Lockport Cyber Museum of Rocks, Minerals & Fossils
We're talking about the real Lockport Cave. Not the hydraulic raceway along the north bank of the Erie Barge Canal near the Lockport Locks. That's another story in Lockport History and it has been pretty much solved. The case we're working on here is still open. It is the story of the huge Lockport Cave under a portion of the city to the south of the canal, in a general area topped by East Avenue north perhaps to High Street and centered around, quite appropriately, Cave Street.
Interest in the Lockport cave as a tourist attraction goes as far back as the 1880's when The Lockport Cave Company was formed to explore and exploit what was thought by some to be a potential 8th wonder of the world. Although the cave extensive over a very wide area, the two spots mentioned most likely to enter it have been identified as a spot about 100 feet east of Cave Street on the south side of East Avenue--and---a spot about just west of the current Lockport Post Office---the former Elk's Temple. For various reasons down through the years attempts to enter the cave have failed due to underground barriers or waning interest.
Bill Shaeffer, who was born in 1881 at his parents house 138 East Ave. former site of the Elks club and site of the present Post Office remembered the cave being accessible from the basement of that residence. In the 50's John Keryk and others tried to get City Council interested in gaining access as a tourist attraction. It was accessed, although I wasn't part of the group which went in. I believe I remember John relating from someone who did get in that it was quite small and rather unspectacular, with lots of mud filling the low spots in the floor and quite unusable as a tourist attraction.
I was active in trying to locate the cave in the late 50's, but moved to Michigan in 69. There were one or two cohorts participating in the effort. One I think was John Galarneau and maybe Ron LaFleur. Clarence Lewis was at the attempts. There was one minor effort and the other more involved.
The entrance was supposedly in a ravine at or
near the north end of Cave Street (thus the name Cave Street). The cave
entrance was supposed to be in the west side of the ravine. The area supposedly used
to be a city dump (according to Clarence) and the ravine was filled in.
It could potentially be the route (the ravine) for the head of 18 Mile Creek which goes
underground near the Union Hall. Harry Buckholtz (now living in Lewiston) has
penetrated that drain the furthest. It was also felt (erroneously), that
access to the cave could be made from the underground drain which goes under the canal
near the canal boatyard. In one house on the north side of East Avenue,
just west of Cave St. the owner thought he felt drafts in the basement that should
not be there. As such and having a dirt floor he had us do an excavation in his
basement.
If I remember correctly, the owner, Clarence Lewis, and John Galarneau with me in the 'hole' posed for a picture in the Union Sun & Journal. Needless to say we did not find anything. The more major attempt was on the property on the west side of the Elks. The owner, ''bitten by the bug'', hired a drilling rig to drill holes into the bed rock hoping to find an underground opening. If accomplished more serious excavation would be made to permit human entry. This event also made the paper with Clarence and the owner having their picture in the paper. Alas nothing was found or I would not be picking my brain like this.
There was a group way back when (1883) which formed The Lockport Cave Co. and sold shares (a copy of which Clarence had) to raise money to develop the cave which was supposedly described as one of the world wonders. Obviously more than a 'slight' exaggeration. According to one of Clarence's weekly Lockport/Niagara County history columns, at least once the cave flooded (from the ravine) and filled with debris ending the cave as a potential tourist attraction.
In passing I should mention that Clarence Lewis was an extraordinary person. As a kid I was privileged to be part of that circle which also included Dick McCarthy. This group had an amazing (extraordinary) amount of data with dates often down to the day when it occurred. One other rumor about the 'cave', supposedly when the Police Station was being built on Pine St. workmen broke into an opening during excavation. Supposedly the opening made was not large enough to enter. Dr. Buckholtz & I have done exploration in a couple of caves in the Niagara gorge at Lewiston. He can attest that caves in Lockport Dolomite, although interesting tend to be 'somewhat' miserable.
I have been interested in the history of Lockport for quite a while now. Three of my friends and I (all of us in our late teens, early 20s) have explored many mysteries of Lockport and stumbled across the 18 Mile Creek tunnel last summer.
I remember taking a look at a map of Lockport and seeing 18-Mile Creek go through the
county (golf) course. I also knew that the creek dipped under the canal right near
the State yard (east of Upson Park). I put the two together and realized that the
creek must go underground somewhere for quite a ways. So we checked it out and
realized that it goes under right across the street from the UAW, and comes out
right at the point in which it dips under the canal. We planned to travel the entire
length of the tunnel, beginning at the UAW and exiting right at the spillway.
Point Of Entry
This is the point where 18-Mile Creek goes underground. The location is
across from the UAW Hall off Vine and Remick Parkway East.
We thought ahead, and realized we wouldn't be able to get out of the spillway when we reached the end, so we tied a rope to the valve shaft at the spillway to hoist ourselves out once we reached that point. We headed up to the UAW at about 9:30pm on a Saturday night with our flashlights, waterproof boots, and a car jack, to pry open the bars over the entrance of the tunnel. We entered a 4ft by 4ft cement culvert that looked to be not more than 20 years old. We traveled into the darkness, winding to the left until we couldn't see the entrance any longer.
The water was about 3 inches deep and flowing quite rapidly. We traveled for about 15 minutes hunched over in the 4 ft tunnel until we came to a change in the tunnel. Now the tunnel, creating an arch, was 12ft wide and 12ft at the top of the arch. All of us, standing up straight in relief from being hunched over for so long, continued on. The water at our feet, now maybe 5 inches deep, was still flowing rapidly in the direction we were headed.
