History and legend

Captured by the curiosity of caves at age seven, H. Dwight Weaver would invest the next 55 years of his life exploring Missouri caves to gain the knowledge hidden deep within their secret crevices. 
His new book, “Missouri Caves in History and Legend, “records a “cultural heritage stretching from the end of the ice age to the twenty-first century.  It is a grand tour of the state’s darkest places and takes the reader deep underground to shed light on the historical significance of caves, correct misinformation about them, and describe the ways in which people have used and abused these resources.”
Weaver became an active caver (spelunker) at the age of sixteen. He quickly discovered (back in the 1950s) that there was no research material readily available to quench his thirst for his many questions. “I vowed that since there were no books in the libraries on Missouri caves, I would write them myself… I kept my promise to write those books.” He has published books on the history of Mark Twain Cave at Hannibal, Meramec Caverns at Stanton, and Onondaga Cave at Leasburg, Mo. Among his more recent books on caves are “Missouri, The Cave State” (Discovery Enterprises, 1980); and “Wilderness Underground, Caves of the Ozark Plateau” (University of Missouri Press, 1992). The current book is a volume in the popular Missouri Heritage Reader Series published by the University of Missouri Press. Weaver is also known for his books on the history of Lake of the Ozarks. 
“I enjoy writing books about my two most favorite subjects, caves and Lake of the Ozarks,” he says. “Now that I am retired, historical research and writing keep my writing skills fresh and my mind active.”
Prior to retirement, Weaver was a Public Information Specialist for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and a feature writer for the department’s magazine, Missouri Resources.
  Weaver’s book on caves focuses on their utilitarian value. Extinct Ice Age animals in Missouri such as jaguars, lions, saber-tooth cats, and the fourteen-hundred pound Short Face Bear used caves as dens. Weaver explains how caves were used by Native Americans for warmth, for cooling, for water, for burial, for ceremonies and for rock art.
Modern-day man has used caves for breweries, cheese manufacturing, growing mushrooms, beer parlors, theatres, dancehalls parties, picnics, spring houses for food refrigeration, and “show” caves.
In the 1700’s and 1800’s saltpeter was mined from caves which was added to sulfur and charcoal to make black powder ammunition; and the mining of bat guano occurred in the caves from the 1880s to 1930s.
“While this book is about the many uses that Missourians have had for their caves over the past two hundred years, it is also about the cultural, social, recreational and scientific value of caves,” Weaver said. “Caves are fragile, non-renewable natural resources. Many of the uses that mankind has historically had for caves have been damaging. There is an intimate relationship between a cave and the groundwater system, of which it is a part, and the land upon which it exists. How that land is used can impact groundwater quality as well as the overall integrity of the cave below it. Not only are many cave resources threatened today by how we use the land but many of the small creatures that live in the caves are threatened and endangered species as result of human activities. The expression ‘out of sight out of mind’ applies well to caves. Because they lie beneath us unseen their existence is all too easily overlooked and forgotten.”
Eighty out of 114 Missouri counties have caves within their borders. Eighty percent of the caves are on private property.