![Exit to the forest from a cave. This image does not depict the cave mentioned in story. [Shutterstock Andrii Yarovsky]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/shutterstock_1931884094-e1666901546877.jpg "Exit to the forest from a cave. This image does not depict the cave mentioned in story. [Shutterstock Andrii Yarovsky]")
A Missouri drought has led to a key Civil War cave system being discovered, according to a report published Thursday.
Kevin Bright owns the Smallin Civil War Cave tourist attraction in Ozark, and told the New York Post (NYP) that the drought has allowed his company to discover an additional 1,100 feet of the cave.
“From the earliest time, people have always gathered in the cave,” Bright told the NYP. “It was a gathering place after church on Sundays, where women would receive letters from their relatives.”
1,100+ feet of Smallin Civil War Cave discovered due to drought: https://t.co/drV1UeQFqD
— KY3 News (@kytv) October 26, 2022
Bright said there were at least three Union spies associated with the cave, and that droughts have allowed people to discover new sites.
“It’s common to have droughts throughout history. During the Civil War there was a serious drought in the Ozark,” he explained. “On Monday mornings, the cave was a laundromat. That’s where the ladies would go and they would was their clothes in the opening of the cave.”
Experts were able to access parts of the tunnel following the drought. (RELATED: Fabled Civil War-Era Gold Sparks Legal Fight Between Two Treasure Hunters And The Federal Government)
“The drought conditions are allowing cavers to enter passages that formed tens of thousands of years ago but have in recent times been filled with water,” professor at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham told Newsweek.
Bright told the NYP it was unclear how long the once hidden caves will remain exposed.
“We will never be able to conquer nature – it is an entity that does not seek our permission,” he reportedly said. “We’ve got some more time – we’re hoping to get out there again before it fills back up.”