The Nakimu Caves
Glacier Dominion Park, B. C.
On the road to the Caves—Ross Peak in centre.
DOMINION PARKS BRANCH
Department of the Interior
OTTAWA
1914
THE NAKIMU CAVES
GLACIER DOMINION PARK, B.C.
Near the summit of the Selkirk range of mountains inBritish Columbia is one of the most curious series of subterraneancaves in the world. Being of recent discovery and, up to thepresent, almost inaccessible except to the most agile and daringthey remain practically unknown to the world at large, but tothose bold spirits who have dared their black depths they haveoffered an experience, weird, thrilling and wonderful. Lessthan a thousand visitors at present make the journey to theCaves each year.
To the graphic description of Arthur O. Wheeler, presidentand founder of the Canadian Alpine Club, together with thereport of W. S. Ayres, the mining engineer who was commissionedby this department to report on the Caves, the substance ofthis pamphlet is indebted.
The Dominion Government is at present having work donewhich will render accessible to the public this unusual and somewhatgruesome curiosity. A good road is already built betweenthe little alplike town of Glacier to within 6,000 feet of the Cavesand a trail connects this point with the entrance. The distanceis about seven miles by saddle pony from the beautiful CanadianPacific Railway hotel at Glacier to the end of the road, and thewhole journey can be finished on foot in five hours. The rideis through scenes almost incomparable, perhaps even in theRocky or Selkirk mountains.
The Yoho valley, in which flows the Cougar Creek, in thebed of which are the Caves, possesses magnificent vistas ofvaried mountain scenery. To quote Wheeler:—“It is difficultto express the wonder of the colour contrasts that meet the eyein the ever changing panorama of snow-clad peak, rock precipicedazzling névé, shining glacier ice and bronze-green forest ofpines, midst which nestle magic lakes of changing shades ofblue and green.”
Mr. Wheeler remarks that the Cougar valley, in the bed ofwhich are the Caves, is of special interest for two reasons otherthan the Caves:—
1. “It is of that special type known as ‘a hanging valley,’or one that has been carved out in a U-shaped cross-section bythe action of glacial erosion, and not in the form of a V, as wouldhave occurred through the action of water erosion alone. Itis, moreover, a very pronounced form of its type. The numeroussmall glaciers that still line the sides and head of the valleygive it exceeding great beauty and interest in summer time.”
2. “I know of no other spot in the Selkirks where alpineflora is more abundant and varied, and this fact alone is an attractionnot to be despised.”
Description of the Valley of the Caves,
by A. O. Wheeler.
“The valley of Cougar creek is divided into two parts ofdistinctly different characteristics. The upper valley, a greatspoon-shaped basin extending from Lookout point to Cougarpass, is a most pronounced form of the type known as ‘hangingvalley,’ or one that has been carved out in a U-shaped crosssection by the eroding power of a glacier at one time filling upits bottom. This glacier has now shrunk to very small pro