Lewis & Clark Caverns

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

A view from 1939:

Lewis and Clark Cavern is a National Monument in Jefferson Canyon. The cave is in the Madison limestone formation at the base of a high cliff. It was discovered and partly equipped with stairways in 1902 by Daniel Morrison, a surveyor, and is known locally as Morrison Cave.

Exceeded in size in the United States only by Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, this cavern is a succession of vaulted chambers and passageways thickly hung with stalactites and studded with stalagmites. Surface water seeping down the bedding planes of the Madison limestone, here tilted about 53°, hollowed out the cave by gradually dissolving the limestone at successive levels. The cave is dry, except at its lowest point, about 300 feet below the entrance. But the dripping of water during past centuries has carved out crypts and corridors curtained in places with translucent stone that varies in color from pure white to deep amber.

The entrance from the trail is an artificial one made by the former owner. From it a wooden stairway mounts a 20-foot rise in the rock floor of the passage. Beyond the stairway is the natural entrance, 25 feet above the trail and about 60 feet northwest of the newer entrance. It can be reached only with the aid of a rope. Three hundred and eighty-five steps are descended to reach the First Large Chamber. Here stalagmites and stalactites, opaque and almost flawless, form fluted pillars. A form of stalactite with curved and branching arms (helictite) is beautifully developed.

From this large room a tortuous path descends to the Deepest Room. A great number of stalactites, fallen to the floor and cemented-to it by flowstone, furnish toeholds for scrambling up and down the steep incline. In this room is one large stalagmite in process of formation, with water dripping onto it. A spring makes a clear pool in the center of the floor, and, above, the ceiling rises to a dome that looks like rough mosaic work.

From the foot of the stairway narrow corridors lead to other chambers, of which the first is the Cathedral Room. From its ledged floor great spires rise toward the domed ceiling, in sepia hues and lighter shades of brown.
Beyond and below is the Brown Waterfall. From a rocky ledge above the floor a cascade of rock seems to spill down the chamber wall like a plunging brown river.

A rough corridor known as Hell's Highway is traveled with the aid of ropes and leads into the Organ Room. The stillness of this room, with its mass of pipe-like columns, faintly golden, gleaming amber, and rich brown, is impressive. The columns give off musical sounds when struck with pieces of broken rock, as do many of the stalactites and stalagmites in other chambers.

The smaller corridors and chambers vary in formation and coloring. The walls of some are intricately filigreed, others seem hung with draperies of weird pattern. At one place a Coffin is surmounted by a stalagmite candle; the Lion's Den, enclosed by joined tites ana "mites," is strewn with pieces of fallen stalactites that suggest the bones of victims.

The full journey requires vigor, sure-footedness, and a readiness to cling and sometimes to crawl by the light of a miner's lantern. The air is good.

Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana; September, 1939.