Ozark land lends itself to underground ventures

The Ozarks is known for its natural features – its hills, valleys and a landscape that is home to all sorts of wildlife. But for two companies, the best the land has to offer is beneath the surface, as the area’s topography comes with a unique economic opportunity. Though they’re located about 50 miles apart, Springfield Underground Inc. and Ozark Mountain Underground Vault and Storage LLC have a common bond – doing business underground.

According to the Springfield-Greene County Library’s Web site, Missouri has about “4,769 recorded caves, more than any other state in the Union, and this figure grows about 150 every year as new caves are discovered.”

Springfield Underground Inc. – a 2 million-square-foot underground storage facility – had an unintended beginning.

Henry Griesemer was unsuccessful in his attempt to dig a farm pond in northern Springfield in 1946, hitting limestone a couple feet down into the job. However, he and his brother, Joseph Griesemer, recognized how to take advantage of the area’s unique geological makeup.

“He went down a couple feet and hit solid rock and said ‘This is not going to be a good pond location, but it might be a good place to mine limestone,’” said current Springfield Underground CEO Louis Griesemer, Joseph Griesemer’s son.

The elder Griesemers started mining the limestone, and by 1960 they had dug a big enough hole into the earth that they decided to start leasing underground storage.

Today, 10 clients – including Dairy Farmers of America Inc., Graybar Electric Co. Inc., Aaron’s Automotive Products Inc., Willow Brook Foods Inc. and SpringNet – lease space in the dry, secure, 62-degree temperature complex at 1904 N. LeCompte.

The state’s rocky undersurface lends itself to underground storage more than most other areas, though Louis Griesemer said, “It’s (still) a pretty interesting geo-technical problem to get the right location.”

A dolomite mountain was the right location for Ozark Mountain Underground Vault and Storage LLC, according to co-owner Bob Womack.

He said the 12-year-old facility, 296 Buena Vista Road in Branson, stores everything from food to government documents for 125 clients in 3 million square feet.

He said that being built into the side of a mountain allowed the company to construct a distinctive dome ceiling.

“We’re the driest underground in the country because of that roof structure,” Womack said.

Ozark Mountain Underground is currently storing about 300 authentic Titanic artifacts worth more than $2 million, according to Paul Burns, vice president of the company that owns the artifacts, Cedar Bay Entertainment LLC.

Cedar Bay is preparing a Titanic exhibition in Branson that will open in February. Until then, Burns said, it is relying on Ozark Mountain Underground to keep its artifacts safe.

“We looked here and initially just saw the normal storage facilities that were not going to be up to the task or secure enough to store our stuff,” Burns said. “(Ozark Mountain Underground) really was a blessing for us.”

Womack said his facility meets Department of Defense security guidelines and that gasoline powered vehicles aren’t allowed into the facility.

That, he said, means nobody can harm his client’s valuable belongings.

“They can’t drive a Ryder truck in it and blow it up,” Womack said.

“It’s there forever.”