Pluto's Cave on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Pluto's Cave (or Pluto Cave) is a partially collapsed
261
Available online: {{cite web , title = Clarence King: Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada: Chapter XII , website = Yosemite Online , url = http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/mountaineering_in_the_sierra_nevada/12.html , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite web , title = Pluto's Cave , website = Klamath National Forest , date = October 6, 2017 , url = http://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/klamath/recreation , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite book , last = Muir , first = J. , title = Picturesque California and the Region West of the Rocky Mountains, from Alaska to Mexico , publisher = J. Dewing Company , issue = v. 1 , year = 1888 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5E-PAQAACAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 Available online: {{cite web , last = Muir , first = John , title = Shasta Rambles and Modoc Memories, Chapter 5 of 'Steep Trails' by John Muir (1918) - The Writings of John Muir - John Muir Exhibit (John Muir Education Project, Sierra Club California) , website = Sierra Club Home Page , url = http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/steep_trails/chapter_5.aspx , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite book , title = Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey , year = 1949 , publisher = University of California Archaeological Survey, Department of Anthropology, University of California , url = https://archive.org/details/trent_0116402079432 , url-access = registration , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page
2
{{cite book , last = Sciences , first = California Academy of , title = Pacific Discovery , publisher = California Academy of Sciences. , issue = v. 7-9 , year = 1954 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DZM9AQAAIAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 32 , quote = Its single unbranching passage is generally of uniform diameter throughout its extent, and is fringed with the hardened stalactitic drippings which bear evidence of the rapid disgorging of lava that once took place. Such tubes are often of great length — John Muir describes Pluto's Cave in northern California as penetrating its basalt bed for a mile. {{cite book , last1 = Selters , first1 = A. , last2 = Zanger , first2 = M. , title = The Mt. Shasta Book: A Guide to Hiking, Climbing, Skiing, and Exploring the Mountain and Surrounding Area , publisher = Wilderness Press , year = 2006 , isbn = 978-0-89997-562-7 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VusvyAeTKggC&pg=PA62 , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 62 , quote = A number of lava tubes are found around Shasta, some of which are a mile or more long, and the most famous is Pluto Cave. Venturing into this large cave should not be taken lightly. The depths of Pluto Cave are eternally dark, so take at least two ... {{cite book , last1 = Selters , first1 = A. , last2 = Zanger , first2 = M. , title = The Mt. Shasta Book: A Guide to Hiking, Climbing, Skiing, and Exploring the Mountain and Surrounding Area , publisher = Wilderness Press , series = Wilderness Press Series , year = 2006 , isbn = 978-0-89997-404-0 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TWNKAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 98 {{cite book , title = Trailer Life Directory , year = 2004 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7MjrlIJqyzkC , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 320 , quote = Pluto's Cave, named after the Roman god of the underworld, was formed by an eruption of basaltic lava which originated from a vent about 8 miles to the northeast. The lava flow is about 190,000 years old ... {{cite book , last = Wells , first = H.L. , title = History of Siskiyou County, California Illustrated with Views of Residences, Business Buildings and Natural Scenery: And Containing Portraits and Biographies of Its Leading Citizens and Pioneers , publisher = Siskiyou Historical Society , year = 1881 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dxU1AQAAMAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 36 , quote = The largest, however, is one discovered near Sheep Rock in the spring of 1863, by Nelson Cash, while hunting estrayed cattle. In April of the same year, George W. Tyler and Elijah Heard made an extended exploration of the cave and christened it Pluto's Cave. The entrance was about five hundred feet above the valley, being some three miles up the slope of the mountain. They entered through an opening ten feet high and twenty wide, and advanced through a succession of halls and chambers, or caverns, until they passed through an opening thirty feet square into the large cavern, or cave proper. They traversed this cautiously, over piles of fallen rocks and other obstructions, until they came to where an immense heap of rocks barred further progress. The distance to this point from the entrance they estimated at from one and one-half to two miles, and how far beyond the barrier of rocks it extended could not even be conjectured. Quite a current of air was felt in the cavern, nearly extinguishing their candles, caused by a subterranean river, another cavern, or a second entrance beyond. In the main cavern were found a pile of faggots and other evidences of fire, that bore the appearance of having been there for years, perhaps centuries, and probably had been, as the existence of the cave was unknown to the Indians. The walls within are very dry, the usual dampness of a cavern being absent, thus contributing to the preservation of objects deposited there. Quite a number of people have visited the cave at different times, but a more thorough exploration than this has never been made. Several smaller caves have been discovered within a radius of a few miles, but none of so great dimensions as this. {{cite book , last = Wilson , first = R. , title = The Explorer King: Adventure, Science, and the Great Diamond Hoax--Clarence King in the Old West , publisher = Scribner , year = 2006 , isbn = 978-0-7432-8900-9 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J8qrIWnBDgAC&pg=PA93 , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 93
USGS Mineral resources
Lava tubes Caves of California Landforms of Siskiyou County, California Mount Shasta Klamath National Forest
Pluto's Cave (or Pluto Cave) is a partially collapsed lava tube
A lava tube, more rarely called a pyroduct, is a 'roofed conduit through which molten lava travels away from its vent'. If lava in the tube drains out, it will leave an empty cave. Lava tubes are common in low-viscosity volcanic systems. La ...
on the northern outskirts of Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta ( ; Shasta people, Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk language, Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a Volcano#Volcanic activity, potentially active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. A ...
in the Klamath National Forest
Klamath National Forest is a United States National Forest, national forest, in the Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range, located in Siskiyou County, California, Siskiyou County in northern California, but with a tiny extension (1.5 percent of th ...
