The Nakimu Caves, Glacier Dominion Park, B. C. — John Shaqi
The Nakimu Caves, Glacier Dominion Park, B. C.Canada. National Parks Branch
Science
The Nakimu Caves, Glacier Dominion Park, B. C.
Canada. National Parks Branch
Nakimu Caves (B.C.)
Mr. Ayres’ Description of this Exploration.
“On the morning of May 30, the entire party entered the cave by the
opening which I have designated on the map as ‘Entrance No. 1.’ Pools of
water more or less filled with ice were encountered, which greatly
impeded our progress, and finally a very deep one, at a distance of 237
feet from the surface, barred further progress until a raft could be
prepared. Retracing our steps to the surface we sought an entrance in
‘The Canyon’ by means of a rope. This passage was about 70 feet below
the natural surface and about 100 feet above the bottom of ‘The Canyon,’
was very small and blocked with ice. I have designated this opening as
‘Entrance No. 2,’ on the map.
“Another opening was found which is recorded as ‘Entrance No. 3.’ Here,
by crawling through a very narrow passage on hands and knees and then
descending a steep narrow water groove for about 50 feet the brink of a
very large cavern was reached that was estimated to be 256 feet deep,
but its length and breadth were, owing to their great extent and to the
insufficiency of lights at hand, inaccessible. It was observable,
however, that several openings led off from this great cavern. The
plunge and roar of a great waterfall somewhere down in the depths of
this cavern reverberates in every inch of space, and produces in the
listener sensations so weird that even those that have elsewhere met its
counterpart are at first startled.
“No further attempt was made at this time to explore the cave through
this entrance for the reason that the three hundred feet of rope sent by
Mr. Ford, resident engineer of the C.P.R., for our use, had not yet been
brought up to the cave from the water tank. On the following day another
obstacle presented itself. The rapidly melting snow formed a sudden rush
of water which poured down the mountain side and into this opening, and
made it not only inaccessible for the time being, but proved it to be
positively dangerous to enter for any extended explorations until the
snow has practically disappeared.
“On the afternoon of May 31, and the forenoon of June 1, a raft and
additional ladders were constructed to cross over the large pool that
impeded our progress on May 30 in ‘Entrance No. 1.’ While we were eating
our noon meal on the 31st, Cougar creek overflowed into this entrance.
We made the attempt to descend but were drenched with water, and our
lights were put out. We constructed a dam to prevent this, as far as
possible, and at 6 a.m. on June 2 we again descended into the cave by
this entrance, and found at a distance of 331 feet from the surface a
large square chamber, 50 feet wide by 60 feet, that was accessible. A
large portion of its length was inaccessible owing to Cougar creek,
which flows across it, and to accumulated ice. We named this chamber
‘The Auditorium.’
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