“The Marble Halls of Oregon”
Oregon Caves, long known as the “Marble Halls of Oregon,” and 480 acres surrounding them were set aside as the Oregon Caves National Monument in 1909. Since 1934, the Monument has been administered by the National Park Service as an adjunct to Crater Lake National Park. Rooms, meals, and cave guide service are provided by a concessioner, the Oregon Caves Resort Company, operating under contract with the National Park Service.
The first record discovery of the caves was made by Elijah Davidson, while out hunting in the fall of 1874. Davidson wounded a bear with one of his shots and tracked the bear to an opening in the side of a mountain. With a few splinters of pitch for a torch, and with an old muzzle-loading rifle, Davidson followed the bear into the opening, thus making his remarkable discovery. It was not until the next spring that Davidson and a party of associates returned to explore the caverns further. Four different levels or floors were found by Frank M. Nickerson of nearby Kerby. A number of galleries were opened which had been blocked by stalactites and stalagmites, forming columns. It was not until 1884 that title to the caves was sought, when two brothers “squatted” near the entrance. Their attempt to exploit this natural wonder failed, due to the remoteness of the area, the nearest railroad being over 200 miles distant. A short time later, a group of California promoters became interested in developing the caves, but abandoned their plan when they discovered that they were located in Oregon instead of California.
The area was visited by Joaquin Miller, “Poet of the Sierras,” in 1907. Miller did much to attract public attention to the caves by his frequent reference to them as “The Marble Halls of Oregon.”
According to “Old Dick” Rowley, who inaugurated guide service at the caves in 1910, it was the particularly energetic efforts of a group of promoters, interested in exploiting the caves, which stimulated the Forest Service in Grant’s Pass and Portland early in 1909 to press the Federal Government to set the area aside as a National Monument. This was done by President Taft on July 12,1909, and the caves, along with 480 acres of beautifully wooded land comprised the Monument, which was administered by the Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture. It was not until 1934, that the Oregon Caves National Monument was transferred to the National Park Service, to be administered by the Superintendent of Crater Lake National Park.
Dick Rowley, long a resident of southwestern Oregon, who had engaged in mining, hunting, and forest- patrol in the vicinity, was selected by the Forest Service to serve as guide to the Caves. To Rowley goes the credit for the major development of the Caves. Until two years ago, “Old Dick,” as he is affectionately known to young and old, headed the guide service. During the past thirty years, Dick has trained over 300 seasonal guides. In spite of his 82 years, “Old Dick” still spends the early part of each season at the Monument, breaking in a new crop of guides. During his more than 40 years at the Caves, he has become exceedingly familiar with the topography, flora, and fauna of the Monument. He assisted Dr. Elmer Applegate, the well-known botanist, in making a botanical survey of the Monument and the surrounding region. This survey, revealing rare species of trees outside the Monument, has served as a major basis for the current consideration being given to expanding the area.
The geological story of Oregon Caves goes back over a vast period of time to an age when an ancient ocean covered the southwestern part of Oregon. Over the floor of this ocean, thick deposits of lime were laid down and eventually pressed into limestone. This limestone, during a period of mountain building, was transformed, under terrific pressure and heat generated within the earth, into marble and was raised above the sea as a part of a mountain range.
During the mountain uplift, the marble was broken and fractured in many places. Although they may have been small, these openings were sufficient to allow water to seep into them. Rain water and water from melting ice and snow leached carbonic and other acids from decaying vegetation. Such acid-charged water found its way along the small fracture planes, and with the patience of the ages, dissolved out the softer portions of the marble in the interior of the mountains, thus creating giant chambers and extensive passage ways. The present visited section, Oregon Caves, makes up the most spectacular known part. Within these caverns are to be found the usual features of marble caves, such as stalactites, stalagmites, frescoed ceilings, and smoothly-paved marble floors. Some of the formations resemble flowers, vegetables, frozen waterfalls, and even animals, all of which have been given fanciful names.
Photograph Courtesy Laurie Ann Creations, Edmonds, Wash.
In addition to this exhibit of marble sculpturing, Oregon Caves National Monument boasts of one of the most beautiful and interesting wooded areas in this part of North America. It is rich in the variety of plant and animal life. Many species of plants find the caves area the southern limit of their range, while species otherwise limited to California, find here the northern limit of their range. The area includes transition, Canadian, and Lower Hudsonian zones. Because of the extremely broken topography, species are often found here outside of their normal habitat. Thus the drought-loving incense cedar occurs on high dry ridges along with mountain hemlock and noble fir. Among the more noteworthy species of trees within the Monument are the Port Orford Cedar, Tanbark Oak, Chinquapin, Knobcone Pine, and green- leaved Manzanita. On the north slopes occur pure strands of Douglas fir with sparse undercover. In addition, there are to be found sugar pine, grand fir, Oregon Maple, Nuttall’s dogwood, California hazel, and Sadler’s oak. The weeping spruce, (Picea breweriana), a tree of exceptional beauty, does not occur in the Monument, but is to be found in the area just outside to the South. It is to include such species of beauty and rarity, that the current plans for expanding the Monument are being pressed.
Among the fauna of the area, are to be found blacktailed deer, black bear, cougar, coyote, beaver, fisher, marten, Pacific mink, Pacific raccoon, gray fox, Douglas pine squirrel, silver-gray squirrel, Siskiyou chipmunk, and the golden-mantled ground squirrel. There is also an abundance of birds in numbers and species due to the diversity of cover types, making this an attractive spot for the bird lover.
Oregon Caves National Monument is located in the heart of the Siskiyous, 50 miles from Grants Pass. From Cave Junction, on the famous Redwood Highway, No. 199, it is only 20 miles to the Monument over scenic State Highway No. 46. The National Park Service maintains a parking area and picnic grounds nearby. No camping is permitted in the Monument, but adequate campground facilities are located at Greyback campground along the approach highway, 8 miles from the Monument. During the summer season, the concessioner operates a modern Chateau and cabins near the entrance of the Caves.
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