EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third report in an occasional series about the famed Lockport Cave and the flood of rumors that persist about underground Lockport.
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The Union-Sun & Journal articles and the “wanted” posters are working! I got an excited call a few Sundays ago in response to the underground Lockport articles, stating the entrance to the Lockport Cave is easily found and the cavern has cave fish and blind shrimp.
A location was given: on the escarpment, just off Vine Street. This site, which will have to remain hidden because it is on private property, was previously identified as a historic mineral spring.
Scott Ensminger and I explored the area, found a few springs and some interesting escarpment cave features. We are waiting for permission to fully explore it.
What follows is an update on outreach efforts and feedback from Lockport residents. As of this writing, we have 17 reports to investigate.
I stopped back at the Niagara Hotel and took a seat at the bar, beneath the chalkboard offering the special — a $3 shot and beer, no inflation here — and reunited with my newfound friends who were pleased with my published article about the history of the Niagara Hotel. I passed out more wanted posters and as we talked, the Lockport Exchange Bank building at Main and Pine streets (Ulrich Development Company), Old City Hall on Pine Street, the Summit Street mansion and the Tuscarora Club tunnels were discussed.
Groff’s Tavern on Union Street was suggested as a good source of information, so I stopped there to pass out more wanted posters and chat about the cave. The group mentioned the Summit Street Mansion. The wanted poster was hung behind the bar.
Montondo’s Fish Market, on East Avenue, has frequently been listed as having an entrance to the cave. I stopped in and talked to the owner, Bob Luff. He stated that the basement does not have an entrance, but he was very familiar with the history of the sealed cave entrance (1886) on Cave Street, across from his store. He accepted my Wanted: Cave Information poster to hang on the door.
At Scripts Juice Bar, 12 Main St., I ordered a protein drink. Here was a friendly younger crowd. Although interested, they were not familiar with the original Lockport Cave, but they did know about the Lockport Raceway cave on the banks of the Erie Canal. A wanted poster was taped up.
The welcoming Cousins Café, and Lock City Books, both at the Bewley Building, posted my wanted posters in March.
CHESTNUT AND SPRING STREETS AREA
Scott and I then explored Chestnut Street at the intersection with Spring Street. There were several sinkholes near this location in the 1970s, and 30 feet below the surface is the entrance to the branch of the Lockport Cave that a group of us had discovered more than 50 years ago.
As we pulled into the parking lot, Scott and I joked that the asphalt patches were old sinkholes. A maintenance man stopped to talk to us and he stated that the patches really were sink holes and St. John the Baptist Church had to fill them with gravel and repave them. I called the church office for more information. Father Dumphrey was consulted and he verified the account.
Chestnut and Spring is also the location of a first-person cave entrance report that I received when I interviewed the late Lockport businessman Jim Castle, the owner of Castle’s Dairy. He stated that he and his friends used to play in the basement of the abandoned Lock City Brewery at that crossing, when they were attending St. John’s school just down the street. They would go into a cave in the foundation on the south side of the building. The cave had a spring flowing out of it. Mr. Castle mentioned there were reports of the brewery using the cave for cold storage. In the 1880s cave explorers cited a cave passage veering north toward the brewery.
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I will present “Voids of Lockport: the Hidden Caves and Secret Passages under Lockport” at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Niagara History Center, 215 Niagara St. My presentation touches on the early history of the Lockport Cave, efforts in the 1970s to reopen it, and various hidden rooms, tunnels, sinkholes and rumored passages in the greater Lockport area. Admission is free. All are welcome.