American Fork citizen. [volume] (American Fork, Utah) 1912-1979, 1921-09-24


cliff.
"A short time previous vearl Man
will Of Payson. and a few others, had
heard OF the cave and decided to look
for 1t. They had about given up the
search when Manwill kicked a rock
which fell into the earth instead Of
falling down the mountain on the out
side. A few more rocks were removed
and the entrance was found. II was
closed again. and later the Payson
Alpine club returned to explore It.
ITO get into the cave at present
II is necessary to crawl about twenty
feet through a small tunnel before
coming into an opening large enough
to stand erect. The corridors are
winding. rough and rugged. and in
many places II is necessary to crawl
over jagged surfaces to get from one
room to another. The walls. ceiling
and floors are covered with stalac-
tites and stalagmites Of fantastic
shapes. varying from the most dell
cate frosty formation to massive pill
lars. The color is mostly white, but
one room is OF chocolate color and
IL called the Chocolate box. Accord
ing to Professor Pack OF the Univer-
silly OF Utah. these stalactites and
stalagmites are formed by the con-
slant dripping of water. He says that
II has probably taken untold years to
create. the formations as they arc
found in this cave today.
"The cave has not yet been thor
oughly explored. The main passage
way extends into the mountain sew
eral hundred feet with numerous aven-
ues leading of. and narrowing down
to small openings. During the last
few days Forest Supervisor Dana
Parkinson has discovered a down
shaft. into which he let himself with
a rope some hundred feet. where II
opens into larger rooms. as yet un-
explored. This whole mountain may
be honey combed with passageways
and stalactite formations. and II il
possible that connection with Han
sons cave may be found when all
the different leads are explored.
AT present the forest service has
closed the cave to visitors. This Is
done to prevent the destruction Of the
delicate forms until such time as
certain improvements can be made.
1t is planned to install good en-
trance, with steel gate. construct
safety walks over some Of the dan
gerous places. fence of some Of the
walls and rooms to prevent the deli
cate forms from being brushed on.
and install a system Of electric lights
When these improvements are made
the cave will be opened to the public
mo assessent work had ever been
done on the mining location. so that
there is no right or title whatever yes
ted in the locators. The cave has been
withdrawn as n public service site.
which reserves II from entry under
any OF the public land laws. 1t is
therefore reserved for all time to the
people Of Utah. and II New York or
Chicago. wish to see Il. we invite them
to visit Utah"
This cave has already been visited
by Professor Frederic J. Pack OF the
University OF Utah, who gives the
following excellent description and
explanation OF its geological forma-
tons:
With scarcely an exception all
caves belong to one OF two types,
those occurring In lava rocks and those
occurring in limestones. The great
cave just discovered in American Fork
canyon belongs to the latter class.
THE limestones of American Fork
canyon are In the main gray. and in
places almost black The dark color
is fundamentally due to the presence
OF small quantities OF impurities. as
II will be recalled that this rock Is
made up principally OF the snow
white material termed calcite. The
mineral calcite or calcium carbonate
is rather easily soluble in water
charged with carbon dioxide. while,
on the other hand, the impurities are
either insoluble or soluble only In
small quantities.
at is clear, therefore,. that when
water, charged with carbon dioxide,
percolates through limestone IL will