Oregon Caves National Monument is a national monument in the northern Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon in the United States. Known primarily for its marble caves, the 488-acre (197 ha) park is located in southeastern Josephine County approximately 24 miles (39 km) as the crow flies south of Grants Pass or a 48-mile (77 km) drive from Grants Pass, including a 19-mile (31 km) drive east of Cave Junction on Oregon Caves Highway state route ...
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Oregon Caves National Monument is a national monument in the northern Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon in the United States. Known primarily for its marble caves, the 488-acre (197 ha) park is located in southeastern Josephine County approximately 24 miles (39 km) as the crow flies south of Grants Pass or a 48-mile (77 km) drive from Grants Pass, including a 19-mile (31 km) drive east of Cave Junction on Oregon Caves Highway state route 46.
In 1874, while a local man named Elijah Davidson was hunting, his dog Bruno chased a bear into a cave. This discovery became an attraction, and in the 1890s developers opened the caves as a commercial enterprise. In 1909, at the urging of Joaquin Miller and other influential men, President William Howard Taft declared the caves a U.S. National Monument. The Monument was managed by the U.S. Forest Service until August 10, 1933, when jurisdiction was transferred to the National Park Service.
The 3.5-mile (5.6 km) marble cave in the Monument...
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