BOOKS ABOUT
Route 66
MAIN STREET USA
THE MOTHER ROAD
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MOJAVE DESERT
Ghost Town Books
Gold Dust & Gold & Dust
Towns that didn't make it
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Selected books about
PETROGLYPHS
Rock Art - Pictographs
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Click the photo to return to the previous page
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Grand Canyon Caverns
In 1927, Walter Peck was on his way to play poker. When walking along the trail he fell into
a funnel-shaped hole. He noticed the hole went much deeper than he had fallen in and returned
the next day with a few friends, rope and lanterns to explore the apparently deep hole he had
stumbled into/upon. They lowered a man down into the hole and by the time he had touched
bottom, 150 feet of rope had been let out. When they raised the first cavern explorer back up,
the excitement intensified. He had noticed at the 50 foot level two human skeletons, and more
importantly, sparkling rocks on the cave walls thought to be gold.
Walter brought the property named it the Yampai Caverns and started setting up for a gold
mining operation. He was dissapointed that the "gold" had turned out to be calcite crystals
glittering in the lantern light. So Walter decided that the cavern would make a fine
tourist attraction. He started charging 25 cents per visitor to lower the into the hole,
but they had to bring their own light. Since the opening was so narrow only those
in the best shape could make the trip of a couple hundred feet down. Nine years later a
wooden staircase was built and the caverns renamed Coccocino Caverns. In 1957 a swinging
staircase was added for additional access. Also the caverns were again renamed to
Dinosaur Caverns after the fossil remains of a prehistoric 15 foot tall sloth had been
discovered. Finally in 1962 an elevator was installed and the cavern's name changed to
Grand Canyon Caverns.
The scratches of the sloth attempting escape can clearly be seen on the walls. A claw,
on display upstairs shows the size of the trapped beast in relation to a normal modern sloth.
The extra few steps up an optional, exceptionally steep part of the trail is worthwhile to take
a peek at "Bob". "Bob", the mummified bobcat has been a local resident for between 100-150
years. The poor deceased animal appears confused and seems to be heading in at least two, maybe
even three directions at once. A final note on the two human skeletons. At first they were
reported as being from prehistoric man, and this initially brought scientists from all over
to examine the remains. However, it seems that in 1917 two Hualapai Indians
were buried by ceremoniously lowering their bodies into the hole.
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