The walls were now stone, and looked to have been built roughly 100 years ago. We continued until we came to a cascading waterfall, at which we stood at the very top of. The waterfall consisted of several tiers, and probably stood a total of 50 feet high. We carefully made our way to the bottom, surprisingly not slipping or getting hurt in the process. We continued on after taking some pictures of the beautiful waterfall, and then came to another change in the tunnel. The tunnel now became a round steel culvert about 4 feet in diameter.
As we continued through, we were a little bit worried about the structural soundness of the culvert, as it appeared to have been crushed about 6 inches from the force of the ground above. We continued quietly though, so as to not disturb the structure, and then entered into the last part of the tunnel, which looked the same as the very beginning - a square 4ft by 4ft tunnel, roughly 20 years in age. We reached the end, and saw the rope we had thrown down nearly an hour before. We all made our way up the rope, and went home very proud that night.
Possible
Entry To Lockport Cave? The view is underground and at this point the
explorered noted an area that could be the long-sought entry to The Lockport Cave.
A few things that stick out in my mind still, is the eerie sound of the cars hitting the manholes above at the surface, and the abundance of toilet paper scattered throughout the tunnel system. There is a cave book that can be found at the Historical Society that claims an entrance to the Lockport Caves can be found about 20 feet before the waterfalls, but we have yet to go back in and look for it.
I did some research on this mysterious culvert and actually found out that the
waterfalls we encountered actually run below Exchange Street, and are actually directly
under the car "tunnel" that you go under when driving down the Exchange Street
hill. That "tunnel" is actually a bridge for the train tracks
above, and before the street was there, was actually a bridge over 18 Mile Creek. I
found this quite interesting that most people think that tunnel is for cars, when actually
it was a bridge for a creek that was covered up by a road.
The adventure was a great one, and I would love to do it again. Maybe next
summer...
J. Walling
October 2001
I just read your webpage, on The Lockport Cave and found it rather interesting. A few
years back I did some research on the cave at the Niagara county historians office and
found a rather lengthy account of two explorers that explored the cave for nearly two
miles. This was back in the late 1800's if my memory serves me correctly. After two miles
the cave showed no sign of getting smaller. Also, a few years back, I went to the canal
museum, and the curator there told me that there was one remaining entrance... in the
basement of Montondo's, and another possible entrance in the building at the corner of
Cave St. and East Avenue (East side of Cave St.)
It's a shame that the cave isn't open. The man made hydraulic race has drawn quite a bit
of attention to itself. If the cave was open to the public it could become a quite popular
attraction and bring some tax dollars to the city. I wonder if Mayor Sullivan realizes the
potential of the cave? It could give a new definition to Lockport.
Alex Ranaldi
Lockport Resident
I remember lots of activity at the little creek that flowed along on the other side of Walnut Street, finally disappearing into a rather large culvert at Remick Parkway, near the present United Auto Workers HQ on Walnut and Vine St.
One time I went through a breech in the culvert at Remick Parkway with two of my friends at the time, Billy Roberts and Neil Burrows. Billy lived over on Erie Street, so it must have been when I was going to Emmet Belknap. Anyway, we ventured in with flash lights and walked in there all the way to the canal. I remember going underneath Cave Street and East Avenue and seeing through manhole covers the shadows of cars going by. When we got to the canal, it was time to turn back because there was a very steep drop that looked like it would be impossible to climb back up if we went down.
The climax to this adventure was that toilets actually flushed directly into this underground passage, and sure enough, one flushed right on Billy Roberts on our way back. Not pleasant at all, since the contents included a "Number 2"! It is a wonder that we all didn't catch typhoid fever or dysentery from that trip. We were not inclined to repeat the adventure!
That my enthusiasm concerning the cave may not color the matter of location, I quote verbatim from the 1921 Union-Sun:
"For years the cave was the scene of adventure for the youth of Lockport and there are many now living who recall the mouth of same. The Eighteen Mile Creek, originating in the Town of Royalton, followed a ravine through the south-eastern section of the city, making an abrupt turn to the north just west of what is now Pound Street. It was during this period that the cave was explored the most. In later years the Village of Lockport erected a stone culvert at East Avenue. This was not large enough to carry the waters of the spring and the cave took the surplus waters. Through the years of deposit of mud and silt, the cave filled rapidly at its mouth and it was the purpose of removing this silt and exploring the cave that the Lockport Cave Company was formed in 1883."
The group referred to issued stock in a capital amount of $100,000 for the project. The mouth of the cave was located a few feet south of the street line of East Avenue and about 100 feet east of Cave Street. As work began to enter the cave, work was stopped. One report has it that the company officers felt the project too large for the money on hand.
Stories through the years have parts of the cave being used for everything from a hide-out for desperadoes to a secret sub-surface hidey hole for slaves along the Underground Railroad. Historical research can confirm none of these stories.
Probably the last explorers to make a serious effort to enter the cave were those associated with John Keryk, Clarence Lewis, and that group from back in the 1960's. With more sophisticated geological instruments available today cave exploration could be enhanced and perhaps a third entrance could be established --- one where a build up of mud and construction debris has not made entry a near impossible task for those with modest means.
The Lockport Home Page is looking for other ideas on this continuing mystery in the geological history of Lockport. If you have a contribution write: Curator@Lockport-NY.com