Rick Just
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Author
  • Speaker
  • Contact
  • Subscriptions
  • Heroes & Villains

Wilson Butte Cave

2/2/2020

Comments

 
You could probably come up with a hundred reasons to spend a summer in Idaho without straining your brain a bit. In the summer of 1959, Ruth Gruhn came here to dig in the dirt inside a lava blister on the Snake River Plain in Jerome County. Was that one on your list?
 
Guhn was a grad student. In a way, she was looking for a PhD in the Idaho dirt. Wilson Butte is the lava blister she and others worked in that summer and again in 1988 and 1989. The butte was formed on an otherwise fairly flat lava field by gases that formed a big bubble during an eruption. Part of that bubble collapsed at some point, establishing an entrance to the dome now called Wilson Butte Cave. The cave had been discovered that year by Idaho State University field geologists.
 
Guhn and her crew meticulously dug, one layer at a time, and recorded what they discovered there. In the lowest layer they found the bones of a couple of camels and an ancient horse. More importantly they found signs of human habitation, including arrow shafts, pottery shards, arrowheads, and a moccasin. Gruhn says the site was occupied by humans 14,000 to 15,000 years ago.
 
You can climb up on top of Wilson Butte and get a great view of the surrounding country. Archeologists speculate that’s exactly what early people did, looking for bison. Once they had killed one or two, they would bring them back to the cave to process. It would have made a great shelter from the elements.
 
The dig at Wilson Butte Cave established one of the earliest instances of human presence on the continent. There’s a good chance that people who lived there were present for that interesting little natural phenomenon we call the Bonneville Flood. Imagine what it might have been like to see and hear that go by.
 
Wilson Butte Cave is accessible. It’s managed by the BLM, so get access information from the Shoshone Field Office or the Twin Falls District Office. Here’s a link to a great little BLM publication about the cave written for kids.

Picture
ISU dig at Wilson Butte Cave, courtesy of the Idaho State Historical Society physical photo collection.
Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2020 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you don’t find a button that lets you do that, find the post on Speaking of Idaho. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.
Comments
    Picture
    The first book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    The second book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    Rick's book about Fearless Farris is available on Amazon! Click the picture above to be taken to Amazon. If you'd like an autographed copy, click the button below.

    Author, Speaker

    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. One of his Idaho books explores the history of Idaho's state parks: Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for Boise Weekly.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.idahohumanities.org/programs/inquiring-idaho/
    ​


    Check out Rick's history of Idaho State Parks.

    The audio link below is to Rick's Story Story Night set called "Someplace Not Firth"

    RSS Feed

Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2025 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you follow a link (generally to a book) from my page to an Amazon page, I get a tiny percentage of any purchase you may make.