RBC | According to the Aug. 10, 1895 issue of the Meeker Herald, a cave was discovered up the South Fork of the White River about 1884 by Charley Smith. Charley found it, so Charley got to name it. I guess he didn’t care for the name, Charley’s Cave, so it became known as Smith’s Cave. That name didn’t stick either. By 1931, It had become known as Spring Cave.
There is one other claimant to discovery. Hugh Jones, rancher in the Buford area. It is alleged that Hugh was hunting a bear when he found the cave. No details were given, so I have to wonder: did the bear chase him into the cave or was he intrepid enough to enter a bear cave?
The easy access and unusual underground stream made the cave a minor tourist stop in Northwest Colorado. In 1895, you could get within 50 yards of the two entrances by wagon. Later, the Forest Service stopped vehicles at the South Fork Campground. It’s still only a half mile hike to the entrances.
The Steamboat Pilot in Dec. 18, 1931, reported that National Geographic had taken an interest in this limestone cave seven miles from Buford, Colorado. It described the first 750 feet of the cave that had been explored to date.
The exploration time required at least two and a half hours and a rope and artificial light to complete. “One entrance was 90 feet long and shaped like a horn of plenty. The other entrance is broad and low. The cave proper was described as 120 long with a flat floor and a dome-shaped roof 25 feet wide. The continuation of this chamber is a room about the same length with a V-shaped floor covered with large boulders. A third room [later named The Funnel] resembles a flattened funnel, making a crawling entrance into the Pirate’s Den, a room with a flat floor and dome roof. This floor is covered with wide sand. Other rooms must be reached by means of dropping down from one to the other by means of ropes.
There are many crevasses and shell-like cavities to go thru before reaching the running stream. The water is clear, cold and has a pleasant taste. Following the stream for a distance a lake was discovered. This lake is very pretty, blue in color and has neither inlet nor outlet. At the left of the lake is the chimney, a vertical opening extending 30 feet into the roof of the cavern, and resembling a staircase.”
In 1946, Virgil Stephens, the U.S. Forest Service supervisor, declared that Spring Cave had had so many visitors that a sign was to be placed outside the cave showing interior details and a map of the cave areas explored up to this time. Mr. Stephens went on to describe the cave and explained that no guide services would be furnished. Explorers were cautioned not go alone and to equip themselves with flashlights, a 25-foot rope and dress sensibly.
Spring Cave is ranked among the longest underground waterways in North America. In 1962, a composite map of the cave was published using survey information from the Colorado School of Mines and National Speleological Society. Say that three times in a row! Spelunkers are those brave souls (nuts) who make it hobby to put on headlamps and contort themselves into positions yoga instructors would not even try.
SOOO, what ever happened to Charley who discovered Smith’s Cave? Charles Smith died in 1915 and is buried in Highland Cemetery. He was a pioneer in the White River region in the early 1880s. In the early days, he hunted and trapped, living life almost as a hermit. Not much is known about him. He was born in Norway in 1851 and immigrated to America in 1870. Charles Smith was not his birth name. Charles owned two homesteads, the first was purchased from the Federal Government in 1895. Apparently, he never married. In the 1910 RBC census, he was listed as age 58, single, working as a trail builder on the Forest Reserve.
The cave is not open year-round. Please check with the Forest Service office in Meeker before driving 30 miles.
Caves of Colorado by Lloyd E. Parris 1981 (Available at Meeker Regional Library); Onea and Michelle Miller; Meeker Herald; Rio Blanco Historical Society; Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org; My thanks to the Meeker offices of the BLM and Forest Service.
By ED PECK