Slaughter Sinkhole Clean Up

On November 13, 2010, Klaus Leidenfrost (MCKC President, at the time) worked for the U.S. Forest Service and was in charge of the Slaughter Sinkhole clean up. Klaus supervised 18 students from Rolla High School and two of their teachers at the project.

Located about 15 miles east of Rolla, Slaughter Sink is on Forest Service land and is about 100-150 yards east of Conical Sink. Both sinkholes are on the Onyx Cave property, an area that is considered one of the best examples of karst (caves, sinkholes and springs) in Missouri. Water from Slaughter Sink, one of the largest in Missouri, has been dye traced to Boiling Springs on the Gasconade River.

The clean-up crew hand carried 89 tires (86 tires from the bottom of the sinkhole) up an old roadbed. In the general area around Slaughter Sink, the crew picked up approximately two to three one-ton flatbed trucks full of more tires, appliances, car parts etc. The total weight of the trash removed was more than 1900 pounds.

The Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) paid for gloves, safety vests, lunches, and mileage for the school bus. MRCP covered all transfer station fees and helped to properly dispose of the tires and appliances.

Early in 2010, some local geocachers and 17 soldiers from nearby Fort Leonard Wood, picked up several hundred pounds of miscellaneous trash in the bottom of Slaughter Sink.  And, in June 2010, students from the Waynesville School District also gathered several hundred pounds of miscellaneous trash around the top of Slaughter Sink.

There are hundreds of sinks throughout the Ozarks filled or partially filled with trash. To protect Missouri’s karst resources, the MCKC strongly advocates ending the practice of placing trash in sinkholes.

A big “thank you” goes out to all the grottos, scout troops, schools and civic groups that donate time and efforts to cleaning up Missouri sinks and organizations like MRPC that fund the disposal of the debris removed from important karst areas.