Grand Canyon Caverns - Stumbling Into Opportunity

ARIZONA LEGENDS

Grand Canyon Caverns - Stumbling Into

Opportunity

Route 66 through Northern Arizona vintage postcard

Twenty two miles west of Seligman brings you to Grand Canyon Caverns, a popular tourist destination, virtually since the beginning of Route 66.

These caverns, formed in prehistoric times by an inland sea, were discovered quite by accident in 1927. When Walter Peck, a young woodcutter for the Santa Fe Railroad, was on his way to play poker with a couple of friends at the nearby Yampai railroad siding house, he stumbled and nearly fell into a large, funnel-shaped hole. Widened by recent heavy rains, Peck had never noticed the opening before and vowed to return the next day to do a little exploring. Once he arrived at the poker game, he immediately began to describe the new big hole in the middle of the trail he had so often taken before.

The next morning, Walter and his friends returned to the opening with ropes and lanterns. A rope was soon tied around the waist of one of the men, who was lowered into the opening. Carrying a coal oil lantern, 150 feet of rope were let out before he finally reached the floor of the hole. One can only imagine what Peck must have felt in finding out how lucky he as to have only stumbled, rather than falling the length of the deep crevice.

The man in the hole below began to explore, casting light around the cavern with his oil lantern. Seeing sparkles among the rocks of the cave, he was sure that they had discovered gold and gathered up a sack full of samples. Giving three tugs on the rope, Walter and the other men began to pull him out of the 150 foot depth

When he reached the surface he excitedly displayed the “ore” samples, then almost as an afterthought, went on to tell his friends that he had seen two skeletons, along with the remnants of a saddle in the cave below.

Naturally, the excited men began to tell their story with enthusiasm to all who would listen, and before long the newspapers had picked up the story. Speculating that the skeletons might be those of prehistoric cavemen, scientists soon arrived to study the bones. Interestingly, these newspaper stories mentioned nothing of the saddle that was found with the skeletons that just might indicate that the old bones perhaps weren’t as old as they sensationalized.

Unconcerned with the bones, prehistoric or otherwise, Walter purchased the property, sure that he had stumbled upon a gold mine. However, after having taken several rocks from the cave to an assayer, he was disappointed to find that there was no gold in that thar hole. Determined not to lose his hard earned money, he soon came up with another way to make it profitable. Developing a primitive elevator, Walter began to charge 25 cents to anyone who might want to see where the “cavemen” had been found. Tied to a rope and lowered into the hole, visitors could explore the caverns. Walter soon gave his new business a name – Yampai Caverns and people began to come.

Grand Canyon Caverns

Grand Canyon Caverns, courtesy Grand Canyon

Caverns Website

In 1936, during the depression, the Civilian Conservation Corp constructed a wooden staircase at the cavern entrance, as well as a series of wooden ladders for the descent. No longer did visitors to the cavern have to be lowered in by ropes.

In 1957, another upgrade occurred when a swinging bridge was added that allowed more than one person to access the cave at a time. This resulted in the admission price being increased to fifty cents. Several years later a modern day elevator was added to the caverns.

In the meantime, the remains discovered in the cave had been found to conclusively not be those of prehistoric men. Instead, they were the remains of two members of the Hualapai Indian tribe who had died in the winter of 1917. Reportedly, the tribe had been out cutting firewood when two of its members suddenly fell sick with the flu. When they died, the ground was too frozen for an immediate burial so the pair was lowered into the well-concealed hole.

When the permanent elevator was installed, the natural entrance to the caverns was sealed off out of respect for the two fallen Indians and their sacred burial ground.

Grand Canyon Caverns Inn, December, 2004,

Kathy Weiser.

Over the years, the caverns name has been changed several times. After Walter’s initial Yampai Caverns, they were called the Coconino Caverns up until 1957, when they were changed to the Dinosaur Caverns, only to finally be called Grand Canyon Caverns in 1962.

Exploration of the Grand Canyon Caverns continues to this day as wafts of air and floor fissures indicate additional caverns below. Through seismic testing, it has been determined that there are four additional lower levels, the deepest of which is at 1500 feet.

Today, the tourist stop also includes a motel, restaurant, and gift shop for the Route 66 traveler stopping to see this ancient cavern.

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Grand Canyon Caverns vintage postcard

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