Fountain Cave

Fountain Cave, a landmark known as early as 1811, was named for the sparkling creek that flowed from its mouth and continued some 375 feet through a ravine to join the Mississippi River about 140 feet downstream from this marker. The cave attracted such noted explorers as Stephen H. Long in 1817, Henry R. Schoolcraft in 1820, and Joseph N. Nicollet in 1837 - all of whom described it in their journals. , Before the land east of the Mississippi was opened to settlement, Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, a vagrant voyageur who sold whisky illegally to soldiers and Indians, in 1837 staked a claim where the ravine met on the river. Here in 1838 he built a saloon - a small hovel that was the first building on the site of what is now St. Paul. He was followed during that year by several refugee settlers who had been ousted from the Fort Snelling military reservation. , For many decades tourists visited Fountain Cave to view its pure white sandstone walls and mysterious interior chambers. Through the years debris accumulated to block its entrance. Construction of a highway in the early 1960s made it necessary to fill in most of the ravine, so that there is now no visible indication where the cave is located. , [seal of The City of Saint Paul] · [seal of The Minnesota Historical Society]. , 1962.