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Grand
Canyon Caverns Inn, December, 2004, Kathy Weiser.
Twenty two miles west of
Seligman is
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.
Sure that he had found a
gold mine, Walter purchased the property,
but, after taking 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
decided to make it a tourist attraction and
and people began to come.
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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