Hi goverton. I'm glad to see you are not dissuaded by the naysayers. I think you are right on target with your thoughts that it is KGC-related. Here is a quote from our Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery group that should help explain who constructed this corral and cellar.
~Texas Jay
***
From: "Jesse James and the Lost Cause" by Jesse Lee James, Published
by Pageant Press, New York, 1961, pages 34 & 35.
"Yet another branch of our secret army was a corp of engineers that
could build bridges, build rock buildings, and do most anything.
They could and did construct secret underground passages right under
bustling cities. They built secret tunnels down under Nashville and
Memphis, Tennessee, St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri,
Lawrence, Kansas and under Pueblo and Colorado City, Colorado, and
other towns; too many to name right now. These secretly constructed
tunnels, rooms, escape routes and storage rooms underneath the
surface of the ground were built without Yankee troopers and Federal
detectives ever finding out they were being made by well trained and
experienced workmen.
"Even in that day, when men were working for a dollar or a dollar and
a half per day for ten and twelve hours labor, we were paying our
men, for mining and tunneling, a wage rate of ten dollars per day.
"How did we do it?
"Well, I'll tell you how. Most generally, we would start tunnels
which would connect some of our business houses, such as our own
saloons, gambling houses, livery stables and even the jailhouses
would connect. Because our men were in the offices of public
officials, such as mayors, sheriffs, marshals, congressmen, senators,
school teachers, and principals, tunnels were down and under our
breweries, distilleries, and schools, and with the excuse that beer
needed to be aged, we had to age our whiskey in charred kegs.
"Some of our relay stations and even ranch and farm houses were
almost built like forts, and had tunnels down and under them
connecting the houses underground to the barns and escape routes, or
hatches in and out. We had to have at least two entrances, or means
of entry, or escape.
"So many places advertised across the country, `Jesse James' Cave'!
That is bunk! Yes, we may have had to use a few caves here and there
to hold our horses, or even to sleep in occasionally, that would be
true enough, but if there was only one entrance, and we were stupid
enough to get ourselves cut off, that would have been bad. If we
used a cave with only one entry, you could be sure that we kept a
constant guard posted around outside all the time. If the cave
should have two or more entrances, then we would feel safe, and use
it over and over again," said Jesse.
***
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery
