Faris Caves are three hand-cut chambers carved into Dakota Sandstone along the Smoky Hill River in central Kansas. Excavated in the 1880s by Colorado miner Charles Griffee with a pickaxe, each cave measured about 12 feet square with a 10-foot arched ceiling. One cave contained fresh spring water that helped keep food and supplies cool in hot weather. After Griffee sold the property in 1893 to Winfield and William Faris, the caves continued in everyday use as storage space, a spring house, a generator room, and briefly a schoolhouse. The protected site preserves an unusual example of practical frontier excavation.