LAKE SHASTA CAVERNS: A JOURNEY INTO SHASTA COUNTY’S PAST AND PRESENT

Welcome to Lake Shasta Caverns!

Three Adventures in One at Lake Shasta Caverns

A visit to Lake Shasta Caverns offers more than underground exploration; it’s a “three adventures in one” experience.

The adventure starts with a 10-minute catamaran journey across Shasta Lake, providing views of the surrounding mountainous landscape. After leaving the boat, guests board a bus to travel up the mountain.

The route to the Visitor Center, where the Caverns are located, features panoramic vistas of both mountains and Shasta Lake. At the Visitor Center, guests are introduced to their guide, who will accompany and provide commentary throughout the tour, lasting about 45 minutes.

View of Shasta Lake from the Lake Shasta Caverns Visitor Center

The Early History Beneath Shasta Lake

Before Lake Shasta Caverns became a show cave, the cave was deeply embedded in the early days of Shasta County history.

It was first known as Baird Cave and has its origins tied to a fish hatchery. In the late 1860s, President Grant named Spencer F. Baird as the first U.S. Fish Commissioner. One of Baird’s initial tasks was to set up a fish hatchery on the West Coast, so he assigned
Livingston Stone to handle the project.

Stone traveled to San Francisco in 1872, where he met Benjamin Barnard Redding. Redding was an ideal contact—he had been Sacramento’s mayor, California’s Secretary of State, Fish Commissioner, and later served as a land agent for the Central Pacific Railroad. The city of Redding received its name from B.B. Redding!

Thanks to his expertise in northern California’s terrain and fish culture, Redding was able to pinpoint the ideal location for the hatchery: on the McCloud River, just north of its junction with the Pit River. Constructed in 1872, the hatchery was named for Spencer Baird and became known as the Baird Fish Hatchery, or Baird Station.

Today, Baird lies submerged beneath Shasta Lake, but its legacy continues—especially through its connection to the discovery of Lake Shasta Caverns.

In the picture below, taken about 1875, there is a bare spot on the mountain extending down toward Baird. Today, the Lake Shasta Caverns road travels across the bare spot to the Visitor Center.

The 1874 Baird Expedition and the First Descent

The limestone mountain situated above the hatchery was designated “Mt. Persephone” by Stone, and it attracted interest from individuals beyond the hatchery staff. Subsequently, a hotel, store, and post office were established at Baird Station, accommodating guests who visited to tour the hatchery and experience the cool waters of the McCloud River.

Notably, John Muir, recognized as the “Father of the National Park System,” had hiked from Redding to Dunsmuir, and on his way, he made a stop at Baird to visit Stone, and together they ascended Mt. Persephone.

The story of this discovery is documented in the “Report of Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries” from 1875, written by Stone and submitted to Spencer Baird. The report covers not just hatchery activities but also describes in detail what happened during the
discovery.

Livingston Stone organized a team of explorers, which included Myron Green, and enlisted Dr. George Silverthorn, a local guide and three-term Shasta County surveyor, to help the group travel through the area. According to Stone’s journal, the goal of their expedition was specifically to find a cave!

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On Sunday, August 2, 1874, the entire camp joined in, and they discovered Lake Shasta Caverns!

Their account conveys a strong sense of excitement:

“They even contended among themselves as to who should be first to make the descent, and as soon as the word was given, they sprang eagerly to the rope and swung themselves off without a faltering motion. Imagine a rope dangling loosely from a church-tower fifty feet in height, in the middle of a dark night, and a man without any special experience in that sort of thing swinging himself out on it for a descent, without knowing what was at the lower end of it. The case in question was worse if anything, for here there were all the grim surroundings and mysterious associations of a dark, forbidding, and unexplored cavern.”

Myron Green, an assistant to Livingston Stone and a trout specialist based at Baird, is noted as the first documented individual to enter the cave. Green established a small trout hatchery just north of Baird, in proximity to the Shasta Caverns eastside boat landing.

Presently, Greens Creek on the McCloud arm of Shasta Lake bears his name.

Charles Morton and the First Recorded Signatures

Three years later, the story picks up again. It is said that in 1877, Charles Morton, a Wintu Native American, discovered the cave’s entrance while pursuing a wildcat he had shot. Census records indicate Morton was about eighteen years old at the time. Although there is no evidence he entered the cave then, his experience marks a pivotal moment that would lead to another important event in history.

