Charlie Bear Visits Caves
March 16, 1966
One day Charlie Bear was out in the yard looking to see if the lilacs had started to bloom when little Charlie came running out of the house and said, “Papa, can we go to the Cave?”
“Caves?” asked Papa Charlie Bear. “What caves are you thinking about?”
“The ones where there is a river with lots of gold in it,” answered little Charlie.
“You must mean the ones called ‘The Las Vegas Golden Caverns,’” answered Papa Charlie.
“Yes, maybe that’s what they’re called,” agreed little Charlie. “Can we go — NOW?”
“Well, let me think a minute. We can’t go in the caves by ourselves, little Charlie. We have to ask the man who lives there,” explained Papa Charlie.
“Can we put on our traveling caps and go see if he’s there?” suggested little Charlie.
“That’s an idea. Perhaps it’s the quickest way to find out,” agreed Papa Charlie. “Shall we go alone or ask Mama Bear and your sister Annie if they’d like to go too?”
“Oh, let’s just go — you and I. Why do we always have to take them along on our trips?” replied little Charlie.
“Now, now, little Charlie,” explained Papa Charlie, “they like to go to interesting places just the same as you and I do. What about your going into the house and asking your mother?”
“O.K.,” said little Charlie as he ran off to the house.
In a few minutes he was back with the report that Mama Bear and little Annie were in the middle of making some cookies but Mama had said to be sure to be back in time for supper.
“Can we go now, Papa?” asked Charlie anxiously.
“Hmm, hmm, hmm. I guess work is mostly done around here. Yes, let’s get our traveling caps and go see Mr. Thompson, the man who lives at the caves,” said Papa Charlie.
With one “Yippee” little Charlie scampered to the house to get the traveling caps.
“Here’s yours, Papa. Let’s go,” said little Charlie excitedly.
“All right,” said Papa Bear as he put his cap on his head. “Let’s whirl around three times, turn a somersault and here we are at the old miner’s camp where Mr. Thompson lives.”
“Where are the caves — and the river?” asked little Charlie. “All I see is desert and hills.”
“First let’s see if Mr. Thompson is here,” said Papa Charlie as he knocked at the door.
“Here comes someone,” said little Charlie. And with that a man with bright blue eyes, red cheeks and a grey beard jumped out of a car and said, “Howdy.”
“Hi,” said little Charlie. “Are you the man who lives here and can take us down to the caves where we can see the river where there’s lots of gold?”
“I’m going to take one question at a time,” replied Mr. Thompson. “Yes, I’m the man who lives here and will be glad to take you down into the caves, but to SEE the River of Gold is something we’re going to have to put off until another time.”
“Why can’t we go see it too?” asked little Charlie.
“Because it’s so way down deep in the ground here at the caves that it would take hours and hours,” answered the miner. “Maybe another time you and your Papa Charlie can visit me again and we can take a trip over there beyond those mountains where the River of Gold is nearer the surface. Now let’s hop into the car and go up to Kokoweef Mountain where we can go down into the ground and see some beautiful caves.”
“O.K.,” said little Charlie. “Let’s get going.”
They drove just a short distance through the desert when they started to climb. Before long Mr. Thompson said, “Now we’re getting near to the opening of the caves. See that little rise up to the right? That’s where we’ll park the car.”
They all got out and went up to a natural opening in the side of the mountain. There they found their way was blocked by some iron bars. A gate had been put across the opening to prevent people from falling in . . . or going down into the caves to look for the gold and get lost in the maze of caverns on the inside of the mountain.
“How do we get in?” asked little Charlie.
“Here’s the key,” said Mr. Thompson. “I’ll open it and we can go down.”
When Mr. Thompson had opened the gate, he turned to Papa Charlie and little Charlie and said, “We get down into the caves by a wooden ladder. You’ll find the bottom part of the ladder covered with a beautiful white soft moist covering that looks like angel hair. It’s called ‘cave snow’ and grows on wood in the dark moist air of the caves.”
“Can I step on it?” asked little Charlie.
“Oh, yes,” answered Mr. Thompson. “You can put your feet on it, you can put your hands on it — but don’t eat it! It’s sticky.”
Mr. Thompson went down the ladder into the caves first. Then little Charlie and finally Papa Charlie went down.
