Elijah Davidson and the Oregon Caves

It's near impossible to visit Oregon Caves National Monument and come away not knowing the name of Elijah Davidson, whose story is an integral part of the Caves tour experience. The fears he faced and his sense of adventure-exploring the darkness with but a few matches-fascinate so many people and connect them to this remote underground realm. But who really was the man who uncovered the cave?

This book attempts to find out, offering new insights into a story gets retold with every cave tour given, hundreds of times each year. Elijah was much more than just the discoverer of a vast cave system-his life encompassed the period of western expansion in the United States. He was a farmer but also a bounty hunter; a proud family man but also a lone mountain man. He came across the Oregon Trail by wagon and later went on to Alaska by boat for the gold rush.

So much of what fascinates us about the old west can be found in the story of this simple, yet amazing man.