Volume 8, Number 2 - Winter 1983
Monett's Cave?
by Daniel J. Shelton
On a typical Sunday afternoon in the early 1900’s, one might find an adventurous young man exploring a cave in the Meadow’s estate. The Meadow’s estate was located where the Monett City Park is now situated in northern Barry County, Missouri. When M. E. Gilloiz paved several streets in Monett, he took rock from the cave entrance. He then permanently closed the cave in 1918, filling the entrance to the cave.
According to Les Mason, an octogenarian resident of Monett who explored the cave when he was a boy with a Reverend Trotter, the cave was fairly large and had running water. Roy Howerton, a Monett pharmacist, claims that the cave was just a hole in the ground. Leon Mourglia, a Monettan who lived close to the cave, remembers a time when railroader Fred Walton took a boat into the cave. Walton floated approximately one-quarter mile down the river and claimed it headed towards Pierce City, which is located about five miles northwest of Monett.
Arthur Gates and Logan McKee were probably the best known explorers of the cave. McKee was a Scout Master at the time and Gates was a Boy Scout. McKee tied a cord to a rock on the outside of the entrance. He reported that during the first few hundred feet there were ten deep dropoffs. While exploring, Mr. Gates became scared of the snakes and large bats and returned to the surface after traveling three miles, about half the distance of the cave. McKee claims he traveled to Pierce City before surfacing. McKee then returned by underground to Monett to tell about his amazing adventure.
The cave did exist at one time or another. With the different stories, even rumors that some people perished in it, one does not know what to believe. The only way to really find out what was, and still is there, is to do major excavations, find the entrance to the cave, and spelunk it!
Editor’s Note: Daniel J. Shelton’s story was entered in the 1982 Historical Essay Contest.
Plan to attend the March meeting and hear the reading of the 3 winning essays of the 1983 Historical Essay Writing Contest. Our thanks to Dr. Juanita Kirk of the S of 0 faculty for serving as judge.
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