Ask Mr. Answer Person: "What's that cave along Locust Road?"

Justin e-mails: "Hi, Mr. Answer Person, I have always wondered what the structure is that sits on the left hand side of the road when heading north on Locust Road, about a half mile from the Casey's General Store." 
 
Mr. Answer Person says for some of our readers, this question will be a re-run, since we were asked the same question in January of 2011--and came up with a partial answer:

"What a deceptively simple question! But after talking to nearly a dozen people, I'm not sure I'm any closer to a good answer.

First of all, for those of you who are wondering where this cave is, it's on the left, or west side, of the road as you drive up from Decorah heading north, out of town. If you look in the right of way after you have driven past the houses, you ought to be able to see it.

Mr. Answer Person was told many years ago that the "cave" was used as a storing place for beer and liquor for a tavern at the edge of Decorah--a tavern called "The Last Chance Tavern" because it was the last chance to have a drink before heading to Minnesota! While that story is exciting, it seems no one can substantiate it--even nearby property owners!

Winneshiek County Historical Society guru Midge Kjome said her father told her about storing dynamite in the cave when the roadbed was being redone--and that the cave was built for that purpose.

Decorah amateur historian Karl Knudson e-mailed: "I would guess that the "cave" is built in the County Road right of way, which is inconsistent with someone building it for a private ownership type of use, unless that was a temporary use as during construction. That would tell me that it was either built for a temporary use (as temporary dynamite storage during blasting through the bluffs visible just up the hill from the cave) or that it was built so long ago that the right of way had not yet been laid out."

Winneshiek County Engineer Lee Bjerke found plans dated March 31, 1947, when the road was regraded and surfaced from the College Drive intersection to the Canoe Ridge Road intersection. The corporate limits of the City of Decorah was along the Dahly Addition at that time, so the entire hill was under the jurisdiction of Winneshiek County then. However, notes Lee, "There are no notes about the cave or explosives."

So there you have it--the mystery of the Locust Road Cave!