. Its main entrance is located close to the 99-97 Cutoff North-east of Weed
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...
and East-southeast of Grenada
Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...
. The tube is roughly 190,000 years old, which is quite old for a lava tube, as they normally collapse quickly (in geological terms), having ceilings only a few metres thick. However, Pluto's Cave is located in a semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...
, where erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
is restricted, which contributes to its survival.
The cave was discovered in the spring of 1863 by Nelson Cash, who came upon it while looking for stray cattle. It was further explored in April 1863, and named "Pluto's Cave" after Pluto
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...
, the Greek God of the underworld.
William Henry Brewer
William Henry Brewer (September 14, 1828 – November 2, 1910) was an American botanist. He worked on the first California Geological Survey and was the first Chair of Agriculture at Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School.
Biography
Will ...
assisted by Clarence King
Clarence Rivers King (January 6, 1842 – December 24, 1901) was an American geologist, mountaineer, and author. He was the first director of the United States Geological Survey from 1879 to 1881. Nominated by Republican President Rutherford B. ...
on a field trip for the California Division of Mines and Geology (predecessor of today's California Geological Survey
The California Geological Survey, previously known as the California Division of Mines and Geology, is the California state geology, geologic agency.
History
Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to ...
), visited the cave on October 10, 1863. Brewer writes about it a month later on November 11:
King in 1870, now a director of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel
The Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel was a geological survey made by order of the Secretary of War according to acts of Congress of March 2, 1867, and March 3, 1869, under the direction of Brig. and Bvt. Major General A. A. Humphrey ...
, returned to Mount Shasta, and with a fellow explorer revisited the cave, which King recounts in his 1872 book ''Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada'':
John Muir
John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...
explored the Mount Shasta area in the winter of 1874–75, and includes the cave on his Shasta circumnavigation guide:
Evidence was found of its use by Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
peoples. Visitors can safely hike into the cave about .
References
{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , last1 = Brewer , first1 = W.H. , last2 = Farquhar , first2 = F.P. , title = Up and Down California in 1860–1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer , publisher = Yale University Press , series = Yale University. Philip Hamilton McMillan Memorial Pub. Fund , year = 1930 , url = https://archive.org/details/updowncalifornia01will , access-date = February 10, 2018 Available online: {{cite web , title = Up and Down California in 1860–1864; The Journal of William H. Brewer: Book 4, Chapter 7 , website = Yosemite Online , url = http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/up_and_down_california/4-7.html , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite journal , last1 = Douglas , first1 = Joseph C. , date = July 2003 , title = The Romantic and the Caves: John Muir and the Underground Environment , url = http://caves.org/section/asha/issues/124.pdf , journal = Journal of Spelean History , volume = 37 , issue = 124 , pages = 37–42 , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite book , last1 = Gudde , first1 = E.G. , last2 = Bright , first2 = W. , title = California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names , publisher = University of California Press , year = 2010 , isbn = 978-0-520-26619-3 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ibMwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 296 {{cite book , last = Hinds , first = N.E.A. , title = Evolution of the California Landscape , publisher = California State Printing Office , series = Bulletin (California. Division of Mines and Geology) , issue = 158 , year = 1952 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qswJAQAAIAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 120 , quote = The largest of the lava tunnels is Pluto's Cave discovered in 1863 which once could be traced for a mile and a half or two miles. Now probably half a mile is as far as it can be followed, access being easy in places where the roof has collapsed. Most of the accessible part of the tunnel has a diameter of 30 to 50 feet but in places it reaches 80 feet. The floor is heavily covered by blocks which have fallen from the roof and by sand drifted in from dunes on the surface. {{cite book , last1 = Hoover , first1 = M.B. , last2 = Rensch , first2 = H.E. , last3 = Rensch , first3 = E.G.H. , last4 = Teiser , first4 = R. , title = Historic Spots in California , publisher = Stanford University Press , year = 1948 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ggAlAAAAMAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 170 , quote = Brewer visited Pluto's Cave on October 10, 1863, shortly after its discovery. {{cite book , last = King , first = C. , title = Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada , publisher = J.R. Osgood , series = Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780–1925, Part II , year = 1872 , url = https://archive.org/details/mountaineeringi04kinggoog , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page261
