Mapping the Underground

One of my initial goals in understanding the Eureka Underground turned out to also be one of the most difficult - mapping the underground. In 1881, Professor Kalklosch described underground passages along "Main and the downhill side of Spring Street" in his book The Healing Fountain. We can catch a glimpse of the lower level storefronts of some of the shops if the owner is so inclined to grant us entry into the basement of their building.

After speaking with several seasoned local explorers from the Underground Ozarks Forum, I've found several who believe that they have extensively explored Underground Eureka. In most cases, they've entered the underground by crawling into storm drains and have encountered lots of debris and water runoff, but most have never seen an underground storefront. This leads me to believe that there is more than one system of tunnels in Eureka Springs.

We have the underground areas described by Kalklosch, which were created when the street levels of Main and Spring Streets were raised. These tunnels exist beneath the sidewalks, and may or may not be interconnected to create one continuous passageway. We can call these the "sidewalk tunnels" for identification purposes. One can walk along Spring Street or Main and see glass blocks embedded in the sidewalk, purportedly placed to shed light on the hidden tunnels below.

I suspect that the other "underground" of Eureka is actually the storm drain system and an original creek routing tunnel. Many of the buildings on the East side of Main Street straddle a creek. You can see it in some of the early Sanborn Insurance maps of the town. Kalklosch stated that this creek flows through the original basement level of some of the buildings (now the sub-basement level). From early photographs, such as the Auditorium groundbreaking photo at the right, we can see a small square tunnel, most likely built for the creek to flow through the base of some of the buildings. Local explorers have confirmed entry into a similar square tunnel while making their way through the storm drain system. I suspect that if they were able to follow this tunnel to the North, they would eventually emerge near the Terimasu Creekside Cafe.

With more than one "underground" system of tunnels in downtown Eureka Springs, it is important to understand which set of passageways someone is referring to when they relate personal exploration experiences. Asking about old storefronts seems to be an effective way to discern between the two, although I am unsure at this time if the two ever connect. The underground tunnels of Main Street are more publicized and more commonly explored than their Spring Street counterparts, but most of the underground layout remains a mystery.

I welcome information from anyone who can assist me in developing a more concise map of Underground Eureka.

« Back to Underground Eureka Homepage