Geologist and author Dr. Greg Brick is the featured speaker for the Dec. 11 Thursdays at the U program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – Barron County.
Dr. Greg Brick
His presentation, “Minnesota Caves: History and Lore,” will take place from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall. The program, which concludes the fall series, also will be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.
Minnesota has many caves, some known nationally. Carver’s was the earliest cave in what is now the U.S. to be described in published literature by Jonathan Carver, who explored the area a decade before the American Revolution. Fountain Cave was the birthplace of Minnesota’s capital city, St. Paul. It was used for beer, cheese and mushroom storage — and also served as a nightclub.
Mystery and Niagara are the state’s best known show caves, and in the far north, the violent waves of Lake Superior hammered out caves accessible only by kayak. Other caves were purely mythical. Learn about all of them from the geologist who wrote the book on the subject.
Brick has worked as a hydrogeologist at several environmental consulting firms and has taught geology at local colleges and universities. He has mapped thousands of springs around the state for the Minnesota Spring Inventory at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
His books include ”Iowa Underground,” “Minnesota Underground” (co-authored with Doris Green), “Minnesota Caves,” “Subterranean Twin Cities” and “Caves and Karst of the Upper Midwest, USA,” which he edited. Brick’s work also has been featured in National Geographic Adventure magazine and on the History Channel.
The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for in-person attendees.
Although in-person attendance is encouraged, most talks in the series are livestreamed. They also are archived and can be watched later on the Thursdays at the U webpage.
The first presentation of the spring 2026 series will be Jan. 29, with De Anna Westphal presenting “Building the Herd at Reindeer Hill.”
For more information, contact Laura Holden at 715-788-6207 or holdenlk@uwec.edu.
