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 Veruth
  
Location: Missouri
Gender: Male
 |  | The Carthage Underground
< on 12/9/2008 11:56 PM >
|  | | | Since I am a lazy ass I'll let Wikipedia introduce the location.
"The Carthage Underground is a collection of marble quarries in Carthage, Missouri, most of which is presently owned by Americold Logistics. They currently hold 43,000,000 square feet (4,000,000 m2) of the quarry, much of which is occupied by warehouses or factories, primarily for food production. The total area of the underground is difficult to trace, but is rumored to stretch as far as Joplin, Missouri (roughly 20 miles (30 km) from Carthage). It is frequently visited by Urban Explorers due to the decrepit abandoned quarries mixed seamlessly with working underground factories and warehouses. Many of the local industries rely heavily upon the facilities to store foodstuffs there. It is also oddly present with an ecological system of its own, with underground lakes hosting turtles, fish and various other species. This could be seen as remarkable given that the quarries were utterly devoid of life before the mining industry."
It is a fairly well known site, so I expected at least a few threads about it here, but wasn't able to find any.
I met up with a friend and local explorer by the name of Kyro for this expedition.
The first exploration of the night (other than a few interesting but otherwise unremarkable drains) was a man made storage cave currently used by one of the large factories in the area. Normally we would have headed straight to one of the more interesting locations, but the padlock had recently disappeared from the doors so we thought it was worth a look while it was still open.
The doors:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02366.jpg
From the inside:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02357.jpg
The room in it's entirety:
After wandering around taking pictures for a while we decided to head out to an old fallout shelter Kyro had discovered about a week before. Getting there involved sneaking past a rail yard and walking down the tracks for a mile or so to a disused driveway with "No Trespassing" signs strung across it.
The bridge and railyard:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02368.jpg
The entrance:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02374.jpg
An old truck just outside that has clearly been flooded at some point.
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02383.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02392.jpg
Getting into this place was a little tricky but after a while we managed to find a nondestructive way in. Turns out the place is a section of limestone/marble mine that has been walled off and used for storage by a manufacturing company. There must have been millions of dollars of old machinery in there. We walked around for hours and still didn't see all of it.
Machinery:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02432.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02419.jpg
I'm pretty sure this one manufactured mattress springs:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02495.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02446.jpg
Control panel:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02423.jpg
One of four forklifts. (yes it runs)
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02408.jpg
Apparently they made automotive stuff too:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02507.jpg
Trying to be artsy:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02505.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02499.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02497.jpg
An underground semi trailer:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02409.jpg
More machinery inside:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02483.jpg
Me:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02441.jpg
After wandering around this area for a while, we realized there was another door set into the back of the cavern. The high water mark on the brickwork shows just how flooded the caverns can get.
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02479.jpg
Turns out it led into the underground proper.
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02450.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02475.jpg
I actually don't have many pictures of the underground because by the time we found the door my camera battery was pretty drained and I realized I had forgotten the spare.
This is what happens when you dump trash in a sinkhole:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02470.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02464.jpg
Mining equipment of some sort:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02473.jpg
To the surface:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02466.jpg
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Country exp
 
Location: Evansville, IN
Gender: Male
Bah, Shit Will Buff Out.
| |  | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 1 on 12/10/2008 1:16 AM >
| | | | thats a great place! Cant figure why you would store that type of equipment where it floods though.
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Assistance
"Run Away! It's an... um... Run away!"
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 2 on 12/10/2008 1:55 AM >
| | | | This sounds like the best UE spot that I have ever read about, let alone explored. I'm surprised I have never heard of it, but then again, I don't live in Illinois.
Sometimes I wonder if my obsession with flashlights led to my interest in Urban Exploration, or conversely, if my
interest in exploration led to my flashlight obsession |
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SubLunar
Location: St Louis
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 3 on 12/10/2008 3:40 AM >
| | | | badass
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Veruth
Location: Missouri
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 4 on 12/10/2008 4:17 AM >
| | | | I really wish I had gotten better pictures of the underground. We forgot both the tripod and bigass spotlight so dust was a real problem when trying to take pictures. Also worth mention is the fact that there is a whole level to this place we didn't even find. We only expected to find the fallout shelter and just look for the underground so we weren't as well prepared as we really should have been and only wandered around in the underground proper for an hour or two since it was around 4 am by the time we left.
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bash
  
