All those named were visited, as well as a number of the others.
A detailed description is not necessary. Not one of these caverns has ever been occupied unless as a temporary shelter. Some are flooded at intervals, either from the outside or by interior drainage; some have very restricted entrances and are dark at the front; some have rock floors or muddy bottoms; some can be entered only by clambering over talus to an opening at the bottom, or near the bottom, of a sink hole. Some shallow cavities, which under different conditions would be available as rock shelters, are in places difficult of access, remote from water, or otherwise unsuitable.
Some of these caverns have wonderful deposits on ceilings, walls, and floors, rivaling in beauty and ornate patterns those of the most famous caves of the country; and if they were easily accessible or could be conveniently explored, would attract hosts of visitors. One in particular, the "Bridal Cave," so called from a mass of stalactite material fully 10 feet from side to side at the top, which hangs in delicate translucent loops and folds and convolutions, equals Luray or Wyandotte for beauty, though not for extent.
It was reported that two walled graves stand on a "bald" on the farm of Will Robert Eidson, on the divide between the Niangua and the Little Niangua Rivers, about 4 miles north of Roach post office. They were described as "rocks laid up in a regular wall about 4 feet high, and about 30 steps square, and filled up inside with rocks." A visit to the site disclosed two ordinary cairns, made by throwing weathered limestone boulders into a rounded heap. Both piles have been scattered, and as they now exist one is about 25 feet, the other about 30 feet across. Such exaggerated, misleading descriptions are common, and result in much fruitless investigation.
Several caves are reported in the vicinity of Toronto, in Camden and Miller Counties; especially the Cokely Cave, 4 miles from Brumley on the Linn Creek road. From the descriptions given by informants, none of them appear to be suitable for habitation.
Many cairns exist on the ridges in this region, especially on high points overlooking valleys. All of them were built up with chert or limestone blocks, and all are more or less torn up. So far as could be learned there is no sign of a wall in any of them.
In the present state of knowledge, Camden County offers no inducement for archeological research.
A FOSSIL CAVE (29)
The geological deposits in this region comprise three principal formations which are named in the State report as the Jefferson City limestone, the Roubidoux sandstone, and the Gasconade limestone. It is in the last (which is the lowest) that caverns are found.
In various places erosion, either internal or superficial, or both, has formed crevices or sink holes through which the disintegrated sandstone finds its way into caverns below, where it accumulates and hardens until more resistant than when in its original condition.