WorldWide Drilling Resource

Alaska Miners Association Phone: 907-563-9229 Fax: 907-563-9225 ama@alaskaminers.org www.alaskaminers.org ELKO / Mining Expo Phone: 775-738-4091 Fax: 775-738-2420 jennifer@elkocva.com www.exploreelko.com WorldWide Drilling Resource ® is proud to be a member of these mining associations. Northwest Mining Association Phone: 509-624-1158 Fax: 509-623-1241 nwma_info@nwma.org Women in Mining 866-537-9694 wim@womeninmining.org 51 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® OCTOBER 2013 Calaveras County’s Mystery Cave by Harry W. Short Engineering Geologist A trip to historic Calaveras County, California, is not complete without visit- ing Moaning Cavern on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Vallecito. The cavern is accessible north of Sonora through Columbia State Park on Highway 4 from Angeles Camp to Vallecito. Moaning Cavern Road, about two miles south of Vallecito, leads to the cavern entrance atop a steep hillside overlooking Coyote and Wades Creeks. The first visitor(s) to Moaning Cavern were there about 12,000 years ago. His/her bones, embedded in thick de- posits of calcium carbonate, have been found on the floor of the Main Room. Perhaps those persons fell to their deaths through a fracture or joint in the bedrock. Another persistent theory is Indian war parties disposed of enemy bodies by dropping them through a joint in the bedrock. Other rumors allude to a still undiscovered secret passage which allowed easy access to the cavern. The cavern was named by early explorers who claimed to have heard a "moaning" sound emanating from the cavern entrance. This sound was thought to have been caused by air rushing from the mouth of the cavern, or water drop- ping to the cavern floor. No one has determined the source of the peculiar sound. Many believe the story was a tale made up by the early explorers, and others think they may have been in a different cavern. Some believe the sound stopped because the acoustics changed after a 100-foot steel staircase [shown in the photo below] was installed. An underground tour to the bottom of this fabulous vertical cavern takes you mil- lions of years into the geologic past. Sediments deposited in an inland sea near the end of the Late Paleozoic Era be- came the Calaveras Format ion in which Moaning Cavern devel- oped. Geologists have been unable to deter- mine an accurate geo- logic age for this formation because modification during periods of mountain building apparently eliminated any phys- ical evidence of fossils. Some other interesting features of Moaning Cavern are found below the Main Room. An opening near the Igloo leads to two small rooms - the Mud Flats and Lake Room. The Lake Room contains flowstone (cave deposit formed by flowing water) deposits of calcium carbonate, soda straws, helictites, sta- lactites, and a small brimstone pool. Addison Carley spent his life trying to unravel the mystery of the lower rooms reported by Dr. Trask (California’s first state geologist) and the French explor- ers. He never found them. Did the early explorers really hear a "moaning" sound coming from the cav- ern? Why was the prominence of the massive Igloo never mentioned by the early cave explorers? Were they in the same cavern? Were human remains dropped into the cavern by marauding tribes or brought in through secret pas- sages? Will the truth ever be found?? Harry Harry Short may be contacted via e-mail at admin@ worldwidedrillingresource.com Two speleothems (cave formations) on the ceiling of the cave are about 30 feet below- ground. Photos by Harry Short circa 1965. Ralph Squire of the Stanislaus Speleological Society on the balcony observing the mas- sive cavern features. About 27 feet high, the Igloo is the largest speleothem in Moaning Cave’s Main Room. Delores Short in caving clothing.