Location: Wisconsin/ Milwaukee/ Menomonie
Gender: Male
light up the darkness
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 5 on 12/11/2008 2:03 AM >
| | | | holy smokes, If I am ever in the area ( In fact I may even make a special trip ) I am definitely checking this place out. It is easily the coolest place I have ever come across on this site. I personally love underground and tunnels. ( but have none around here ) Amazing post, if you ever go back, I hope you post your future shots here!
You cannot begin to live until you cease to just exist. |
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secret
Location: St. Paul, MN
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 6 on 12/11/2008 6:28 AM >
| | | | That looks like an awesome place! We have them here in St. Cloud here as well.
Some girls should just be happy they were invited to the prom.. |
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Esoterik
Location: Kansas City
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 7 on 12/11/2008 6:10 PM >
| | | | That's great!
“You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.” |
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Veruth
Location: Missouri
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 8 on 12/12/2008 1:00 AM >
| | | | I'm planning on going back within the next few days if I can.
I'll definitely bringing more light and a tripod this time so hopefully I can get some shots that better show just how cool this place is.
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Slim Jim
Noble Donor
Location: St. Paul, MN
Gender: Male
Maze is 100% done now!!! Someday when it's -10 out and the generators won't start I might upload th
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 9 on 12/12/2008 2:54 AM >
| | | | Large underground quarries like that are aalll over the place in Kansas City, and many are easily accessible. Fun places to explore, but most of them look the same all over the place, level and room-and-pillar design.
I want to be different. But I want to be different just like everybody else, because if I really were different, everybody would think I was crazy and weird.
Iowa is Minnesota's bitch. There's an art to pooping. |
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Veruth
Location: Missouri
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 10 on 12/12/2008 3:24 AM >
| | | | Yeah, as cool as a huge underground space like that is, the scenery doesn't change much. However, this one seems to have a lot more to see than the other one I've explored. It also requires a lot less protective gear.
I'm thinking about taking bikes into this one both to cover more ground and because underground biking sounds awesome. From what I hear, the bottom level is also flooded enough to raft around in, so there is a bit of variety there as well.
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Assistance
"Run Away! It's an... um... Run away!"
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 11 on 12/12/2008 3:33 AM >
| | | | What did the inside of the fallout shelter look like?
Sometimes I wonder if my obsession with flashlights led to my interest in Urban Exploration, or conversely, if my
interest in exploration led to my flashlight obsession |
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Veruth
Location: Missouri
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 12 on 12/15/2008 5:19 AM >
| | | | The inside of the fallout shelter was the big cavern full of machinery. They basically walled off a section of the old quarry and slapped a fallout shelter sign on it.
I went back today and explored what I'm pretty sure is a separate section of the underground. I'll get pictures up at some point.
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bash
Location: Wisconsin/ Milwaukee/ Menomonie
Gender: Male
light up the darkness
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 13 on 12/15/2008 4:04 PM >
| | | | sounds awesome man. If there is a big enough area to raft through, it just sounds like an amazing time. I mean, honestly, where else can you go to get that kind of excitement these days. Can't wait for pics!
You cannot begin to live until you cease to just exist. |
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mowthelawn
Location: last one out of michigan please turn off the lights
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 14 on 12/16/2008 2:24 AM >
| | | | a few years ago i read about mines like that being used as underground mushroom farms. i wonder an area of that one is used like that?
i have to admit that a picture of someone in a mine on a raft would put said person in the running for uer "legend" status.
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Veruth
Location: Missouri
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 15 on 12/16/2008 5:27 AM >
| | | | Actually the underground rafting isn't my idea, but it sounds awesome so I want to try it.
I got the idea here:
http://underground...ound_with_reporter
Trip report #2 incoming.
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Veruth
Location: Missouri
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 16 on 12/16/2008 6:09 AM >
| | | | Kyro and I went back to Carthage this past weekend to check out some more of the underground, but first we found a distraction.
On the way to the underground we noticed a building that seemed to be abandoned. Turns out it is a marble processing place for the marble that used to come out of the quarry.
One of two big marble cutting machines in the building:
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02540.jpg
Sub-par pictures of the machinery used to run the cutters.
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02550.jpg
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02551.jpg
My big tool (Yes, I'm a horrible person):
http://i66.photobu...age/DSC02546-2.jpg
Eventually we made our way outside where there was a bigass crane we had somehow failed to notice on the way in:
Well, apparently neither of us are very smart because we decided to climb the thing.
Did I mention it was windy? You can kinda see how quickly the clouds were moving in this picture. (it was a 10 second exposure)
http://i66.photobu...thage/DSC02555.jpg
So by the time the two of us made it to the top of this thing we were shaking and couldn't do much but lay flat and stare through the grating that made up the floor of the platform. It doesn't look that tall at all until you actually get on top of the thing 
Unfortunately, the wind was blowing the thing around way too much to get any good pictures from the top.
We eventually made it back to the bottom and had a nice conversation composed mostly of some variation of the phrase "holy shit!" until we finally decided to continue exploring. We would have gotten some more pictures of the area at the bottom of the crane, but during our exploration of the control room we discovered that the crane is still functional and that it is powered by a nice loud motor. We shut the thing off and moved on pretty quickly after that.
I guess I'm going to have to finish this post tomorrow because I just realized that it is past midnight and I'm supposed to be at work around 6 am. Hopefully there is too much snow for me to make it in, but we'll see.
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Freak
Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP.
Gender: Male
Hypocrite
| |  | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 18 on 12/22/2008 3:44 PM >
|  | | | Nice pictures, looks like an interesting place. There are limestone mines like that in a few different areas of the US and all over Europe, looks like a pretty standard room-and-pillar style.
Here's one type of musrhoom farm, a bunch of plastic bags full of manure that the mushrooms grow in:
http://freak.minim...mages/P1220126.jpg
I hear if you eat enough cave mushrooms, you start to hallucinate playground equipment:
http://freak.minim...mages/p1220125.jpg
[last edit 12/22/2008 3:47 PM by Freak - edited 1 times]
Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 |
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bash
Location: Wisconsin/ Milwaukee/ Menomonie
Gender: Male
light up the darkness
| | Re: The Carthage Underground
<Reply # 19 on 12/22/2008 4:58 PM >
| | | | By all means, saturate away, love the underground, love to see more. and as for
I hear if you eat enough cave mushrooms, you start to hallucinate playground equipment: |
I believe a round of applause is in order.
You cannot begin to live until you cease to just exist. |
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