First Exploration of Logan Cave: 1892?

                    Logan Cave entrance, before it was gated shut, circa 1988, with Scott Thompson.


By Lynn Arave

LOGAN Cave was a tourist attraction in Logan Canyon, Utah, along Highway 89, for almost a century. The Cave was gated shut in the late 20th Century, to protect its native inhabitants, bats.
(Today, mention "Cave" and Logan Canyon and it is the Wind Caves that are more well-known and visited.)
Although Logan Cave can be spotted easily --  if you know where to look -- along today's paved Highway 89, it apparently wasn't always so.
The Brigham City Bugler newspaper of July 23, 1892, records what may be the first-ever public references to Logan Cave.
The article reports that attorney B.H. Jones had a "delightful trip through the large cave" in the summer of 1892.
"It contains a large stream of water and a lake," The Bugler article stated. "The walls of the cave are said to be so high that a man can walk upright a whole mile and not reach the end. Lanterns are used in reaching the depths of that dark cavern, as no crevices are found in the massive walls to admit light. The air is cool and refreshing at midday, when all is hot and sultry without," the 1892 article concluded.
-Today, Logan Cave is believed to be 4,290-feet long. Public access seems to be rarely permitted.
Logan Cave is located 11.9 miles up Logan Canyon on the north side of the highway, about 50 feet above the paved highway.
The cave itself varies from 5-10 feet wide with a ceiling height between 30 and 100 feet. It has three levels and in normal water years has a stream flowing out of it that can be knee-deep in spots. The cave is dry during some summers.

The cave was formed by the seepage of water through limestone and has a year-round temperature of about 50 degrees.

Most geological features in the cave have been destroyed by vandals, and litter and graffiti were cave problems over the years too.