Moqui Cave is a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

erosion

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

in southern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is located roughly north of

Kanab Kanab ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States.Find a County
". ' ...

, along

U.S. Route 89 U.S. Route 89 (US 89) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern sectio ...

Etymology

The name comes from the Moqui (or Moki), which some

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

s believe to be an ancient

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

in the

Anasazi The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southea ...

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

area at an unknown time period. They are not attested historically, and the name has been used to simply refer to ancient peoples of the area and by white people to refer to Indians in general. They originated as an explanation for moqui marbles, strange

geologic Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

concretion A concretion is a hard and compact mass formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes a ...

s in the Navajo Sandstone Formation. More likely, the name comes from a

Hopi language Hopi (Hopi: ) is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Hopi people (a Puebloan group) of northeastern Arizona, United States. The use of Hopi has gradually declined over the course of the 20th century. In 1990, it was estimated that more than ...

word meaning " hedead", ''moki'', being related to religious beliefs. For the cave, the name is more related to the

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

s of the tribe than to the '

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

s', the Hopi, or the dead.

History

Moqui Cave was once used by

people as a shelter or food store, according to archaeological digs in the area. It was rediscovered by white settlers in the 19th century, and served as a

speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a beer flat or blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. In the United State ...

in the 1920s during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. In 1951, the cave was purchased by Laura and Garth Chamberlain, who opened a tavern and dance hall the following year, and it became a tourist attraction and museum.

Collections

Its museum exhibits include a rock collection, including fluorescent minerals,

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

, pottery, spear points, American Indian artifacts and art, dinosaur tracks (estimated to be over 140 million years old). It has displays about the

. There is also display about the Ancestral Puebloan.(bad ref) In the saloon, the original mosaic bar-top and bar stools from the tavern days still exist. Behind the bar, there are moqui marbles in various sizes.

Location

The cave lies along

, about north of

Kanab Kanab ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States.Find a County
". ' ...

. It extends roughly into a Navajo Sandstone formation in the bottom of Three Lakes Canyon. The cave referred to as the "Moqui Cave" is not a natural cave at all. It was a sand mine to obtain sand to make glass. The Indian lore and history may be authentic to the area, but the cave itself has nothing to do with the Moqui Indians or any other Indians. That component of the site is completely manufactured.

References

External links

Kanab area guide, with info about Moqui Cave

Kanab tourist guide, with info about Moqui Cave

Moqui Cave at Tantruck America via archive.org (June 13, 2009)
{{authority control Caves of Utah Landforms of Kane County, Utah Museums in Kane County, Utah Natural history museums in Utah Show caves in the United States Museums established in 1962 Roadside attractions in Utah Sand mining