 1, was entered at the post office in Eldon on June 11, 1894 and has never missed a
publication day since. It was printed on wallpaper at one time, due to shortage or failed
arrival of newsprint, and it is said that the newspaper had to be cranked out by hand
because of failure of the press's gasoline engine at one time. Other production crises
occurred through the years but like the mail which always goes through, The Eldon
Advertiser was delivered to its subscribers each week. Founded by N.J. Shepherd (photo 08 and photo
09) and J.R. Helfrich the newspaper began
shortly after the Aurora Springs Messenger, first published in 1887, was moved to
Tuscumbia. Eldon had a population of 379 at the time.
08 Nehemiah John Shepherd with wife Permelia Ralls
09 Nehemiah John Shepherd 2
Soon after the newspaper's founding,
Helfrich's interest was bought out by Shepherd's son, Rawleigh, and daughter Maude (photo 10 and photo
11). N.J. Shepherd wrote free lance
magazine articles and wrote for the Chicago and Detroit newspapers and the St. Louis
Republic which eventually became the St. Louis Globe Democrat, in addition to editing the
Advertiser.
10 Children of Nehemiah John Shepherd
11 Children of Nehemiah John Shepherd 2
In 1902 Ed Shepherd (photo 12) bought the interests of his brother and sister and in 1904
became the sole owner of the newspaper.
12 Ed Shepherd and wife Laura Mitchell
The Advertiser was first printed on a hand
cranked press, one side of each page done at a time. Two pages of the paper, containing
"national" news and advertising were preprinted in St. Louis and two more
printed in Eldon.
All type was handset one letter at a time. A four
page press, which was still in use when the newspaper was sold in 1945, was installed in
1910. In 1915 Shepherd invested $2000.00 in an Intertype machine which cast a full line of
type at a time. Another more modern Intertype was later added.
In 1926 the Advertiser moved from its first home on
First Street, just west of Mill Street, to 16 South Maple where it remained until 1960.
On the fourth of July, 1960, the newspaper was
moved into a new building at its present location at 409 South Maple Street, where a web
fed Duplex press had been installed. It later expanded into adjacent buildings. The
present address in the telephone book is registered as 415 South Maple.
In March of 1968, the first units of the modern web
offset press that is still in use today were installed. Two more eight page printing units
were later added to bring the press up to the present 32 tab page capacity. Typesetting
progressed from hot metal through"cold type" strike on machines to photo
typesetting machines, and finally to a computer network that is capable of producing full
pages of camera ready copy on laser printers.
Ownership of the newspaper has remained in two
families for most of its 100 year history. Ed Shepherd sold The Advertiser to Mr. and Mrs.
M.C. Dionne in 1945. The Dionnes' installed a later model flat bed press and updated other
printing equipment before selling to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Winter in 1946. Wallace Vernon
became a partner in 1948 and he and his wife, Marjorie, became sole owners of the paper in
1953.
They subsequently formed Vernon Publishing, Inc.
and acquired other area newspapers.
Today, in addition to The Advertiser, Vernon
Pulishing, Inc. owns The Miller County Autogram Sentinel, The Tipton Times, The Versailles
Leader Statesman, The Morgan County Press, and The Highway Five Beacon.
After graduating from the Missouri University
School of Journalism, Dane Vernon joined the Advertiser staff in Eldon. He later moved to
Versailles to become publisher of the Versailles, Stover, Tipton and Laurie publications.
He became publisher of the Advertiser and Autogram Sentinel when he assumed presidency of
Vernon Publishing, Inc. in 1992.
Virginia Duffield, present editor of the
Advertiser, is the eleventh to hold that position in the newspapers 100 year history.
Following the Shepherds, Dionnes and Winters,
Madolyn McFarland served as editor of the newspaper for most of the years from 1953
through 1982. Dean Rea and Richard Jackson were editors during periods from 1953 through
1955 when McFarland pursued other interests.
Gordon Davidson edited the newspaper from late 1963
through late 1967.