On November 3, 1878, Morton, accompanied by Baird employee James A. Richardson and several others, entered what is now known as the Cathedral Room, the largest chamber within the cave. While the Cathedral Room currently serves as the final destination on the tour, it was notably the initial area accessed by the original explorers.

On this date, Richardson recorded the earliest documented inscription in the cave: “J.A. Richardson, Nov. 3rd ’78.”

The following weekend, the exploration team returned with additional equipment and successfully accessed further areas of the cave. During this expedition, a second inscription was left on the wall: “J.A. Richardson Nov 11.” The initials “CM” found below are believed to represent Charles Morton. These signatures remain visible to visitors today.

These four occurrences—the descent by Myron Green in 1874, the 1877 visit by Charles Morton, and the subsequent descents by Morton and James A. Richardson in November 1878—constitute the period identified as the “Baird Expeditions.”

Growing Interest and Redding’s Early Tourism Vision

Fast forward to the 1920s, and people had now been exploring the cave informally for years. As early as 1927, its potential as a tourist destination became apparent. Leslie Engram, Redding’s City Clerk, led groups on at least 19 documented trips into the cave, and the City of Redding began to recognize the opportunity for tourism revenue.

Interest in the cave as a site for recreation continued to rise and formalize. According to the Bureau of Reclamation Document (Recreational Administration Problem 23, July 15, 1942), multiple potential tourist ventures, such as campgrounds, marinas, and even a casino, were proposed following the development of Shasta Lake. Among these opportunities, Baird Cave—now known as Lake Shasta Caverns—was specifically highlighted as a location suitable for recreational activities!

Grace Tucker and the Creation of a Show Cave

Grace M. Tucker from Chehalis, Washington, transformed the concept of a “show cave” into reality through her leadership and vision. Nicknamed the “Lady Lumberjack Lawyer,” Grace managed complex legal work involving timberlands and disputed property titles.

By 1955, she resolved six separate title cases, securing exclusive ownership of the forty-acre site where the cave stands.

In 1959, Grace collaborated with Roy Thompson to advance her vision of developing Baird Cave as a scenic attraction. Alongside Roy’s brothers, Edward A. Thompson and Glenn S. Thompson—innovators known for creating Thompson’s Water Seal—the team began transforming the natural Baird Cave into what would become the show cave, Lake Shasta Caverns.

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Building the cave for tours was an enormous undertaking that spanned five years. Workers constructed a road linking Highway 99 (now Interstate 5) on the lake’s west side to a parking lot and Gift Store where visitors could buy tickets. To move construction materials across the lake, they acquired a WWII landing craft called Elsie. Another new road, stretching 1.5 miles, led to the Visitor Center near the cavern entrance. Instead of using the natural entry—which would have posed serious challenges for tourists, a tunnel was drilled directly into the mountain for easier access.

With the project completed, catamarans transported guests across the lake, buses shuttled them up the mountain, and generators powered cave lights.

On Memorial Day 1964, Lake Shasta Caverns welcomed its first visitors.

Modern Upgrades and the 2025 Lighting Transformation

Visiting the Caverns today is quite different from how it used to be. The boats have become more advanced, the road to the Caverns is now paved, and modern air-conditioned buses have replaced the older school buses.

Most significantly, the cave’s lighting underwent a comprehensive upgrade in early 2025. The existing electrical infrastructure, including wiring, lighting fixtures, stanchions, and related components, had approached the end of its serviceable life and was fully
replaced. A comprehensive electrical infrastructure was installed to facilitate an extensive lighting and conservation initiative, featuring a state-of-the-art LED system with dynamic, color-changing capabilities and a coordinated light and sound presentation within the Cathedral Room.

The advanced lighting solution offers improved energy efficiency, enables guides to emphasize key features for visitors, and supports ongoing conservation by mitigating heat generation and limiting unnatural moss development.

From a wild cave with a difficult climb up a mountain and using lanterns to navigate unmarked trails, to a show cave accessed by boats, buses, and guided paths built through the cave, Lake Shasta Caverns remains one of Shasta County’s favorite recreational
activities.

About the Author

David Mundt — better known as “Cave Dave” — is the longtime Lake Shasta Caverns guide who brings history to life with research, curiosity, and a whole lot of heart. After a 25-year career in high tech and financial services, he returned to his roots on Shasta Lake and has since become a leading storyteller of the Caverns’ past. He published a book on the history of the Caverns, drawing from years of studying journals, maps, and firsthand accounts. If you’ve ever taken one of his tours, you know he’s part historian, part entertainer, and always the guy who makes you feel right at home underground.