caves in southwest kansas

[glennon40]

can anyone give me any help my great great grandparents once stayed in a cave in southwest kansas. I was hoping someone might have any inof on the cave around there.

[Rob in KS]

Kansas isn't exactly cave country, but I wonder if it's near the Arkansas river. I'll be watching this thread to see if you get any responses. In central KS, there is a place called a "cave". People dug into a rock face to make a room. Not exactly a cave but cool none the less.

[stoney56]

Could it be possible it was an abandoned dugout.

[glennon40]

no not a dug out. said to be a big front but a small tunnel. they stayed there a few weeks on their way west.

[Digger]

History tells of caves north of Dodge City on the Horse Thief Canyon draw. Back in the late 1800's early 1900's it was said the bank in Dodge City was robbed and the Sheriff chased the thief into Horse Thief Canyon just north of dodge. It is said he hid in a cave and the towns people were very mad because instead of going in to get the robber, the sheriff tossed in some dynamite and blew the cave up robber and money.

My great granddad moved just south of Dodge City in 1885. My grandmother has said there was a cave on his property they used as a barn. It was 2 miles south and 2 mile west of dodge.

[glennon40]

it was said to be big in the front wish i had more to go on . I'll try to dig up more on it but not much about it in the family just that they stayed there. I would like to see it but I live in illinois.

[Burdie]

West of Medicine Lodge the Spanish stayed in a cave on their travels. A Spanish helmet was found on a ranch west of the city.
Burdie

[shep]

There are a number of caves in Barber county, around Medicine Lodge and west to the Sun City area. This is red hills area and very pretty country. Most of these caves are small (as are most Kansas caves). Were they traveling on a main trail? Do you have any more details that would help locate this cave? There are over 800 documented caves in Kansas, but most are crawl through types, very small. A few are larger shelter type caves. I am familiar with the general area, and have some knowledge of caves.

[glennon40]

It was more of shelter like.

[dumpdigger]

I used to live in Southwest Kansas. I have been in quite a few caves west of Medicine Lodge and Coldwater area. If you don't know the trail they took you are really looking for a needle in a haystack. There are lots of caves out there.

[Rob in KS]

What time period was this? Would they have been on the Santa Fe trail? If there was just a little more info in your family history, it might narrow it down some.

An interesting quest....keep looking.

[glennon40]

Was around 1897-1900 was a big enough for two familys to stay at. Thought someone might have found relics around a cave from that era.












T

[rebelLT]

I grew up in Western Kansas and remember seeing old caves dug into the bluffs along the Smokey Hill River and its associated watershed area. I don’t know if you have ever been to Western or Southwestern Kansas. A big clue here is that, other than the valleys formed by erosion, the terrain is mostly FLAT and featureless. The flat terrain gives way, in places, to river valleys in which the elevation drops by 20 to 100 feet and the erosion in these places has exposed the limestone rock levels forming bluffs, or cliffs, along the waterways. The limestone is soft compared to other rock and can be dug into fairly easily. Along the Arkansas and Smokey hill rivers caves, both natural and manmade, were fairly common. If you know a general geographic location where your family was it should be possible to locate the cave area by finding the associated river basin nearby.
Another factor to take into consideration is WHERE you family was "heading" west to. There were several trails that crossed Kansas during that time period. The Oregon trail, for example, never really even came close to what we would now consider "southwest" kansas and the cave might actually be in Northeast Kansas. Also, early maps of the "Kansas Territory" show this territory to include what is now the state of Colorado. Here is a link for early Kansas Trails. http://www.vlib.us/old_west/trails.html#Cherokee Figure out what trail they would have traveled and what georaphic areas they would have crossed that contained the topography to have caves. This is all the help I can give you

[dumpdigger]

People headed west all across the state. I used to live in western Kansas and they said maybe 100 wagons a day came through town during the 1890s. A farmer south of town said that his Grandpa said the same thing down where they lived. A lot of people went west on trails that were really nameless. Like Rebelt said, there were a lot of man made caves in Kansas. There were no trees so people made dugouts and sod houses. That was the only building material. That is also why they twisted up grass and picked up buffalo chips to burn for heat, there was nothing else.

[Rob in KS]

I found this while poking around on the net.

The Kansas Speleological Society has catalogued at least 528 caves in 37 Kansas counties.
Commanche County has at least 128 caves
Barber County has at least 117 caves.

[dgerst]

I've lived in Comanche County 25 years. The Spanish helmet was supposedly found somewhere around Sun City in the '30s. The story I've heard doesn't mention it being found in a cave though. There are plenty of caves around here however. A few are fairly large.

[dgerst]

glennon 1,
From your description the cave sounds like it could be Big Gyp Cave, AKA Pope's Cave, in the Southeastern part of Comanche County. It's has a big entrance facing East that narrows into a small tunnel.

[lastleg]

Can anyone verify a cave/tunnel running N - S on the Crooked Creek at
Meade, home of the Dalton Bros Musuem. Some researchers believe that
a stagecoach loaded with gold is way back in caved-in tunnel. One of them
has been in the natural part, must be underwater at times, and reported
seeing a wagon wheel but could not reach it. I would like to know if this
legend has been proven untrue. J. James researchers may be familiar with
this story. lastleg

[glennon40]

Thank you all for the info I am grateful for all your help.