Urban Cave Man: A new book provides entertaining reading for armchair spelunkers

Plenty of urban adventurers in recent years have sought out the myriad subterranean caves and tunnels carved into the forgiving sandstone that undergirds our fair city, but Greg Brick brings a geologist’s eye and a historian’s respect to the topic that makes Subterranean Twin Cities (University of Minnesota Press, $18.95) a valuable primer on urban caving (not that we’re headed down under anytime soon). The book also offers an entertaining glimpse into our city’s past, albeit from a rather unusual perspective.

On April 23, 7:30 p.m., Magers & Quinn hosts a discussion and book signing with the author.

And on April 30, Brick will be at Common Good Books in St. Paul for a reading and book signing.

Brick, who first embraced urban caving in London almost 30 years ago and has explored the world beneath such East Coast municipalities as New York City, Boston, and Hartford, takes us on a fascinating journey through every notable cave, sewer, and labyrinth in the Twin Cities, with plenty of drama and flair but none of the foolishness of amateur explorers. We get to visit such dark attractions as Carver’s Cave, the Mill Tunnels, Chute’s Cave, the Fort Road Labyrinth, as well as the motherlode of local caving — the Schiek’s Cave below Fourth Street in downtown Minneapolis. It’s a tour made all the more remarkable for Brick’s wry storytelling skills informed by thoughtful research, and the fact that we don’t have to get our feet wet.

—Reviewed by Craig Cox in the spring issue of MOQ, which also includes an article about Chute’s Cave under Minneapolis, reprinted from Brick’s book. For more information about the spring issue of MOQ, including how to buy a copy, please go here.