“Oooooooo,” said little Charlie and his voice called back to him, “Oooooooo.”
There were some electric lights hung on the walls of some of the caves so they could see where they were going and what was all around them. The walls were all rock — but not just plain rock. There were some that were streaked to look like bacon — some looked as if they were made of rock bubbles. Hanging from the top of the cave were icicles made of rock. On the floor were piles of upside-down icicles made of rock.
Little Charlie had never seen anything like that before. It was all soooo beautiful. He just stood and looked around without saying anything. — And, if something makes little Charlie stop talking and asking questions, it must be very unusual.
After they had looked at this first “room” for a while, Mr. Thompson turned his flashlight to the right and showed a hole in the wall — just large enough for them to crawl through.
“Would you like to go see something really beautiful?” Mr. Thompson asked.
“You mean we go through that little hole?” asked Papa Charlie Bear.
“Yes,” Mr. Thompson said. “I’ll go first and help pull you through.”
“I’m scared,” said little Charlie.
“You don’t need to be,” said Mr. Thompson. “I’ll tie this rope around you so if you slip you won’t go down into the caves — because, you see, this mountain has many, many caves, or rooms, and tunnels joining them. Sometimes the tunnel joining them is up and down and sometimes it is straight and we can walk from one room to the next.
“Now in this cave where we are going,” continued the gold miner, “the opening we see goes directly into another room — but just on the other side of that hole is another hole that is large enough for you or Papa Charlie to fall hundreds of feet. That’s why I want to go first.”
“You mean I could fall all the way down to the Gold River if I didn’t have this rope on?” asked little Charlie.
“Well, I don’t know if you’d go THAT far,” answered the gold miner, “but you’d go far enough to get an awful lot of bumps and bangs on your knees and elbows as you fell — and you MIGHT end up as Little Charlie jam!”
“Little Charlie jam. You’re silly, Mr. Thompson,” said the little bear disdainfully.
“What is on the other side of that hole, Mr. Thompson?” asked Papa Charlie.
“The most beautiful room I’ve seen in these caves,” answered Mr. Thompson. “I call it the Crystal Cave. Let’s go see it. Come, little Charlie. Now to get this rope tied securely around your waist. We don’t want to lose you.”
After little Charlie and Papa Charlie were tied to the same rope that Mr. Thompson had around his waist, the gold miner said, “I’ll go first. Then, I’ll be able to help you both from the other side.”
“I’m next!” piped up little Charlie.
When little Charlie got part way through the hole, wiggling along on his stomach — ’cause the hole was only about two feet high — he looked around and all he could see was a hole big enough for him to fall into, stone walls and Mr. Thompson sitting in a big opening in the wall with only blackness in back of him.
“I don’t see any Crystal Cave,” said little Charlie.
“It’s in back of me,” replied the miner. “As soon as you and Papa Charlie get over here we’ll take a look.”
Mr. Thompson reached out to little Charlie, took his hand and said, “Now wriggle through the hole and put your foot on that ledge.” And, he pointed to a narrow stone step.
Little Charlie was afraid all right. He thought surely he would slip. But, Mr. Thompson held him firmly and little Charlie stepped around the deep hole.
When Papa Charlie had crawled through the opening and had managed to get around the hole in the floor of the cave, they all sat in the wall opening. Mr. Thompson pointed his flashlight to the room and when the light shone into the cave the two bears had never seen anything like it.
The walls were all glistening and looked as though the room were curtained with crystal drapes. The soft folds of the drapes sparkled. The room looked as though it were a hundred feet high and two hundred feet long.
Little Charlie had soon seen enough and wanted to go outside where he could see the world he knew.
When they got up to the top of the ladder and climbed out into the sunshine, little Charlie said, “Let’s go home to the forest and tell Mama and Annie all about the caves.”
Papa Charlie said, “Thank you, Mr. Thompson for showing us the Crystal Cave.”
“It was my pleasure, Mr. Charlie Bear,” replied Mr. Thompson. “Perhaps you can come again and we’ll take a look at the gold river without having to go down into the cave.”
“Here’s your traveling cap, little Charlie,” Papa Bear said. “Let’s whirl around three times, turn a somersault” . . . and there they were back home just in time to eat cookies Mama Bear and little Annie were just taking out of the oven.