Rural Missouri - August 2013 - (Page 8)
Hideout heaven
Meramec Caverns has gone
from an outlaw hideout to a
must-stop tourist attraction
by Diana West
photos by Alyssa Goodman
info@ruralmissouri.coop
Dill, his wife, Mary, and their children were kept busy readying and
maintaining the cave for tours by day
and dances at night and on weekends,
but they were still poor. “My great60-degree breeze invites
grandparents lived in a tent outside
visitors into its deep, dark
the cave for two years,” says the
and damp interior with its
42-year-old Turilli.
rushing waters and fantastic
By 1934, many days saw 100 tourformations. The underground wonder
ists taking the tour. It was the Depreshas an interesting history as a hideout
sion years, money was scarce and
for outlaws, a gunpowder factory durpatrons often paid in pennies.
ing the Civil War, a dance hall and the
Dill was an innovator and master
first tourist attraction on historic Route
promoter who used various advertising
66 in Stanton.
strategies to reach customers. He develSome thought Lester Dill, then 34,
oped the forerunner of the bumper
had a hole in his head when he bought
sticker — a hand-painted cardboard
a hole in the ground in 1933 with the
sign that attached with fishing line.
idea of turning it into a tourist attrac“He had employees whose job was
tion. He expanded it to include the
to attach them to every vehicle while
Stage Curtain, with its massive 70-footvisitors toured the cave,” Turilli says.
tall, 60-foot-wide and 35-foot-deep
Dill was a director for Crawford
drapery and stunning stalagmites and
Electric Cooperative, which serves
stalactites. He called it Meramec Cavthe cave. In 1949, Crawford became
erns, dubbed the area La Jolla Natural
the first electric co-op in the nation
Park and opened for business on Memoto serve a cave after Dill added 16
rial Day leading six visitors on a tour by
miles of wire, “enough to light a small
lantern.
town,” as he put it.
“I’ve been interested in caves and
He hired artist Jim Gauer to paint
rocks and nature ever since I can
barn roofs advertising Meramec Cavremember,” Lester said in 1986, recallerns along busy highways. Altogether,
ing that he had conducted cave tours
in the Meramec Valley
Jim painted 446 in 14 states — all
since he was 16.
freehand. “Initially, I used oilbased paint, but they faded
With its location along
Route 66, he soon realfast,” Jim says. He changed to
ized cars would play a major
latex paint that lasted longer
Stanton•
role in the cave’s success
and withstood the weather
but adds he still had to
and touted it as the world’s
touch them up every
only drive-in cave. He often
three years.
parked cars in the cave’s
Turilli says only 44 of
50-foot-wide by 20-foot-high entrance
the iconic signs remain today after the
to advertise that fact.
Highway Beautification Act in 1965
“Visitors who parked inside were
outlawed any new barn advertising.
known to roll up their windows when
He adds that at one time, there also
leaving to keep the cool air inside the
were signs in Germany and Japan.
car since there was no air conditionIn 1941, Dill discovered old guns,
ing then,” says Lester Turilli Jr., Dill’s
a rusty strongbox and other relics in
great-grandson who manages the cave
a previously unexplored part of the
complex today.
A
8
Visitors enjoy the stalagmites and stalactites of Meramec Caverns.
One of the barns painted to advertise Meramec Caverns stands west of Linn.
cave that were traced to Jesse James
from an 1874 train robbery at Gads
Hill. The James-Younger gang hid in
the cave after the holdup and escaped
lawmen through an underground
river that James knew about from
being there during the Civil War. Dill
advertised Meramec Caverns as James’
hideout far and wide. Now, Meramec
Caverns also owns the Jesse James
Wax Museum located roughly 10 minutes from the cave.
Lee West, 55, a tour guide for six
years, says he wanted to be a guide
since he first visited the cave on his
fifth birthday. “It held a fascination
WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP
for me.”
He says touring the cave is a generational thing. “People bring their
grandchildren today and talk about
how they were brought here when
they were a child.”
He begins the 80-minute tour at the
Ballroom that easily holds 1,000 people and where meetings are still held.
He points out Onyx Mountain, one
of the largest stalagmites in the world
at 500 feet wide and 28 feet tall, with
parts of it still growing. He explains
the Echo Room has thousands of miniscule stalactites dripping from the
ceiling called soda straws because they
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - August 2013
Rural Missouri - August 2013
Table of Contents
Comments
Columns
Hideout heaven
Mining a lead-lined history
Adrenaline adventures
Outdoors
Out of the Way Eats
High-flying fun
Hearth and Home
Blood-stained dawn
Swarm chasers
Around Missouri
Marketplace
Neighbors
Just4Kids
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