Mitchell Caverns Wonder of the Mojave Desert

Providence Mountains State Recreation Area

• 100 mi east of Barstow; 60 mi west of Needles

• Contains 20 known caves, including Mitchell Caverns

• 5,900 acres in eastern Mojave Desert

• elevation range: 3,400 - 7,171 ft

Mitchell Caverns

• Located at Park headquarters

• 4,300 ft with view of surrounding land

• Dimensions

• • 300 ft below surface

• • several hundred ft long

• 65 year round

• Only limestone caves in the CA park system

• Electrically lit, paved walkways

The Caverns

• 2 caverns may have been continuous but filled in by calcite deposits

• Passage created in early 70s

• Winding Stair Cave also included in park

• • Used for practice cave rescues

• El Pakiva

• • house of the devil or pool of water from the eye of the mountain

• Tecopa

• • Legendary Shoshone chief

Whats the difference between a cave and a cavern , anyway?

• According to the National Park Service, not much:

• Cave: An underground chamber or cavity created by natural means.

• Cavern: A large cave or a cave of indefinite extent. Considered by some cave geologists as caves formed by solution.

Geologic History

Formation of Caverns

• About 12 Ma:

• • Area had wetter climate; rainforest

• • Organic groundcover makes rainwater acidic

• • Carbonic acid seeps through ground; dissolves limestone

• Climate change

• • Water table lowers

• • Environment for creating speleothems

• • Calcite-rich water precipitates when caverns are not water filled

Rare and Exciting Speleothems

• Coral Pipes

• • small, cylindrical formations

• • pebbles allow for erosion into silt pillars

• • pipes created when travertine deposits on silt pillars

• • only found in 8 caves worldwide

• • rare because flow of water must cease at critical point

• Cave Shields

• • 3 ft wide, 1/2 in thick, semicircular sheet of calcite

• • formed when water seeping in from a crack in the walls deposits layers of calcite

• • only found in 60 caves in the US

Fairly Nifty Speleothems

• Flowstone (travertine): formed by flowing water.

Cave coral (popcorn): knobby clusters of calcite or aragonite Stalagmites: formed up from the floor, generally beneath a stalactite. Helictites: deposit that generally spirals as it grows, seems to defy gravity. Stalactites: formed on ceilings.

Wanted: Dead or Alive

• Probably last growing significantly at the end of the last Ice Age (10,000 yrs ago)

• Long thought to be dead

• Currently active only during heavy rains

• Normal growth rate: 1 inch/20 yrs

• Mitchell growth rate: 1 inch/10,000 yrs

Cave Life

• Townsends bats

• • relocated after installed passage created airflow changes

• • after airlock put in, started to return

• Rare spider beetle

• Prehistoric Ground Sloth

• • 15,000 yrs old; from Pleistocene time

• • also fossilized tissue of giant redwoods, tropical ferns from this time

Chemehuevi Indians

• 500 years

• Eyes of the mountain

• Evidence

• • cavern walls blackened by smoke

• • pottery shards, arrowheads, hidden food and tool caches found

• Thought to be used seasonally for shelter and storage

• young boys were probably left in the darkness of the caves as part of a coming-of-age ritual; came to harvest pinyon nuts in a five-year nomadic cycle

• Way of life changed with introduction of miners, explorers, etc.

• Currently live on reservation by Colorado River

Crystal Cave and Ghost Stories

• Jack and Ida Mitchell

• Moved to desert

• • Early 1930s

• • Came because of Depression

• Decided to develop caverns commercially

• • Prospecting silver not profitable

• Improvements to area

• • Stone buildings, including current park headquarters

• • Built 23 mi road to caverns

• Explored caverns; stuck in Winding Stair Cave for 2 days

• Gave tours of the caverns

• • Known for candle lit tours; ghost stories

Birth of a Park

• Park transferred to state 1954

• Kept a state entity according to CA Desert Protection Act of 1994

• By 1950s, Mitchell could no longer care for caverns

• Entered negotiations with CA

• Died before negotiations complete

Oliver Stone and Mitchell Caverns?

• Scene from 1991 film The Doors shot in the caverns

• Controversy over pictographs added to walls

• • Couldnt be removed at first

• • Hired special team to flush paint out of walls

• Initiated more interest in the caverns

• Other recent events:

• • Earthquake in October 1999 temporarily destabilized roof/trail

• • Reopened 2000