The East Side Cave (Minneapolis) Revisited

Brewery cave posts have been scarce in recent years.  Honestly I think I've had a look at all that are to be found in a reasonable travel radius and without a degree of risk and trespass that I won't take.

But there are always new things to learn.  And in fact....I think I've been too hasty with my conclusions on a brewery cave in Minneapolis.  Here's what I wrote back in 2019....

A False Brewery Cave

My judgement was based to a considerable extent on this curious photo:

It is said to be The Great East Side Cave.  Other sources claimed it was used for beer storage.  Rather nonsensical at first glance.  Yes, there is a brewery to be seen, but it is on the other side of the Mississippi River, and Mueller and Heinrich were known to have their own extensive cave system.  Why haul it up hill, across the nearby bridge and then back down a fairly steep hill?

But I found an interesting article in a Minneapolis paper just after the turn of the century.  To summarize....

The cave has been known since the earliest settlement of the area, and presumably earlier by the Native inhabitants.  It was at times known as Walker's Cave.  Although a natural cave it pretty clearly has been modified and expanded by the human hand.  I have seen some suggestion that the white sand that made up the walls was at one point mined commercially.

The exact dimensions are a little hard to make out from the article, but it speaks of a 100 foot long main passage, then a right angle turn and another 85 feet.  

After various speculation about pre-settlement use of the place the article says something very specific....that it was used for 12 years as a beer storage cave.

That's actually plausible.  Oh, probably not by the Mueller and Heinrich brewery for reasons mentioned.  But there were two other early breweries in town that needed storage space.  And for geological reasons did not have it close at hand.

Minneapolis came to be because of St. Anthony Falls.  Great for mills and a decided deterrent for any travel further up the river.  It is also the point at which the river is eroding its bed into a deep ravine carved out of the native sandstone.  Upstream, where the John Orth and the Gottlieb Glueck breweries were located, they had no stone faces to excavate storage caves.  It is known that they had small caves dug in Nicollet Island, but these were frankly pretty insufficient spaces.  I could see the East Side Cave being used by one of them.  Probably in the 1870's when their earlier storage spaces became inadequate but before they got mechanical refrigeration in the 1880's.

As to the later history of the cave it was vacant for a while.  Then a sort of hermit named Yellowstone Bill moved in.  Here's a bit about him!

After Bill's departure the cave was used for a time to grow mushrooms.  At some point in the 20th century the entrance was either sealed off or more likely incorporated into the network of steam and utility tunnels that are to be found on the site.  With the location mentioned in the article - one block south of the Washington Avenue Bridge - I think that on my last visit back in 2019 I was standing right on the spot where the picture had been taken.

Note:  You'd think that a character as interesting as Yellowstone Bill would get a few more mentions in the papers of the day.  And you would be correct.  We'll have an extended visit with him shortly.  His restless spirit no doubt lingers in this very spot.