Subterranean Twin Cities

By Greg Brick

Book Overview

Don't try this at home--read the book instead (it smells better).

We tend to send things underground that we are not interested in ever seeing again. Sewage. Garbage. In the past, we have used the underground to age such provisions as cheese and beer. In Subterranean Twin Cities, geologist, historian, and urban speleologist Greg Brick takes us on an adventurous, educational, and--thankfully--sanitary tour beneath the streets and into the myriad tunnels, caves, and industrial spaces that make up the Twin Cities' fascinating and surprisingly vast underground landscape.

In this groundbreaking tour, the first of its kind of the Twin Cities, Brick mines the stories that lie below the city surface. Beginning with an accessible history on the geology of the area--including the giant cone-shaped mollusk Endoceras, whose thirteen-foot-long fossils are found in the Mississippi gorge--Brick guides us into a series of astounding firsthand expeditions. We follow him into St. Paul's historic Carver's Cave, with its stories of sunken treasure; through the many caves constructed for brewing, cheese ripening, and mushroom farming; and into the world of nineteenth-century show caves for tourists. We even find ourselves in the "Shangri-la" of urban caves: the extensive Schiek's Cave seventy-five feet beneath the busy streets of downtown Minneapolis.

From spending the onset of Y2K in Carver's Cave (just in case) to long hours wading in underground rivers, Brick proves himself a knowledgeable, wry, and daring guide. Subterranean Twin Cities shines a headlamp (with extra batteries, of course) into the captivating labyrinths beneath the Twin Cities and reminds us that what we see aboveground is really only half of the story.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816645973
• ISBN13: 9780816645978
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Blueprint for caving history around the twin cities

While many of these caves are now inaccessible, I found this book to be super fascinating since I was previously unaware of the rich cave history that lay beneath the surface of greater St. Paul and Minneapolis. Greg Brick takes a scientific and historical approach to explain the geology of the region, but he also has anecdotal experiences from his younger days sneaking about through caves. Although Gregg Brick is not without criticisms from other cave explorers (some people claim he took anecdotes from them and acted as if they were his own experiences in his book, and some people blame him for some of the caves being closed off for science / safety reasons), I did find his educational approach useful. It's good groundwork to learn, but it's also important to note this book is all told from his perspective, so the opinions / anecdotes may be subject to his own biases.