Real photo postcard: “See My Cave: Bluff Dwellers Cave, Noel, Missouri”
Caves have been inhabited by humans and served as the stage for mythological tales in most cultures, past and present. Bluff Dwellers Cave near Noel, Missouri provided shelter for Native Americans but not the club-bearing Neanderthal pictured in this roadside ad.
Wikipedia’s entry for Bluff Dwellers’ Cave says it was discovered by C. Arthur Browning while checking traps on his family’s land. According to the family, it was a Sunday in April when he felt that telling breeze of cold air indicating a hidden cave. According to the attraction’s website:
In 1925 C. Arthur Browning was checking traps on property his family had owned his whole life when he came across a cool breeze blowing from a limestone outcrop. It was here that Bluff Dwellers Cave was discovered by Mr. Browning when he brought back help. Bob Ford and Bryan Gilmore, employed by the highway department, helped Arthur Browning move loose rock and debris so that he could explore.
Note the mention of the highway department. Highways were being built across southwest Missouri in the 1920s, opening up the possibility of lucrative businesses to serve and entertain the traveling public.
In the mid-20s tourism was “the next big thing,” and many looked to capitalize on it. One of those was John A. Truitt, aka “the Cave Man of the Ozarks.” He had arrived in Noel in 1914, looking for caves to commercialize. His obituary in the Pineville paper stated that “he was employed for a time at “Cave of the Winds” in Colorado. It was there that he heard from tourists of the caves in the Southwest Mo Ozarks.”
“Dad” Truitt was famed for having opened and developed many of the interesting caves of Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas Ozarks, including Ozark Wonder Cave at Elk Springs, Truitt’s Cave and Elk-O-Zar Cave at Lanagan, Bluff Dwellers Cave near Noel and Spanish Treasure Cave south of Sulphur Springs. He has contributed much to the development of this section of the Ozarks for tourists and vacationers.
In a Kansas City Journal, Nov. 13, 1927, profile, “Dad” Truitt claimed to have discovered Bluff Dwellers Cave, that he and he alone felt that telltale cool breeze emanating from the bluff. However, according to the Cave’s records and family history, Arthur Browning was the actual discoverer. “Dad” Truitt only held the contract for managing the touring part of the cave for four years, until 1931.
Bluff Dwellers Cave continues today as an active tourist attraction, still owned and operated by the Browning family.