 | Page 07 At the Cave In Camp Aug 15th 1878 [Arose/ Rose] in the morning quite early and after refreshing ourselves with some breakfast we then proceeded [to] [robe?] ourselves and arrange matters for a visit to the Cave. The horses were turned [loose] and started up the mountain for grass where it was to be found in abundance. All being ready [an? / on?] at least a large portion of the crowd, we proceeded with a good supply of candles to explore the great cave of Oregon. [Estimated??]1 about [40?]2 miles from Jacksonville and about [24] miles from Kirbyville in Josephine County about five or six miles from the California line supposed to be in T. 39. S. 6. West.3 The country surrounding the Cave is very rugged and heavily timbered with underbrush and fallen logs so thick that it is almost impossible to get to the Cave with horses. Sucker Creek where considerable mining is done 1: Possibly “estimated”, but first letter seems clearly an “L”, and not enough letters for “estimated”. 2: Doesn’t look like “40”, but that’s what he claimed on page 6, and it is more sensible than what it looks like, which is “104.” 3: Aka, “Township 39 South, 6 West” on the Township and Range surveying system |
 | Page 08 lies to the South and west. The large mountains to the East and South are a spur of the Siskiyous and go by the name of Grayback. The big mountain which we [cross] coming to Davidson[’]s runs north by west. We [cross?] [two][ canyons on the route from the Sheep ranch to the Cave and [travell / traveld ?] a {blank}1 direction. Looking from Davidson[’]s across ?] the Cave is on a line with the [long?] [-side??] and a big patch of burnt timber. To the { blank }2 [and in]3 between the divide and the ranch distant about [2? / 1?] miles right down a rather steep canyon going down the second ridge from Davidsons according to “Fiddler’s Cut off”4. The opening to the cave are so far as discovered about a hundred feet apart. one is at the head of a little creek which is the [entrance] to the lower [one?]. the other is up the hill the distance above [mentioned?] to the South East 1: left blank, presumably to be filled in later 2: another blank, very long 3: very faint, as if erased. 4: This is a very convoluted statement. My assumption is that the burnt timber corresponds (i.e. accords) to “Fiddler’s Cut-Off”, where the fire had previously been burning. The burnt timber patch is the 2 miles down a steep canyon which is down the second ridge from Davidson’s. Alternatively, Fiddler’s Cut-Off is being used as a marker by which the position of the second ridge has been determined. |
 | Page 09 our party consisting of W. W. Fidler as guide CB Bellinger E. D. [Foudary], Chris [Wintjen] Jerry [Sennan] and myself. we took the lower passage and followed the creek in for about 150 or 200 yards through [devious] and inticrate windings many places we had to [crawl?] on our hands and knees while other places the passages opened and [into]1 large apartments. the color of the rocks was of a [dingy] [dirty?] [hue], as we followed the creek [But] at times the chambers were white and glistened as the flame of our candles lit up the rooms and the reflective light from the stalactites and stalagmites rendered the scene one of rare enchantment. the “Bridal chamber” was particularly beautiful. many subterranean passages were found leading off in every direction, many of which we followed to where they ran out. other2 we did not explore [nor?] had they ever been explored from [all] [indication?][.] Footnotes: 1: sic 2: sic |
 | Page 10 after following the [cracks?] up as far as we could we retraced our steps until we struck the passage leading up to the caves and [caverns?] above1 then we followed through a rather dangerous orifice until we struck the chord left by Mr. Fiddler on his previous visit, but before starting up we found Judge Prim, John [Sifers] and Mr. Basey following us they would not follow us into the new discovery but went round and went in at the upper entrance. I soon arrived where I had been the evening before and as the former discription is adequate I will not reproduce it. It is almost impossible to estimate the distance traveled over as in crawling and [winding] around it is hard enough to keep track of the direction let alone the distance. We were in the cave four or five hours. probably we [went] a Footnotes: 1: That is, the “upper cave” near the 110 exit. |
 | Page 11 half mile in all. but in no one [stragh?]1 course. I must admit that I did not witness what I had pictured [out] [was] the [dimension Footnotes: 1:straight 2: may be “dimensions”, but looks like the “s” is crossed-out |
 | Page 12 and gathered a coffee pot of berrys. I took a [stroll] round the hill and found considerable deer signals where Bear had tramped the bushes down in search for berrys. In a few hour[s?] we started back for camp, none the worse for wear. List of incidents- Judge Prim took dinner with the ladies. More discussion on the direction of the sheep ranch Judge [Sifers] told his [dog?] story round the camp fire. He also tried to scare the girls but failed. |