Missouri's buried treasure: Meramec Caverns - part 2

July 17, 11:25 PMOzarks Travel ExaminerPatsy Bell Hobson

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Ozarks Travel Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Meramec River, offers great fishing and floating.

Meramec a cool road trip for summer

Meramec Caverns - part 2

Fact and fiction about Meramec Cavern’s most notorious visitor will send you galloping to Jesse James Wax Museum in Stanton. Jesse James used these caverns as a hideout, and at least once, escaped capture by swimming from the cave’s underground river into the Meramec river.

The Jesse James Museum costs $5. Owner Francena tells about a 100-year-old man who turned up in Stanton in 1948 who she says was Jesse James. See Jesse's six-shooter and compare the photos. If you are doing the Route 66 road trip, you must stop here, as travelers have been doing for decades. While you are there compare the ears.

If fishing is your thing, this stop is paradise. Fish for black crappie, channel catfish, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, paddlefish, rainbow trout, brown trout, rock bass, smallmouth bass, walleye, and white crappie.

Meramec Greenway has a complete list of river access points.One of the states most beautiful fishing and floating rivers, at 220 miles, the Meramec river is the longest free-flowing waterway in the state. Meramec Spring is the fifth largest spring in Missouri.

The severe drought in 1941 not only dropped the rivers and stream levels above ground, but the water table itself also depleted. Before the drought, the main level of Meramec Caverns seemed to 'dead end' at a wall with a small pool of water spilling out below.

With the drop of the water table, the pool of water below the wall receded nearly six inches and allowed a cool, breeze to push into the cave between the wall's bottom and top of the water. Owner Lester Dill elected to go under the wall, through the water, and see what was on the other side. Once past the wall, Les was opened to yet another large area of branching networks and more caves. This was when Les found the artifacts traceable to the infamous Jesse James and the cave was named the “Jesse James Hideout.”

Les Dill was responsible for a those barn roof paintings advertising Meramec Caverns. It was also his strategy to tie signs on automobile bumpers while visitors were inside taking the tour. So when you came to Mermac cave, tip your hat or not, at the ghost of Dill as the father of the modern day bill board and the bumpersticker.

Meramec Caverns is near the town of Stanton, 55 miles west of St. Louis, three miles south of I-44 exit 230. There’s a small café, gift shop and a motel on the grounds, which spread along the banks of the beautiful and scenic Meramec River. The Jesse James Museum is just off the I-44 exit.

1135 Route W, Stanton, MO 63079, Web Site , Phone: 573-468-3166, Fax: 573-468-2633

Hours: Nov.-Feb., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; March and Oct., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; April and Sep., 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; May-June, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; July-Labor Day, 8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

Latitude: 38° 15.828, Longitude: -92° 54.757

Read More: Missouri's Buried Treasure: Meramec Caverns Part 1 

Part 4 Missouri’s Route 66 Great American Road Trip - Springfield

Missouri's Route 66 Great American Road Trip - Camping

More Ozarks Information: To receive updates when new Ozarks travel information is published, return to the top of this article and click on “Subscribe to Email.” Your email address will not be used for any other purpose. Patsy also has a gardening blog: Oh, Grow Up!