Thursday, June 16, 2011
Caves as the last refuge
Interesting piece by Sam Anderson in UK Independent, imagining the life of Sheikh Osama in his cave which disappointingly turned out to be a messy urban house.
Anderson makes one big point: Caves are the last habitable places on Earth that aren't visible to Google's all-seeing telescreen. I'd noticed this lacuna when trying to Google some of the caves I explored in Kansas, but hadn't thought of it in this light.
Caves were routine habitations in the 1800's in frontier areas and some were still used well into the '30s. Kansas has lots of undramatic and untouristy little caves in limestone bluffs, some on the banks of present rivers, others in bluffs long ago left behind by meandering creeks. (Of course there's also the dramatic SubTropolis drive-in cave in KCMO, a full-fledged underground industrial park.)
I remember one cave not far from the Mill, which had been expanded into some kind of car-repair shop of 1920 vintage. It was part of an unnamed former settlement around a Kansas River bridge at the end of Rosencutter Road. When I was exploring in the '60s the shop-cave was long abandoned but intact, and the bridge was still there but closed off. Now both are gone, though you can still see a trace of road coming from the south end of the bridge.
I've marked the bluff with a sort of yellow scratch, and the arrow points to where the shop-cave was. Frustratingly, Google's Street View drives south on Rosencutter, almost reaching this point, but turns east onto Moehlman Road. ¶ 6:03 PM
Anderson makes one big point: Caves are the last habitable places on Earth that aren't visible to Google's all-seeing telescreen. I'd noticed this lacuna when trying to Google some of the caves I explored in Kansas, but hadn't thought of it in this light.
Caves were routine habitations in the 1800's in frontier areas and some were still used well into the '30s. Kansas has lots of undramatic and untouristy little caves in limestone bluffs, some on the banks of present rivers, others in bluffs long ago left behind by meandering creeks. (Of course there's also the dramatic SubTropolis drive-in cave in KCMO, a full-fledged underground industrial park.)
I remember one cave not far from the Mill, which had been expanded into some kind of car-repair shop of 1920 vintage. It was part of an unnamed former settlement around a Kansas River bridge at the end of Rosencutter Road. When I was exploring in the '60s the shop-cave was long abandoned but intact, and the bridge was still there but closed off. Now both are gone, though you can still see a trace of road coming from the south end of the bridge.
I've marked the bluff with a sort of yellow scratch, and the arrow points to where the shop-cave was. Frustratingly, Google's Street View drives south on Rosencutter, almost reaching this point, but turns east onto Moehlman Road. ¶ 6:03 PM
