Located 160 miles southwest of Crater Lake, the Oregon Caves National Monument in Josephine County, administered by the superintendent and staff of the Crater Lake National Park, is one of the most popular scenic attractions of Oregon. The caves, occurring at an elevation of 4,000 feet in the heart of the Siskiyou Mountains, are easily reached over hard-surfaced highways.

The monument is 20 miles distant from the famous Redwood Highway, between Crescent City, Calif., and Grants Pass, Oreg. Motorists to the monument turn off at Caves Junction, a small settlement at the junction of the Redwood and Caves Highways.

The caverns, also known as the “Marble Halls of Oregon,” were discovered by a pioneer bear hunter, Elijah Davidson, in 1874 when a bruin sought refuge in their darkness. Davidson, intent on a kill, followed close behind, aided by a flickering pitch torch. He made a cursory exploration, followed by others in later years, but he never viewed the many wonders of their interior as seen today by the visiting public. There are several miles of winding passageways, large rooms, and scores of fantastic formations weird in their eerie beauty.

The monument, covering 480 acres, was established by proclamation of President Taft on July 12, 1909. During recent years numerous improvements, such as new trails, steel ladders, illumination, and removal of obstructions, have been completed to make the caves more accessible and visits more enjoyable.

A limestone, long ago altered to marble, is the soluble rock in which the passageways were formed. The caves offer outstanding underground beauty along a route which brings visitors past their most attractive formations, the result of constant water action for many thousands of years. These formations assume odd, grotesque, and fantastic shapes, resembling draperies, flowers, fruits, palaces, and gargoyles.

The rocks of the region are complexly folded, faulted, and metamorphosed shales, sandstones, and minor bodies of limestone, intruded by vast amounts of basic igneous rock, most of which is now serpentine. The whole is crushed and squeezed into intricate and apparently hopeless confusion from the structural and stratigraphic viewpoint.

Here and there in sparkling beauty are exquisite miniatures of Niagaras, Gardens of Eden, cotton blossoms, forests, and castles. A number of the unusual features carry such strange names as Music Room, River Styx, Ghost Room, Dante’s Inferno, Paradise Lost, and Joaquin Miller’s Chapel. Paradise Lost is the most beautiful exhibit of the caves with its flowerlike stalactitic pendants adorning the walls of a room 60 feet high.

Countless stalagmites and stalactites telling the story of the patience of the ages are seen by visitors during the 2-hour guided trips through the caves. Especially is this true of one of the columns, which is a foot in diameter and was formed by the joining of a stalagmite and stalactite.

Monument visitors are offered hotel accommodations at the Oregon Caves Chateau near the cave’s entrance. Lodging and dining-room service is provided. From the floor of a canyon, the bark-covered six stories of the chateau attain complete harmony with the thick forests and moss-covered rock ledges of the surrounding country.

Cottages are available at the caves, as well as a store where novelties and pictures can be procured. Picnic grounds are maintained in the monument.

During the summer months from June 15 to September 1, frequent guided trips are offered. Guide service on more flexible schedules is available throughout the year. This service is furnished by the operator.

During the summer season, evening campfire programs are offered in the open air near the chateau, presenting talent from the Oregon colleges employed in the monument. Park rangers give short talks on the monument in conjunction with the musical programs.