Kim Green succeeded McFarland in late 1982 and was
succeeded by Duffield in 1987.
Moving from the Eldon area to Iberia is another interesting story recently investigated
by Waldo (Sherrill) Steen, native of Iberia who now resides in Texas. Wally remembered an
exciting event happening in the Iberia area when he was a boy in the 1940's when a glider
crashed in a field near where he lived. The story made the local newspaper (photo 13) and ever since Wally has wanted
to know more about the event, especially the details of how the glider was removed.
13 Iberia Sentinel - June 29, 1944 - Article Highlighted on Right
Click image for PDF version of the file
Recently, when he was back in Missouri for a family reunion he went to the
archives and obtained sufficient information to write the following story with photos as
well which we have uploaded to our website at this location:
http://www.millercountymuseum.org/newspapers/hopkinsfarm.html
Another airplane incident in Iberia occurred sometime in the late forties. We don't
have the details, just the photos. I am putting these photos on our site with partial
identification of the persons in the hopes that some reader may be able to supply more
details and identifications. Perhaps someone kept a newspaper clipping of the event. Peggy
Hake gave me the photos which were sent by Iva Hancock, who now lives in Springfield, Mo.
In the first photo (photo 14) is a
young man Iva thought might be Ray Howser. In the second photo (photo 15) on the right Iva thought was Don Walton and on the
left she thought the person might be Glade Baird. Iva could not identify the person in the
third photo (photo 16). If you know
anymore about these photos please let us know.
14 Ray Howser
15 Glade Baird and Don Walters
16 Unknown
Finally, I wanted to mention a memory of childhood when my grandfather, Madison Bear,
would sing me a German lullaby he learned from his father, David C. Bear. The Bears were
immigrants from Germany arriving in the U.S. in the late 1700's. The German language
survived in the home up to my great grandfather David C's time but by the time of my
grandfather English was spoken. However, my great grandfather would enjoy conversing in
German with some of the other Tuscumbia citizens of German origin, especially those of the
Kallenbach family who had come to America about a century later. My mother remembers her
grandfather, David C. conversing in German often with Ed or John Kallenbach on the steps
of the old Thompson garage in town. Royal Kallenbach told me the other day that John
didn't speak English well enough to be very confident about it, especially in legal
situations, so he asked my grandfather to translate for him once in a court case in
Tuscumbia in which John was pursuing the return of a calf in which the terms of sale were
disputed.
The lullaby mentioned above I have found in its entirety and I have placed it here with
a translation following:
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Der Vater hüt't die Schaf.
Die Mutter schüttelt's Bäumelein,
Da fällt herab ein Träumelein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Am Himmel ziehn die Schaf.
Die Sternlein sind die Lämmerlein,
Der Mond, der ist das Schäferlein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
So schenk' ich dir ein Schaf.
Mit einer goldnen Schelle fein,
Das soll dein Spielgeselle sein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Your father tends the sheep.
Your mother shakes the branches small,
Lovely dreams in showers fall.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Across the heavens move the sheep.
The little stars are lambs, I guess,
And the moon is the shepherdess.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
I'll give to you a sheep.
And it shall have a bell of gold
For you to play with and to hold.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
My mother remembered another German song which had been pretty much anglicized, but not
completely. I don't have the song in its pure German form; this is all my mother
remembers:
Mein Mudder be Doich & mein Fodder be Doich
And I bee Doicher too
We eet sower krout & we drink Schlager Beer
But dot bee Schmuting midch you.
It's sung to the tune of:
Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his tail cut short & his ears left long
Oh where, oh where, can he be?
My grandfather wasn't a beer drinker, at least when I knew him, but he sure made a lot
of sauerkraut every year.
We are making early plans for the Ice Cream Social on Saturday, June 21. I hope that
all can come to this popular event in which board member Carl McDonald ahead of time makes
buckets of home made ice cream for our guests. We are very pleased to have entertaining us
for the day the Joe Jeffries group which always performs the kind of music most popular
here, old time hill country music.
That's all for this week.
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