Oregon Caves, I’ll start by posting a few of the “rock star” notables. Elijah Davidson and Dick Rowley. For Elijah, it was an interesting time in the Rogue Valley in the early 1870s. Agriculture was being greatly expanded and the need for a railroad was still in an infancy stage, though they had the route proposed. As such, these early farmers always managed to create time to go on their fall hunt in between the many chores they already had going on in preparation for those winter months. In this, a fall hunt in 1874 found Elijah on a finger ridge, a strong hike away from their hunting camp when he would discover the Oregon Caves. There are mixed stories out there of him chasing a wounded bear into the cave, or he had wounded a bear (and a deer?) and found the cave. It seemed like also the tale got taller as the hunting party he was with at that time, one by one, died off and he had more liberty to embellish this. The other is Dick Rowley, first, a forest guard (1910s?), then into a cave guide and was arguably one of the longest-serving guides up there at the caves. The last one in this set is just one of my favorite pictures of the Early Oregon Caves, Dick Rowley is seated, on the right side of the image. Please like, share and visit my webpage theridgewalkers.com or order a book from me directly by messaging. I also have books in Cave Junction at Bigfoot Print and Copy and soon at Diggin Livin. Thanks all! More to follow!