Available online: {{cite web , title = Clarence King: Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada: Chapter XII , website = Yosemite Online , url = http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/mountaineering_in_the_sierra_nevada/12.html , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite web , title = Pluto's Cave , website = Klamath National Forest , date = October 6, 2017 , url = http://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/klamath/recreation , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite book , last = Muir , first = J. , title = Picturesque California and the Region West of the Rocky Mountains, from Alaska to Mexico , publisher = J. Dewing Company , issue = v. 1 , year = 1888 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5E-PAQAACAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 Available online: {{cite web , last = Muir , first = John , title = Shasta Rambles and Modoc Memories, Chapter 5 of 'Steep Trails' by John Muir (1918) - The Writings of John Muir - John Muir Exhibit (John Muir Education Project, Sierra Club California) , website = Sierra Club Home Page , url = http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/steep_trails/chapter_5.aspx , access-date = February 10, 2018 {{cite book , title = Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey , year = 1949 , publisher = University of California Archaeological Survey, Department of Anthropology, University of California , url = https://archive.org/details/trent_0116402079432 , url-access = registration , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page
2
{{cite book , last = Sciences , first = California Academy of , title = Pacific Discovery , publisher = California Academy of Sciences. , issue = v. 7-9 , year = 1954 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DZM9AQAAIAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 32 , quote = Its single unbranching passage is generally of uniform diameter throughout its extent, and is fringed with the hardened stalactitic drippings which bear evidence of the rapid disgorging of lava that once took place. Such tubes are often of great length — John Muir describes Pluto's Cave in northern California as penetrating its basalt bed for a mile. {{cite book , last1 = Selters , first1 = A. , last2 = Zanger , first2 = M. , title = The Mt. Shasta Book: A Guide to Hiking, Climbing, Skiing, and Exploring the Mountain and Surrounding Area , publisher = Wilderness Press , year = 2006 , isbn = 978-0-89997-562-7 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VusvyAeTKggC&pg=PA62 , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 62 , quote = A number of lava tubes are found around Shasta, some of which are a mile or more long, and the most famous is Pluto Cave. Venturing into this large cave should not be taken lightly. The depths of Pluto Cave are eternally dark, so take at least two ... {{cite book , last1 = Selters , first1 = A. , last2 = Zanger , first2 = M. , title = The Mt. Shasta Book: A Guide to Hiking, Climbing, Skiing, and Exploring the Mountain and Surrounding Area , publisher = Wilderness Press , series = Wilderness Press Series , year = 2006 , isbn = 978-0-89997-404-0 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TWNKAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 98 {{cite book , title = Trailer Life Directory , year = 2004 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7MjrlIJqyzkC , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 320 , quote = Pluto's Cave, named after the Roman god of the underworld, was formed by an eruption of basaltic lava which originated from a vent about 8 miles to the northeast. The lava flow is about 190,000 years old ... {{cite book , last = Wells , first = H.L. , title = History of Siskiyou County, California Illustrated with Views of Residences, Business Buildings and Natural Scenery: And Containing Portraits and Biographies of Its Leading Citizens and Pioneers , publisher = Siskiyou Historical Society , year = 1881 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dxU1AQAAMAAJ , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 36 , quote = The largest, however, is one discovered near Sheep Rock in the spring of 1863, by Nelson Cash, while hunting estrayed cattle. In April of the same year, George W. Tyler and Elijah Heard made an extended exploration of the cave and christened it Pluto's Cave. The entrance was about five hundred feet above the valley, being some three miles up the slope of the mountain. They entered through an opening ten feet high and twenty wide, and advanced through a succession of halls and chambers, or caverns, until they passed through an opening thirty feet square into the large cavern, or cave proper. They traversed this cautiously, over piles of fallen rocks and other obstructions, until they came to where an immense heap of rocks barred further progress. The distance to this point from the entrance they estimated at from one and one-half to two miles, and how far beyond the barrier of rocks it extended could not even be conjectured. Quite a current of air was felt in the cavern, nearly extinguishing their candles, caused by a subterranean river, another cavern, or a second entrance beyond. In the main cavern were found a pile of faggots and other evidences of fire, that bore the appearance of having been there for years, perhaps centuries, and probably had been, as the existence of the cave was unknown to the Indians. The walls within are very dry, the usual dampness of a cavern being absent, thus contributing to the preservation of objects deposited there. Quite a number of people have visited the cave at different times, but a more thorough exploration than this has never been made. Several smaller caves have been discovered within a radius of a few miles, but none of so great dimensions as this. {{cite book , last = Wilson , first = R. , title = The Explorer King: Adventure, Science, and the Great Diamond Hoax--Clarence King in the Old West , publisher = Scribner , year = 2006 , isbn = 978-0-7432-8900-9 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J8qrIWnBDgAC&pg=PA93 , access-date = February 10, 2018 , page = 93
External links
USGS Mineral resources
Lava tubes Caves of California Landforms of Siskiyou County, California Mount Shasta Klamath National Forest