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AP news guide: Kansas City’s network of underground caves

FILE - This June 27, 2002 file photo shows bags of dry milk stored in an underground warehouse at SubTropolis, an extensive network of caves in Kansas City, Mo., resulting from massive limestone mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A 24-year-old mother was charged Sept. 11, 2015 with two counts of felony child endangerment after her two young children were found barefoot, dirty and living in a wooden shipping crate in one of the caves. Many of the caves, stretching from Missouri into Kansas, have paved roads and utilities while others, such as the one where the children were found, consist of dirt floors and uncontrolled entrances. (AP Photo/Dick Whipple, File)
FILE - This June 27, 2002 file photo shows bags of dry milk stored in an underground warehouse at SubTropolis, an extensive network of caves in Kansas City, Mo., resulting from massive limestone mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A 24-year-old mother was charged Sept. 11, 2015 with two counts of felony child endangerment after her two young children were found barefoot, dirty and living in a wooden shipping crate in one of the caves. Many of the caves, stretching from Missouri into Kansas, have paved roads and utilities while others, such as the one where the children were found, consist of dirt floors and uncontrolled entrances. (AP Photo/Dick Whipple, File) FILE - This June 27, 2002 file photo shows bags of dry milk stored in an underground warehouse at SubTropolis, an extensive network of caves in Kansas City, Mo., resulting from massive limestone mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A 24-year-old mother was charged Sept. 11, 2015 with two counts of felony child endangerment after her two young children were found barefoot, dirty and living in a wooden shipping crate in one of the caves. Many of the caves, stretching from Missouri into Kansas, have paved roads and utilities while others, such as the one where the children were found, consist of dirt floors and uncontrolled entrances. (AP Photo/Dick Whipple, File)

By Associated Press 3 min read

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A mother is in custody after her two young children were found barefoot, dirty and living in a wooden shipping crate in an underground cave – part of a massive subterranean network carved out beneath Kansas City.

A look at the history of the caves:

WHY ARE THE CAVES THERE?

Extensive limestone mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s created the millions of square feet of caves that are scattered throughout metropolitan Kansas City, in Kansas and Missouri.

Syed E. Hasan, a geosciences professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said the “very pure” limestone was ideal for cement production to shore up the city’s rapid expansion at that time. Farmers also used it to improve soil.