FACT SHEET Moaning Cavern was first discovered by gold miners in approximately 1851. They explored the cavern hoping to make a big strike, but finding insufficient gold for mining purposes, abandoned it. Moaning Cavern was rediscovered in 1919. Legend has it that tourists were lowered into the cavern in ore buckets with only candles or whale oil lamps to light their way. Tours supposedly began in the summer of 1920. The 100-foot steel spiral staircase, built in 1922 , was the first all arc-welded project ever in California. The steel that was used to build it came from the hull of a World War I battleship. Today visitors to Moaning Cavern climb down and then up 235 stairs, 144 of which are on the spiral staircase. The bones of approximately 100 prehistoric humans were found at the bottom of Moaning Cavern. One skull was determined by uranium-thorium dating to be 13,000 years old. It is believed that these people fell into the cave accidentally over many hundreds of years. Moaning Cavern is the largest single chamber public cavern in California. The main room is large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside it and some of the cavern formations reach 25 feet in height. Moaning Cavern's total depth is approximately 410 feet. Family walking tours descend 165 feet into the cavern as do rappelling trips, and Adventure Trips descend 300 feet into the cavern. While participating in the Adventure Trip at Moaning Cavern, visitors encounter some interesting places. "Pancake Room," "Godzilla's Nostril," "Column Squeeze," and "Meat Grinder" for instance. Some scientists believe Moaning Cavern may have at one time been a geyser like "Old Faithful." The name Moaning Cavern was given to the cave by early explorers who noticed a distant moaning sound created by drops of water that fall into holes in a flowstone formation with a bottle-like shape. The sound is similar to one you can make by blowing across the top of a partially full soda bottle. Moaning Cavern is located in Calaveras County, 9 miles north of Columbia State Park. Nearby are the scenic communities of Jamestown, Sonora, Angels Camp, and Murphys, all rich in California history. Also, California Cavern, Big Trees State Park, and Bear Valley Ski Resort are nearby.